Sea bass with curry sauce

Ingredients

lime slices and/or wedges, to serve

FOR THE CURRY SAUCE

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 green chillies, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon plain flour

200–250ml (7–9fl oz) whole milk

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

FOR THE FISH

2 sea bass fillets, skin on

pinch of salt

pinch of ground turmeric

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

1 tablespoon salted butter

Directions

To make the curry sauce, heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and cook over a medium to low heat for 5 minutes until it begins to soften. Add the green chillies and cook for a minute.

Mix in the curry powder and flour and cook, stirring, for a few seconds. Then gradually add 200ml (7fl oz) of the milk, stirring constantly, and cook for a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens.

Blitz the mixture with a hand blender or in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return to the pan, if necessary, and add the salt and pepper. If the sauce is too thick, add the extra 50ml (2fl oz) milk and mix well. Keep warm while you cook the fish.

Wash the fish fillets and pat them dry, then sprinkle with the salt and turmeric. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, add the fish skin-side down and cook over a medium to high heat for 3–4 minutes until the skin is nice and crispy, then carefully turn over and cook the flesh side for a minute.

Place the fish fillets skin-side up on serving plates and pour around the sauce. Serve immediately with some lime slices and/or wedges.

Notes

Slightly similar to katsu curry, I started making this at home using nice fresh fish and my own variation of the popular curry sauce. This is so light and fragrant that you can serve it with some chicken or lots of roasted vegetables. Otherwise, enjoy it just with steamed greens, or a mixed salad of cucumber ribbons, chopped cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion and mint and coriander leaves.