Madras fish curry of snapper, tomatoes and tamarind

IN MY India book, I nominated this as my favourite curry. I can still remember the slightly oily flavour of the exquisite snapper because fish oil, when perfectly fresh, is very nice to eat. I always think oily fish goes well with curry anyway — particularly with the tomatoes, tamarind and curry leaves. Serve with plain rice. SERVES 6

60ml vegetable oil 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds 1 large onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, finely crushed 30 fresh curry leaves 2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder 2 tsp ground coriander 2 tsp turmeric powder

400g can chopped tomatoes

100ml tamarind water (see tip on right)

2 green chillies, each sliced lengthways into 6 pieces, with seeds 1 tsp salt 700g snapper fillets, cut into 5cm chunks HEAT the oil in a heavy based saucepan over a medium heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds and fry for 30 seconds, then stir in the onion and garlic and fry gently for about 10 minutes until softened and lightly golden.

Add the curry leaves, chilli powder, coriander and turmeric then fry for 2 minutes, then stir in the tomatoes, tamarind water, green chillies and salt and simmer for about 10 minutes until rich and reduced.

Add the fish, cook for a further 5 minutes or until just cooked through, and serve.

HOW TO MAKE TAMARIND WATER Makes 150ml

TAKE some tamarind pulp the size of a tangerine and place in a bowl with 150ml warm water.

Work the paste into the water with your fingers until it has broken down and the seeds have been released.

Now, strain through a fine sieve into another bowl and discard the fibrous material that is left in the sieve.

The water is now ready to use. Keeps in the fridge for 24 hours.