I’m not sure if “Hot and Sour” or “Bengali-style” to describe this fish curry caught my eye first. How interesting, thought I.

I came across it in a magazine-y book thing that Dish magazine put out late last year, I think called “everyday”. I believe it was a collection of their best recipes – simple and fairly quick ones you can cook on weekdays.

I’ve adapted their fish recipe here. It’s a curry sauce that you pour over grilled or pan-fried fish, rather than cooking fish pieces in the curry itself. It’s pretty easy and super tasty. It’s good for you, too!

Hot & Sour Fish – Bengali-style Fish Curry
Adapted from Dish magazine’s “Everyday” issue

2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tomatoes (truss is nice), diced – or you could use ½ tin of chopped tomatoes
4 green chillies, 2 chopped and 2 left whole (you can reduce quantity if preferred)
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
½ cup flour (plain or chickpea, if you have it)
4 firm white fish fillets (about 600-800g) – I used lemonfish which was perfect for the job
1 Tbsp rice bran or canola oil
2 small bay leaves
some fresh, frozen or tinned veges (optional)
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup water
1-2 tsp finely grated palm sugar
sea salt

First, lightly grind the mustard seeds in a mortar and pestle – not too vigorously, take it easy, tiger – and set aside.

Put the tomatoes, chopped chillies, shallot, garlic and turmeric in a food processor and blend to a coarse paste. Also set aside.

Put the flour in a shallow dish or on a plate, and season with salt. Dust the fish in the flour, and shake or pat off the excess. You want a nice thin coating of flour all over the fish.

Heat the oil in a large frypan and cook the fish over medium to medium high heat until just cooked through and golden brown. Remove to a clean plate and cover with tin foil to keep warm (or put it in a warm oven).

Add the lightly ground mustard seeds and bay leaves to the hot frypan and sizzle for a few seconds. Adjust the heat to medium. Add the tomato paste mixture and cook, stirring, until the paste is fragrant and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the whole chillies, lemon juice and water. Add any veges you’re using, too (I had half a tin of baby sweetcorn so threw that in, worked well! And anything that increases vege content is good; I think green beans would be good here).

Season and simmer for a few minutes, or until the mixture has reduced by half. You might need to leave it longer if you’ve added frozen veges (unless you zapped them in the microwave first, which would have been smart). Add the first teaspoon of palm sugar, taste, and add more if needed – it should still taste a bit sour, though. You can add the fish fillets to the sauce in the pan – or, I preferred to plate the fillets up and pour the sauce over top. Good served with wild rice.