Very Very fast Dover Sole......Quite delicious!

Well, My Rick Stein India book has arrived and I must say it doesn't disappoint! (I wasn't expecting it to of course, having watched the series)

Flipping idly through the pages, and at home alone with nobody else to cook for, I came upon a dish that yelled out to be made. (only my son eats fish/ seafood - daughter and wife have defective taste bud somewhere and refuse to partake.....)

The title might be a bit strange - but it says everything it needs to......Fish Fry with Garlic, Cumin and Kashmiri chilli.........whats not to like! :-) My runner bean plants are now in full flow so grabbed a nice handful to go with the fish, and decided not to bother with rice/ bread or potatoes.

This recipe is brilliantly fast - not even a masala to make this time - just 10 mins of brief marinating which is about perfect for sorting out what you are to have on the side.

Ingredients:

• Some fish! Rick recommends dabs, John Dory, plaice, flounder or lemon sole - and circa 250g-300g apiece. I had none of the above but happily had a couple of large Dover Sole available. (I should point out that I was going to make a classic beurre blanc with capers and new potatoes to go with this but got distracted by this recipe instead!)
• Oil - recommended Coconut oil - didn't have any of that but rape seed/ vegetable/ sunflower does the job - 50ml
• The marinade:
• 4 cloves garlic, pulped - I used the Garlic twist on this occasion
• About 6 of my 2cmx4cmx2mm frozen slices of root ginger - again, pulped
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1/2 teaspoon gound turmeric
• 1 tsp ground black peppercorns
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• Chilli......you have some options here - but you don't want to lose the fabulous fish. You don't want anything seriously powerful - I used my dried mild kashmiri chillies and ground them up into powder, but a mild chilli powder will do. I did read somewhere that if you don't have kashmiri chilli powder, simply use 2/3rds ordinary chilli powder with 1/3rd Paprika (NOT the smoked Paprika) and you will be alright. I haven't tried this, simply because I do have Kasmiri chillies, but in the interests of being thorough, I will give this a go at some point and let you know what I think.
• Finally, the juice of a nice small lemon.
• Mix this all up into a paste. Lightly score your fish on both sides and rub the marinade into both sides.
• Leave for a while - Rick says 10 mins should suffice. I left it 20 due to a phone call.  It isn't an overnight job though!
• Oil - medium heat. Fry fish for 4 mins each side. I put about 15g unsalted butter in for the second 4 mins and did a couple of bastes. NOTE the 4 mins.....for the two fish like this I had it was perfect. I also removed straight away from pan after the second 4 mins and placed on warmed plate rather than leave it in the pan whilst sorting out the rest of the meal. (rest of meal just quickly - cut fresh runner beans, put in salted boiling water for 1 minute then refreshed in cold water and drained. Last 4 mins of fish - sauted the beans briefly in a little unsalted butter, good pinch freshly ground black pepper and a good grating of nutmeg with the microplaner. (I find it almost impossible not to add a little nutmeg to fresh green vegetables these days......particularly savoy cabbage.....)
• That's it! Serve with whatever you like, but make sure you have some citrus on hand to squeeze over.

This dish is absolutely fabulous. Simplicity itself and fabulous. (did I mention fabulous?) The fish was beautifully succulent, the spicing quite obvious but not enough to interfere with the taste of the fish either.
Everyone should make it immediately! Great stuff Mr Stein!

bon appetit

(Yes, both fish for me thanks!)