Comfort-Food Curry

Fri 20th Jan, 2017 - 3:38pm by Emma Cockrell

When the temperature outside begins to dip down we often turn to warming comfort-food meals. These don’t have to break with Nutritionhelp diet recommendations to be tasty and satisfying. This week’s recipe is a delicious mild curry, served with cauliflower rice.

If you are following a Nutritionhelp anti-candida protocol, you will know that it is best to avoid the hot spices, since these can unhelpfully impact beneficial bacteria. However, a curry using the mild spices turmeric, cumin and coriander, together with a little ginger and plenty of garlic, is wonderfully aromatic and flavoursome. In the following recipe I have used economical, sustainably sourced, frozen white fish fillets, but  you can add a wild salmon fillet if you want to increase beneficial omega 3 fatty acids. Alternatively use chicken fillets and/or chickpeas if you prefer, in place of the fish. You can also add any veg you like to make the meal go further.

Mild Fish Comfort-Food Curry

• To serve 2
• 2-4 frozen white fish fillets
• 1medium onion, chopped in half and finely sliced
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2cm chunk of fresh ginger, grated
• 2 teaspoons virgin coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 100g of creamed coconut, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups water

Place the onions in a pan with the coconut oil and cook over a medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for one minute, add the ginger and stir for 30 seconds, then add the cumin, coriander and turmeric. Stir for 30 seconds. Add the fish fillets. Stir to cover with the spices, add a lid and allow the fish to cook through. Some moisture will come out of the fillets, but add a little water if the pan gets dry. Once fish is thoroughly cooked (about 5 minutes) add the remaining water and bring to the boil. When water is hot, stir in the creamed coconut. Add a little more creamed coconut if the sauce is a bit too runny, or add a little more water if it is too dry.

That’s it! A tasty dish prepared in just a few minutes, suitable for the anti-candida diet.

Cauliflower Rice

• Use in place of rice. To serve 2, chop half a head of cauliflower into chunks. Place the cauliflower into a food processor bowl and whizz, to make fine ‘grains’.
• Melt a teaspoon of virgin coconut oil in a large frying pan and then add half a teaspoon or cumin seeds. Stir for a minute and then add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric. Stir the spice into the oil and cook for a further 30 seconds.
• Add the cauliflower ‘grains’ to the pan. Stir to cover with the spice.
• Add 2 chopped tomatoes  and stir into the cauliflower.
• Turn the heat down low, add a lid to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes until cauliflower is soft.
• Served topped with the fish curry.