Sweet and Sour Rhubarb Fish Curry with Bananas and Turmeric

Here is another rhubarb recipe, perfect for the season and this time is not something sweet. I admit, the most common way for us to eat rhubarb is in a sweet way, but each time I try a savory dish including rhubarb, I am actually thinking I should be doing it more often. This dish, like any other rhubarb dish, is somewhat sweet, the natural sourness of rhubarb must be balanced with some sugar, so be prepared for a sweet-sour taste explosion.

It is (for me) a quite uncommon dish, but I love all these contrasting flavors and textures, the fish is tender, the rhubarb is sour, the sauce is sweet and creamy. And there is another secret ingredient, something one would not expect to find in a savory dish: bananas. After adding quite a lot of sugar, I felt the dish to be still too sour. I really didn’t want to throw even more sugar in the curry, so I kept looking around the kitchen, thinking what else I could use and then I saw the bananas. They were pretty ripe, so quite sweet, and I just mashed one and stirred it in the sauce, without expecting too much. But it worked so well, in my opinion, any further sugar addition was unnecessary, the sauce was creamier and the light banana taste was a perfect fit to the rhubarb and fish.

So, be prepared, it is unusual, but it is delicious, I loved every spoonful of it.

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Rhubarb Fish Curry

Rating  5.0 from 2 reviews

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  35 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 600 g/ 1.3 pounds pollock filets
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 large onion
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 250 g/ 8.8 oz rhubarb
• 1 heaped tablespoon green curry paste
• 1 thumb-size piece of turmeric or ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 4-6 teaspoons coconut sugar (or regular), to taste
• 250 ml/ 1 cup vegetable broth
• 200 ml/ scant 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 small bunch parsley
• salt and white pepper
• rice to serve

Instructions

1. Wash and dry the fish filets, cut them into bite-size pieces, place in a bowl, add the lemon juice, some salt and white pepper. Cover and place in the fridge, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. Chop the onion and garlic cloves finely but keep them separated. Clean and chop the rhubarb into thin slices, about 1 cm/ 0.4 inch thick. Grate the turmeric finely.
3. Heat the oil in a large cast iron skillet (or a non-stick pan). Cook the onions until translucent, add the garlic and stir for another minute or so. Add the rhubarb, turmeric and curry paste and cook gently for about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and the vegetable broth, some salt and pepper. Stir well, then add the heavy cream. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, for about 5 minutes.
4. Mash one of the bananas and cut the other one into small cubes. Add them to the pot together with the fish and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Adjust the taste with more salt, pepper and sugar if you find it necessary. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped parsley.
5. Serve immediately with rice.

3.5.3208

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