Times certainly have changed. Ten years ago, shopping for the ingredients for red curry carrot sauce would have required a trip to the local Asian market. Now, most large well stocked supermarkets have curry pastes, coconut milk and fish sauce needed to make this recipe. Here’s a little background information on the special ingredients.
The base of a red chili paste is dried red chilies. The chilies are combined with dry (cumin seeds, coriander seeds) and wet (lemon grass, ginger, garlic) ingredients to make a paste. Taste a little of the curry paste to get a feel for it’s heat before using. Curry pastes that you would purchase in an Asian market are considerably hotter than their counterparts aimed at American palates. There are many varieties of curry paste, in this case you are first looking for a Thai curry paste, the most popular are red and green, with green being the hotter of the two.
The coconut milk used in this recipe is not the kind that you might have on hand for a Pina Colada. That type has sugar and stabilizers added. Also coconut milk is not the liquid inside the coconut, that is coconut water. Coconut milk is a liquid made by pureeing coconut meat and water. Shake the can well before using to mix the cream that rises to the top with the milk. There are also many recipes on line for making your own coconut milk.
Fish sauce is known as nam pla in Thailand and nuoc mam in Vietnam. Amber in color, it is the liquid extracted from fish, usually anchovies, and fermented with sea salt. This pungent condiment becomes subtle when combined with other ingredients.
The sweetness of the carrots and the creaminess of the coconut milk are balanced with the heat of the curry and the unami of fish sauce. We served red curry sauce with vermillion snapper, a variety that is slightly smaller than red, caught in the south Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. It is listed as a “good alternative” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Watch. The sauce would compliment any moderately firm delicate flavored fish. Remember to look for any pinbones and remove with tweezers before cooking your fish. As always, we use the Canadian fisheries method to determine the cooking time of the fillets. Serve with jasmine rice to soak up the delicious sauce.
Red Snapper with Red Curry Sauce
Adapted from a recipe in Food and Wine Magazine
Ingredients
- 3/4lb carrots, peeled and trimmed, cut into 1/4″ pieces
- 1 clove garlic smashed
- 1 11/2c low sodium chicken broth or chicken stock
- 1 can coconut milk (about 13.5 oz)
- 2T fish sauce nam pla or nuoc mam
- 2t brown sugar
- 1 1/2t red curry paste (more or less to taste)
- 1T canola oil
- 1lb vermilion or red snapper fillets
- Cilantro leaves and lime wedges for serving
- Cooked jasmine or other long grain rice
Directions
- In a medium saucepan, bring the carrots, garlic and broth to a boil. Cook, covered, over moderately low heat until the carrots are tender, about 15 minute. Check for doneness with the tip of a knife.
- Puree the carrots, garlic, and broth in a blender and pour back into the pan. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, curry paste,, brown sugar and 1/2t salt and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat your oven to 450°F.
- Measure the fillets at their thickest point. Season fish with salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet.
- Bake fish for 10 minutes for every inch of thickness. The original instructions say to turn the fish over at the halfway point, you can, we don’t. If you check internal temperatures, it should be about 145°F.
- Mound the rice on plates and top with fish and sauce. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.
