Curry Spiced Mackerel Fillet on Turmeric and Garlic Rice

Curry spiced mackerel fillet is pan fried and served on a bed of turmeric, garlic and coriander rice

I've been doing a lot more fishing this year than I have done in a great many years. Although my fortunes have been varied, at least I have had a few trips where the mackerel (if not always anything else) have been caught aplenty. I was on just one such trip yesterday, to St Catherines on Loch Fyne, from where I returned with a good bag of mackerel for the pot. As mackerel is like most types of fish in that it does not freeze well, I have been eating little but mackerel for the past couple of days, experimenting as I go with the huge number of potential mackerel recipes it is possible to come up with if you give it but a little thought. I hope you like this idea and give it a try if you have access to fresh mackerel.

Rice should always be washed before it is cooked

Ingredients per Person

3oz basmati rice
1 tsp ground turmeric
Sea salt
1 tbsp plain/all purpose flour
1 tsp medium curry powder
1 large mackerel side fillet, boned but not skinned
Vegetable oil for frying
1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander leaf/cilantro (plus extra to garnish)
1 clove of garlic

Turmeric and salt are added to the uncooked rice

Directions

Begin by washing the rice in a sieve under running cold water. Add it to a pot with the turmeric and some salt. Pour enough boiling water in to the pot to comfortably cover the rice, bring back to a simmer and leave to cook for ten minutes.

Curry powder and salt are added to the flour for dusting the mackerel

Put the flour and curry powder on a large plate, season with salt and gently shake to combine. Put the oil in to a frying pan and bring up to a moderate to high heat.

Mackerel is patted in the curry powder and flour on its skin side only

Pat the mackerel on its skin side only in the curried flour before laying it skin side down in the hot pan. Season the flesh side with salt and a little more curry powder and leave it to fry for two or three minutes while you drain and finishing preparing the rice.

Pan frying the curry spiced mackerel fillet

Drain the rice at your sink through a sieve and return it to the empty pot. Add the chopped coriander, peel the garlic clove and grate it in to the pot. Stir carefully to combine before laying the rice as a bed for the mackerel in the bottom of your serving plate.

Coriander (cilantro) and garlic are added to the drained rice

Turmeric and garlic rice bed

When you can see the mackerel is cooked most of the way through, reduce the heat under the pan to as low as possible before turning the fillet on to its flesh side. Half a minute or so will allow it to complete cooking. It may then be lifted on to the rice bed with a spatula and garnished with the remaining coriander prior to service.

Curry spiced mackerel fillet is laid on bed of turmeric and garlic rice