Aromatic fish curry

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This is my favourite Cambodian fish curry dish. The traditional way to cook this dish, known as Trey Amok, is by steaming in small baskets made of fresh banana leaves. For my baked version, I put the fish curry in ramekins, but you can use any ovenproof bowls.

The egg in the mixture binds the ingredients and makes the curry set nicely.

Oven Baked Fish Curry

MAKES 4 RAMEKINS

Ingredients

100g/3½oz baby spinach

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp palm sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp tamarind paste

200ml/7fl oz/scant 1 cup coconut milk, plus extra for the garnish

500g/1lb 2oz skinless white fish fillets, such as cod, haddock or monkfish, cut into bite-sized chunks

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 red chilli, deseeded and julienned

4 kaffir lime leaves, ribs removed and thinly sliced

rice, to serve

FOR THE PASTE

2 banana shallots, peeled

5 garlic cloves, peeled

2 stalks of lemongrass, trimmed

5cm/2in fresh turmeric, peeled, or 1 tsp ground turmeric

3 red chillies, deseeded

5cm/2in galangal, or ginger with 2 tsp lemon juice

Method

Preheat the oven to 160ºC fan/180ºC/gas mark 4. Blitz together the paste ingredients with 2 tablespoons of water using a handheld stick blender or food processor until fine and smooth.

In a medium bowl, blanch the spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove and pat dry with kitchen paper. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or deep saucepan over a medium heat and fry the paste for 3 minutes until fragrant.

Stir in the sugar, fish sauce and tamarind, cook for 2 minutes and then stir in the coconut milk, together with 200ml/7fl oz/scant 1 cup of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.

Divide the fish and spinach between four medium ramekins or ovenproof bowls. Pour an equal amount of curry sauce into each bowl, stir well but gently, and make sure the spinach is visible in each ramekin or bowl.

Next, divide the beaten eggs between the bowls and mix gently. Put the bowls into a large, deep oven tray and pour in cold water so it reaches halfway up the bowls. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and seal around the edges to trap the steam.

Bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and set aside for 2 minutes, then pour ½ tablespoon of extra coconut milk over each bowl and garnish with the chilli and kaffir lime leaves. Serve with rice.

Recipe extracted from Bowlful by Norman Musa (HarperCollins, RRP $49.99). Photography credit to Luke J Albert.