Fish Suruwa - Fijian Fish Curry

While researching food in Fiji I soon discovered that seafood is an integral part to Fijian cuisine which makes sense as it’s an island, and curries seem to play an important part in the Fijian diet (often accompanied by roti).

I also found out that much like South America and many African countries, tubers such as taro and cassava are a staple in Fijian diets. Fijians have also incorporated imports such as sweet potato (from Papua New Guinea) and rice (from India) into their diets. I would love to go to Fiji and try so many dishes and vegetables such as: rourou (taro leaf) and other vegetables like amaranthus and cassava laves (which are also widely consumed in the African continent), as well as drinks like Kava made from the powdered roots of the yaqona plants. Throughout this challenge one of the hardest things has been finding some of the fruits and vegetables that grow in other countries to truly be able to diversify my palette and explore other cuisines from the comfort of my own home during lockdown. While you can buy cassava in England, finding the leaves hasn’t been possible for me so far. So while there are so many dishes I would love to try I think they may have to wait until I visit some of the countries one day. Luckily though most countries have many delicious looking dishes made with ingredients that are a lot easier to find. Such as this AMAZING fish curry that I will 100% be making again.

I used this recipe for mine from Jason Hando in Clever Cooking who credits his Fijian Indian friends for the recipe. The only adaptation I made was to use coconut milk instead of water as many of the other recipes I found used it and that sounded too tempting to pass up!

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Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 onion diced

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 3 cloves garlic minced

• 2 long red chilies

• 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala

• 1 teaspoon ground toasted cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

• 2 medium tomatoes finely diced (or half a tin of diced tomatoes)

• 1 1/2 pounds (680 grams) firm white fish

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 2/3 cups (400 ml) coconut milk

• Salt to taste

• Freshly chopped cilantro for garnish

• Steamed white rice for serving

Method

1. In a large frying pan over medium heat add the oil. Once hot add the onion and cinnamon stick. Once the onion softens and begins to get some colour add the garlic, chillies, garam masala, cumin and turmeric with a splash of water.

2. Cook down for 2-3 minutes and then add the tomatoes, then add the coconut milk, stir and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

3. Place the fish into the curry mix and cook for 2 -3 minutes. Try not to stir it too much or it will break apart like mine did!

4. Garnish with coriander and serve over white rice.