Mild fish and vegetable coconut curry

There is an awful lot to be said for a well-stocked cupboard. If I have a good selection of non-perishable basics in – spices, oils, cans etc – combined with a few random veggies and if I’m lucky some meat or fish in the freezer I can normally knock something fairly OK up. Tonight was such a night: a what’s-in-the-cupboard/freezer/fridge-god-knows-what-will-happen kinda night. But it worked out fine. In fact, it was really nice.

See, as you may have guessed, I have fallen off the meal planning wagon – for two reasons, one my printer has broken so I stopped printing off my own template – see right for that! Two, I’m just so busy, so actually I need to meal plan more than ever but I’m not stopping to do it! I will start again tomorrow and just jot down a week’s worth of meals on my iPhone Notes whilst I do an Ocado shop right after I post this.

This is a lovely curry – but it’s success depends on having a decent quality – and not really old – curry powder in. Mine is a great one, from a shop in Manchester. I probably do need to update it to be honest, but with heaps of fresh garlic and ginger it did the job. The kids even liked this, well, apart from them both leaving the courgettes. I completely adore coconut so tipped a few tablespoons of desiccated in too – if you don’t like the grainy texture then simply leave it out. Also – add a tin of chick peas and not the fish to make a perfectly nice veggie curry.

Super easy, fairly quick, very healthy and blooming tasty. Give yourself slap on the back woman!!

If you are meal planning (nailed it!) then do top with fresh coriander – which I will do next time…

Serves: 4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20-25 minutes
Total time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients: 
2 small cod fillets, skinless and boneless
1 x 150g bag of raw king prawns
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 onion, diced
1 thumb size piece of fresh ginger, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/2 mild red chilli, chopped finely
1 heaped tablespoon of curry powder
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
2 courgettes, sliced into thick rounds
3 tablespoons of desiccated coconut
1 x 400g tin of coconut milk
1 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
150g spinach

To serve: 
Brown rice
Fresh coriander
Red chillies, chopped

Instructions: 

1. Put your brown rice on – 1 part rice to 2 parts water, lid on, bring to boil, simmer until all the water has gone.
2. Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion, garlic, ginger and chilli if using. Soften for 5 minutes.
3. Add curry powder and coconut. Now sweet potato and courgettes. Coat in spices for a few minutes.
4. Tip the coconut milk in, sweet chilli and soy. Bring to boil. Let simmer with lid on until veggies are tender – about 20 mins.
5. Now add the fish, cod cut into chunks. Stir and when almost done and just about to serve, at the very last minute, add all the spinach, stir through to just wilt and serve immediately.