Spiced mackerel with coconut dhal and sweet potato wedges

We eat a lot of mackerel in this house, but it is usually the smoked mackerel fillets, which are so easy to chuck into fajitas, or make mackerel pate, or just chuck into salads! The thing I miss most about living in the city is, rather strangely, the fishmongers we had close by. It was amazing, quite famous actually. So we got used to eating seafood and fish – fresh as a daisy – whenever we fancied. Sadly that is no longer the case. Unless I can find an awesome seafood delivery service, we will have to make do with supermarket fish – wish isn’t as good as fishmongers, I’m afraid. Certainly not for shellfish and whole fish, anyway.

However, if you select the fillets from right at the back, then freeze them as soon as you get them home – or buy them frozen, then you are eating them as fresh as possible. Fillets are easy and make a great base for a do-able midweek meal.

Here is a lovely healthy recipe from my YouTube channel – such an easy dish and really rather swish, too. Remember to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already!

Makes: enough for 3-4 people or 2 adults and 2 kids
Takes: 40 minutes approx
Ingredients:

• 3 sweet potatoes, cut into wedges
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil (share between wedges, fish and dhal)
• 2 teaspoons salt (share between wedges, fish and dhal)
• 2 tablespoons garam masala spice mix (share between wedges, fish and dhal)
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 125g red lentils
• 325g chicken or veg stock
• 1 440ml can of coconut milk
• 4 mackerel fillets

To serve:

• Chopped coriander, natural yoghurt, chilli flakes, squeeze of lime

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Toss wedges in oil, salt, spices mix. Bake for about 30 mins.
3. Meanwhile, sweat onions and garlic in a little oil and spice mix for about 15 mins, until soft. Add lentils, stock and coconut milk, bring to boil then simmer for about 20 mins.
4. Pop oil, salt and spices onto fish fillets and coat evenly. Get a pan really hot with a little oil in. Wait until it’s smoking! Pop the fillets in, skin side down and turn down heat a little. Fry for a few minutes on this side, until the fish is almost cooked (you can see it cooking). Turn over only once it’s almost done and turn off heat immediately.
5. Serve up – dhal in bowl, wedges on side, fish on top – coriander, yoghurt, chilli and a good squeeze of lime if you have it! Enjoy!

Watch the video here – remember to subscribe to my YouTube channel for recipes, family vlogs and loads more too!