Creamy coconut curry

A creamy coconut curry, another Indian Diasporan dish from Africa's east coast. It's a dish most often made with chicken (as it is here) but also favoured for less popular white fish curries. It's spicy, creamy and yet very light and fresh, and it doesn't take long to cook.

Cream of the crop

Despite being on the Indian Ocean, South Africa's Eastern Seaboard hasn't traditionally gone in for fish curries in a big way—except during the madness of the annual sardine run. This is perhaps ironic given that much of the Indian Diasporan cooking of this region is heavily influenced by the cuisines of Southern India where fish dishes are abundant.

This creamy coconut curry is most often cooked with chicken, as it is here, or as a vegetarian version. That should be a clue in itself. South African Indian Diasporan cuisine on the Eastern Seaboard developed in a way that wily eateries could cater to Christian, Muslim and Hindu patrons using the same bases for dishes, with the relevant protein added at a later stage. Since fish didn't keep safely as long as meat in the hot climate before refrigeration, it wasn't economically smart to put on the menu.

However, when fish curries did appear on the menu, this was often the type of creamy, fragrant sauce whipped up. And, with people becoming more health conscious, the demand for fish curries has grown steadily in more recent years.

The other thing that makes this dish a little quirky is when you add the majority of the spices i.e. later in the cooking process than with most South African Indian cooking. Just go with the flow. When I first cooked it, I thought I had written down the recipe wrongly and added them earlier: mistake. This intentional delay to when the spices unfurl is particularly important it you're opting for a pescatarian version because it is all about piquant freshness.

You can clearly see the South Indian (and Keralan more specifically) influence in this dish. In a way, it's a bit of a curiosity in that it uses both coconut in generous quantities and (optional) cream, neither of which are common in South African Indian cooking. The main difference is that it has more bite than mild Keralan coconut curries. In fact, it is on the spicier end of the spectrum without being as fiery as the infamous Durban curries. That, however, is easily flexible if you prefer yours on the milder side.

This version is for 2 to 3 diners, but you can readily scale up quantities.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• Fresh, hot (e.g. bird's eye) chillies are a backbone of South African Indian Diasporan cooking. This recipe uses three green chillies. Though deseeded, they still pack a punch. If you prefer it milder, reduce the number of green chillies

• Fresh curry leaves are central to this dish. You add them right near the end in the way that you do with coriander in many other Indian dishes. If you can't get fresh curry leaves, using dried curry leaves is fine. Just add them a little earlier and only half the quantity in the recipe above. Base guidelines: "dried" delivers a deeper more intense flavour, but lacks the aroma of fresh leaves

• The cream question. Obviously this is a very creamy dish given all the coconut. And, I tend not to add the single cream when cooking the chicken version because it's somewhat an overkill. However, if I do it with cod, haddock or other white fish, I always do. There is no scientific rationale to this, only the experiential certainty that it makes it better

Shopping list

for the spice paste

• 2 tspns garam masala

• 1 tspn chilli powder

• ½ tspn ground coriander (dhania)

• 1 tspn ground cumin (jeera)

• 1 tspn whole black peppercorns

• ½ tspn fennel seeds

• ½ tspn cayenne pepper

• ½ tspn black mustard seeds

• 4 or 5 whole green cardamom pods

• 1 star anise

• ½ tspn turmeric powder

• a little sunflower oil

• salt and pepper to taste

for the creamy coconut curry

• 400g boneless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces

• 1 tspn garam masala

• 2 medium onions (red or brown), halved and sliced

• 1 fresh green bell pepper; cubed

• 3 hot green chillies; sliced vertically and de-seeded

• 3 sticks of celery; chopped

• 3 to 4 tbspns sunflower oil

• 1 very ripe fresh tomato, finely puréed and strained

• 1 tbspn concentrated tomato paste

• 1 x 400g tin of coconut milk

• Approx 40g creamed coconut, diluted in 200ml boiling water

• the juice and pulp of 1 fresh lime (or small lemon)

• 2 tspns garlic and ginger paste

• 60ml single cream (optional)

• Boiling water, as needed

• salt to taste

sides and condiments

• Rice — traditionally "Durban yellow rice; or steamed basmati or pilau

• Sambal — chopped fresh mango, coriander and dried chilli flakes; dress with lemon

• Chutney —avoid tropically "fruity" chutneys such as mango with this dish. Go for "heavy" classics such as brown onion chutney or Mrs Balls original chutney

Cooking Method

the spice paste

1. In a small, dry pan, lightly toast the black peppercorns, black mustard seeds, cardamom pods, fennel seeds and star anise. Grind in a spice grinder or using a pestle and mortar. Then mix together with the already ground spices

2. Add a dab of oil to mix into a a thick paste

the creamy coconut curry

1. In an appropriate pot or kadai with a lid, brown the chicken in half the oil on a medium-high heat, sprinkling in the garam masala. When it is about half-cooked, add the juice and pulp of half of the lime. Once the chicken is browned, remove and place to one side, leaving all the juices in the pot

2. Add the remainder of the oil and reduce to a medium heat. Add the green chillies and a few whole black peppercorns. Almost immediately add the onions and sauté, stirring regularly to prevent sticking (if it sticks, add a little diluted coconut cream to the pot)

3. When the onions are notably softened, add the green bell pepper and stir in. Almost immediately, add the celery and stir in. Add the garlic & ginger paste; and a dash of the diluted creamed coconut if it is sticking. Cover and sauté until fully softened

4. Uncover, add the remaining lime juice and pulp. Increase to a medium-high heat. Sauté off the liquid.

5. Dissolve the tomato paste into the diluted creamed coconut. Add 1 tspn of the spice paste to this liquid. Use a little of this liquid to deglaze the ingredients, then pour the remainder into the pot. Cover and simmer on a low-medium heat for approx.15mins, occasionally stirring

6. Add the remainder of the spice paste and thoroughly stir in. Add the coconut milk, cover and simmer on a low-medium heat for a further 15-20mins, stirring occasionally. If this reduces too quickly, add a little water (approx. 30-40ml at at time)

7. When you can taste "the change" i.e. when your sauce has cooked down, gently add the cooked chicken back into the pot and simmer for a further 5mins

8. As the chicken nears being optimally cooked, add the fresh curry leaves to the top of the pot and cover. Simmer on a low-medium heat for a further 5-6mins, then reduce to a very low heat, barely keeping the dish warm

9. If opting to use the cream, add it. Gently stir in and re-cover as you prepare the side dishes. After it has cooked in for 5-6mins, plate or take to table in a serving dish

10. Serve with rice and the condiments suggested

Alternatives

This is dish is often made in a vegan version. Simply skip the first step of the recipe above (browning the chicken) and instead add the garam masala and lime to the onions as you brown them. In South Africa, the most common alternative to the chicken is to use whole baby potatoes with the skin on, large pieces of sweet potato, or both. Add these at the point of adding the spices and coconut milk (step 6 above). I have also made great versions using Quorn "chicken" pieces. The cream is optional and, as explained above, it tends to be something I only use in the white fish versions: you won't be missing out.

The pescatarian version of this recipe almost always uses white fish such as hake, cod, coley (saithe) or haddock. With the white fish version, you don't cook the fish before. As with the vegan, start from step 2 in the recipe above, adding the garam masala to the onions (instead of using it while browning the chicken). Cut your filleted, deboned fish into fairly large pieces e.g. cut fillets into about 3 pieces. You don't want them to be too small or else they will disintegrate. Gently add these to the pot in about the last 5mins of cooking, just before adding the curry leaves. Remove from the heat the minute the fish is optimally cooked and cover with the lid to keep warm until plating or serving. It is also fantastic with langoustine or crayfish tails treated in the same way.

Oddly, I have come across versions (or a very similar dish) done with cubes of beef in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. So, it you are a diehard carnivore, that's an option. Personally, however, I don't think it works, so I never cook it with red meat.

Pairings

Purely coincidentally, this is one of those dishes that I somehow always end up pairing with sparkling water and lemon juice whenever I do the chicken version; not a plan, just the way it pans out. That said, I do remember once experiencing that it works really well with cold Corona beer with a wedge of lime.

Conversely, every time I cook it with fish, I pay more attention to the wine. Essentially, I find there are two directions to go: embracing the intensity of the flavours or doing a kind of contrapunto thing.

In the case of the former, nothing beats the Iniceri Abisso Cataratto 2017 with which I once paired it.

Going entirely in the opposite direction, try it with this Flor de Vetus Verdejo. Because it's the wine that has kept on giving with this dish.