Sea bass and turmeric potatoes in rasam broth

Tamarind is one of our favourite ingredients. Its taste is hard to describe – it has a sweet-sour flavour that adds a completely distinct tartness to sauces, soups, marinades, pasted and dressings. Here, its tartness is a key part of the rasam soup which is often served in South Indian cooking to balance the heat of other dishes. Rasam translates as “essence”. The soup can be made in many ways – with varying contributions from tomato, pepper, lemon, cumin, chilli and tamarind water – but the result will always be food that comforts and restores. Our version is a meal in itself, somewhere between a hearty soup and a fish dish with a sauce.

Credit: Nopi

• serves

  6

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 30 g ghee
• 6 sea bass fillets (840 g), skin lightly scored
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 10 g coriander leaves (optional)
• coarse sea salt and black pepper

Potatoes

• 620 g desiree potatoes (or a firm, waxy variety), peeled and cut into 2.5 cm cubes
• 15 g ghee
• 8 stems fresh curry leaves (20 g)
• 1½ tbsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1 medium onion, finely diced (100 g)
• 4 garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 medium tomatoes (170 g), halved, seeds removed and roughly chopped (100 g)
• 10 g unsalted butter

Rasam

• 100 g tamarind pulp
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced (200 g)
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1½ tbsp garam masala
• 12 stems fresh curry leaves (25 g)
• 2 large dried red chillies
• 3 large tomatoes (300 g), each cut into 6 wedges, 2 cm wide

Standing time 30 minutes

Infusing time 3 hours

Instructions

Place the potato in a medium saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes, until just cooked. Drain and set aside.

Wipe the pan dry and return it to a medium heat with the 15 g of ghee. When melted, add the curry leaves and mustard seeds and fry for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the onion and garlic and fry for another 3 or 4 minutes, until starting to soften. Add the turmeric, tomato and cooked potato, stir to coat the potato with the spices, then cook for a minute or so before adding the butter, 1 teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Cook for a final minute, then set aside and just warm up when you need it.

To make the rasam, pour 900 ml of boiling water over the tamarind and set aside for 30 minutes, for the pulp to soften and disintegrate in the water. Use your hands to break up and dissolve the pulp, then strain through a fine mesh sieve and discard the seeds. Put the sunflower oil into a large pot and place on a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry for 4-5 minutes, stirring from time to time, until starting to soften. Add the garam masala, curry leaves and chillies and fry for another minute before adding the tomato. Pour over the tamarind water, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer very gently for 15 minutes; take care that it does not come to the boil, as this will cause the tamarind pulp to split. Add 2 teaspoons of salt, stir through and set aside. You can leave this to infuse for a few hours and then, when ready to serve, there are two options. For a more formal look, strain the rasam for a clear broth; for a more rustic and informal look, you can skip the straining and keep the onion, garlic, curry leaves and chillies in the pot. Either way, you'll need to return it to the stove and warm it through before serving.

To cook the fish, place a large frying pan on a medium heat and add the ghee. Use 1½ teaspoons of salt to sprinkle over the skin side of all 6 fish, along with a grind of black pepper. When the ghee has melted, add the fish to the pan, skin-side down: you might need to do this in two batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Fry for 3-4 minutes, until crisp and golden-brown. Use another 1½ teaspoons of salt to sprinkle on the flesh side of the fish, along with some more black pepper, then flip the fish over and cook for a final minute. Remove from the heat and drizzle with the lemon juice.

To serve, spoon the warm potatoes into a bowl. Place a fish on top or alongside, skin-side up, and ladle over the rasam. Finish with a sprinkle of coriander, if using, and serve.

Note

• We use five different spices when making rasam at Nopi, instead of the garam masala mix here. If you want to reinstate the original, use 1 teaspoon each of black pepper, cumin, coriander, caraway and yellow mustard seeds.

Recipe and image from Nopi by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully (Ebury Press, $59.99, hbk).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.