Love, love, love. For this fortnights theme, I recreated the very first meal my boyfriend cooked for me. It was the first time I met his Mum too. I very nervously picked out something to wear, got in my car and drove to the other side of town. It was the first and only time I’ve used the front door at his parents house. Anyways so this mean consisted of a tomato fish curry and cumin potatoes. There was also Nasu Dengaku but Tim told me recently that was only because he thought the fish curry might be too hot for his Mum to eat. So I decided to leave that bit out and stick with the dishes that he chose for me.

“Tomato Fish Curry” as found in the Asian Cooking Companion, cookbook

Serves 2

2 tablespoons vegatable oil

1 onion, finely sliced

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

500g white fish fillets, cut into 2 inch cubes

400g  canned chopped tomatoes

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspooon sugar

2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves

lemon wedges for serving

To make spice mixture: In a wok or large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat and stir-fry remaining ingredients until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Add fish, tomatoes with their juice, sat and sugar to the spice mixture in the wok. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirrung occasionally, unitl fish is opaque throughout, 8-10 minutes.

Remove from heat and spoon into serving bowls. Sprinkle with coriander. Serve with lemon wedges and steamed basmati rice.

“Cumin-Flavoured Potatoes” as found in the Asian Cooking Companion, cookbook

Serves 8-10

1kg uniformly sized desiree or pontiac potatoes, or about 7 medium

salt as needed

2 1/2 tablespoons cold water

1 teaspoon ground tumeric

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup vegetable oil and melted unsalted butter combined

4 teaspoon cumin seeds

4 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander

juice of 1/2 lemon

Place potatoes and large pinch salt in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, partially covered, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and let cool for 15 minutes. Peel potatoes and cut into 4cm cubes. Set aside. In a small bowl, combined cold water, turmeric and chili powder, and set aside.

In a large, heavy saucepan, heat oil and butter mixture over medium-low heat. Add cumin seeds and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds; take care not to burn the seeds. Reduce heat to low and add water and turmeric mixture. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add potatoes and salt to taste, and toss gently until heated through, about 1 minute. Add coriander and toss for 30 seconds. Add ginger and coriander and toss to combine. Drizzle with lemon juice and serve.

So the end result huh!? Firstly a couple of variations! I like greens, and this meal seemed to be lacking in them so I added green beans to the curry. For the white fish I selected baby gummy shark and only used about 400g in the end. When I was buying the ingredients I was convinced that I had fresh ginger at home so I didn’t buy any when I was out. Turns out there was none at home. So I had to use powdered ginger in both dishes boo! I also wasn’t able to harvest enough coriander from the veggie patch, so I was also lacking in that area too. Regardless of these short comings – both dishes taste great. I skipped making any rice as the potatoes seemed to have that covered. My love gave me 8 and 1/2 for my work. I guess some more fresh ingredients would have got me over the line!