Curry Perch (man can't live on sausage alone)

One reason I don't post sausage and chorizo recipes more often is because I do cook and eat other things.

I like to prepare Chinese dishes, in particular. And since I've been in Florida, and exposed to Jamaican food, I've attempted to mimic Jamaican-style cooking.

No sausage here today. No chorizo, either.

This is the end result of an experiment that turned out really well. I'll call it Curry Perch.

I started with a ripe plantain, chopped it in sections and grilled it in vegetable oil and butter.

Curry perch with spinach rice and a Guiness

On a separate fire, I have long grain white rice cooking. The rice is seasoned with a cilantro seasoning cube, one chopped chipotle pepper and mixed in is some spinach.

Once the plantain is cooked, I add a 3/4 cup of coconut milk and shake in enough curry to give the liquid a strong ochre color. Bring this to a boil and stir. Or stir as you bring this to a boil. Something like that.

Add some hot salsa. How much depends on your tolerance for pepper heat. I put in two spoonfuls of my hot salsa.

Grilled ripe plantain in oil and butter

plantain and perch in curry sauce

I took six perch fillets and dropped them in the boiling sauce as it was being reduced. I used the stirring spoon to break the fillets down into bite-size pieces, then I turned the heat off.

I didn't want to leave the perch cooking in the pan for more than a few minutes. It doesn't take much to cook fish. If you look it in too long, it's either going get rubbery or it's going to disintegrate.

There's not much else to say about this. Easy to cook. The curry perch was ready when the rice was ready. And all the taste profiles balanced out nice. Curry, spicy, coconut milky. My only complaint might be the plantain was just a tad too sweet; it's always a little tricky deciding when to cook a plantain.

The rice came out wonderful. Twenty minutes of simmering and presto! It had a nice smokey cilantro/chipotle flavor to it.

Rice with spinach, chipotle, seasoned with cilantro salt

I probably should have gone with a white wine, but I was in the mood for a Guinness. Had not had one in ages. What can I say?

Buen provecho!