There is no concept of too much fish in a mallu kitchen. Well, mine is a half mallu, half Tamil kitchen, but the statement still holds true; we are both avid fish lovers. But somehow we did end up with too much fish in the fridge over last weekend! Weather was really nice, so I walked down to the Pike Place Market and picked up some pink snapper and striped bass on Friday afternoon. Same day Siv brought home some Halibut filets from Whole Foods, and we did a Costco run on Saturday from where we always buy the large bag of catfish filets. We could only get through the snapper and bass over the weekend, we still had tons of catfish and halibut left. I don’t normally freeze fish or meat, Siv doesn’t care, but I always like to eat my meat and fish fresh. Our weekday dinners are normally take outs or quick fix meals, but with all these fish in the fridge, we will be cooking a lot of fish this week.

One good thing about fish is that it gets cooked in a few minutes and tastes great with practically no effort, so it was very easy to whip up a fast dinner tonight - pan fried Halibut with a sauce that I made up on the fly.  The sauce was made with some Indian spices and tamarind paste in a coconut milk base. The spices and the strong taste of tamarind offered a nice contrast to the delicately mild sweet flavor of the halibut. The whole dinner was ready in about 25 minutes after we got home. 

  

Ingredients

  • For the Sauce:

    • Method

    Wash the halibut filets and pat dry with paper towels.

    Rub this fish pieces with the olive oil and season with pepper, paprika and salt.

    To make the sauce, heat oil in a sauce pan, and saute the shallots, garlic and green chilli till soft. Add the curry leaves and saute for another minute. Reduce the heat and add the spice powders and saute till the spices are cooked well. Add the tamarind paste, salt and coconut milk and bring to a boil on medium heat. 

    In the mean time, heat some oil in a pan just enough for shallow frying. Fry the halibut pieces, skin side down for four minutes on high heat. Turn the pieces and cook the other side on medium heat for four more minutes.

    To serve, arrange the halibut pieces skin side down on the serving plate and top with two table spoons of sauce. Serve with rice or a salad.

    Notes

    Eight minutes to cook the fish, about ten minutes to prepare the sauce, and twenty minutes to cook the rice which happened in parallel, a delicious dinner was ready in a total of twenty minutes. Now we just have the catfish remaining, enough for three dinners, I might revisit my caramelized catfish recipe one night.

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    Comments

    26 Responses to “Pan Fried Halibut in Tamarind Sauce - A Quick Fix Dinner”

    1. Reena on May 1st, 2007 7:29 am

      Sigs, Waiting for Fish fest:). Love the presentation and the good part is cooking time. I like fresh fish too but sometimes stock up prawns and shrimps.

    2. Meeta on May 1st, 2007 10:48 am

      Fantastic. Fish is the best can be used in so many dishes and cooked in so many ways. This one is saying to me “Meeta make me!!” Great job!

    3. Anita on May 1st, 2007 11:22 am

      That looks superlicious to boot. That too in 20 min! I’m all for this one, baby!

    4. Bharathy. on May 1st, 2007 12:08 pm

      lots of nonveg coming up lately…make me crave with excellent pictures:(…what coincidence! me too an aquarian,fish lover(water bearers are fish lovers I suppose!)and my kitchen too half mallu and half tamil…so eligible getting into both the portals…:)

    5. Asha on May 1st, 2007 12:33 pm

      Tamarind makes everything taste good.I love the photo and a yummy recipe.Thanks Sig:))

    6. Richa on May 1st, 2007 2:43 pm

      hey sig, isn’t it great to dish out tasty food in such a short time ;-) so now u r in competition with RR? tamarind sauce sounds yummy! looks like u sure r a blood orange fan ;-)

    7. Richa on May 1st, 2007 2:44 pm

      oh! no more moderation ;-)

    8. Pravs on May 1st, 2007 2:46 pm

      I am with you, when it comes to fresh fish or meat. Meen curry tastes awesome with halibut. Great idea of serving halibut fried and then topping with sauce. Eye catching picture… you always take great pics :D

    9. Inji Pennu on May 1st, 2007 10:30 pm

      Wow Sig! You have such a fantastic blog here. STarting to read it in full! Great going. Fantastic pics too! Just now started to read this blog.

    10. Gini on May 2nd, 2007 12:22 am

      That plate of food looks like one from the restaurants you review. Looks yummy.

    11. musical on May 2nd, 2007 2:12 am

      Lovely pics, those blood oranges, they make the whole picture look even more gorgeous. Tamarind sauce is a great idea. and i must add one thing sweetie, all your sea-food and meat dishes are really versatile, they adapt to vegetarian replacements very well. I can really see this combo of tamarind sauce and coconut milk going very well with a lot of vegetarian goodies too. (goes back to ogle at the pics)

    12. MetroBellevue on May 2nd, 2007 5:49 am

      Hi, found your blog through UrbanSpoon. What a nice food blog you have here. Love the wonderful pictures and detailed recipes. Cheers.

    13. sunita on May 2nd, 2007 10:53 am

      Absolutely love this recipe…quick and easy…we too are avid fish lovers…

    14. Sandeepa on May 2nd, 2007 2:36 pm

      You will soon give those restaurants you review a run for their money Sig !!!

      What a beautiful pic and since I am hungry and blog hopping this makes me you know what…

    15. indosungod on May 2nd, 2007 10:03 pm

      Sig, the fish looks perfect. Other than Salmon, Catfish, Red Snapper I don’t seem to notice what fish I buy. Fresh fish is not associated with what we get here unless we trek to the WaterFront. I’ll look for halibut. I have to after seeing your pic.

    16. SHANTI BHANU on May 3rd, 2007 5:38 am

      hi this is the first visit to ur blog and its awesome……love ur pics the colors r so so good..keep going..gook luck!!!!!!!!

    17. Melting Wok on May 3rd, 2007 12:49 pm

      sig, great use of the tamarind paste, kinda remind me of malaysian asam pedas fish curry (sour, spicy rendition). I love it when fish fillets are cook this way, yummy :)
      p/s: btw, just in case you did not get my reply on the quail eggs on my sticky rice post, I’ve use the “can” ones (cooked and peeled), easily found at any Asian grocery market.(look at the can fruits/food section), hope that helps, cheers !:)

    18. Sig on May 3rd, 2007 2:50 pm

      Sorry everyone, things have been super hectic this week, I wasn’t ignoring the comments, just never got around to replying.. :(

      Reena, prawns and shrimp (er… I still don’t know the difference :)) are something I buy frozen too… just as a backup in the freezer for those lazy days.

      Meeta LOL, Meeta Make Me has a nice ring to it… :) when I look at your pics those normally tell me Sig Eat Me!

      Anita, thanks :) Isn’t that great to have an entire meal ready in 20 mins…

      Bharathy, lol that’s a lot of coincidences… aquarian or not, haven’t met a mallu who doesn’t like fish, except for the vegetarians of course :)

      Asha, yeah Tamarind is the best, it adds that extra something-something to dishes… esp seafood!

    19. Sig on May 3rd, 2007 2:56 pm

      Richa :) Lol girl, RR has nothing on me, I should start my own show called 20 minute meals… Yeah, no more moderation, I finally decided to trust people :D…

      Pravs, Meen curry with halibut will be great too… I haven’t tried a traditional fish curry recipe with halibut… that must taste good too… next time.

      Inji, welcome to my site… and thanks for all the comments… :)

      Gini, wow, thanks, that is a great compliment… <Blush>
      Hope you are done with your exams.

      Musie, yeah blood orange is so photogenic right? You are right, this will go great with veggies too…

      Metro, thanks and welcome!

    20. Sig on May 3rd, 2007 3:04 pm

      Sunita, Yes, I know you are a fish lover… I always come by to ogle at your fish pics… I have a ton of ur unique fish recipes in my to-try list.

      Sandeepa, lol, thanks… that is my dream… :)

      Indo, welcome to my blog… fresh fish is sometimes worth all that trouble right? Halibut is one of favorites, it has a unique taste and is very versatile.

      Shanti, thanks and welcome to my blog!

      Melting Wok, thanks much for the info on quail eggs, I’ve never seen the canned ones, but I didn’t even know they exists! We have a lot of Asian grocery stores around, so I am sure I can find some… Love the idea for dessert too, thanks girl!

    21. shilpa(Aayisrecipes) on May 3rd, 2007 3:54 pm

      Do u know I am salivating now? I usually freeze fish/chicken and I always felt they don’t taste good after second day. I haven’t tried different kind of fishes here. I always buy them from Chinese store(I look for meckerel or pomfret). I am going to try Halibut sometime. Your dish looks so good, so may be this is the first dish I am gonnu try with this fish.

    22. USHA on May 3rd, 2007 8:15 pm

      Hi Sig,

      What a lovely presentation…!!!tempts alot my girl…

      i’m drolling over here…gr8

    23. mallugirl on May 3rd, 2007 8:20 pm

      wonderful photo, sig!u are right, fish is easy to cook on a week night provided its fresh.

    24. Sushma on May 4th, 2007 2:05 am

      The fish curry looks YUMMY-LICIOUS.. and the pressentation is great !!!

    25. Amy on May 5th, 2007 4:45 am

      Ooh this looks lovely! I’m totally saving this recipe, I love fish. :) Thanks Sig!

    26. Cynthia on May 10th, 2007 12:28 am

      This picture falls into the category of food porn! (lol)

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