This wonderful curry was a complete surprise. I wanted to eat a curry but I didn’t want it to be hot. I wanted it to be spicy, sweet, tart and juicy.

Coupled with some white teff roti, I knew exactly the flavors I needed to make this dish sing. And the choice of fish was important. I chose frozen smoked haddock medallions, which is the perfect portion of protein I’m allowed to have at lunch and dinnertime. One medallion is one portion of protein and I usually have two at lunch and two for supper.

You can obviously reduce the spice quantities or leave some of these steps out depending on what you have. However, I haven’t made this more than once, and I cannot punt this recipe more. It’s colourful, tastes like I’ve added a broth to the mix, but there is none and it’s got an absolutely exciting flavour profile.

Ingredients

1 box I&J frozen haddock medallions (5 pieces, cut them in half if you prefer)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, sliced

3 tomato’s, diced

2 cups fresh kumquats, sliced in half

1 lime, juiced

3 lemon slices, sliced from the middle of the lemon

1 spoon of sugar, use a cereal spoon to measure this out

3 cloves of garlic, cut in rounds

ginger the size of a prune, sliced in long strips

1 tsp chili flakes

1 tbsp Sumac powder

1 tbsp honey

red chili powder, any you prefer

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp jeera masala

3 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 curry leaf stem

1 large cinnamon stick

1 star aniseed

fresh coriander for garnish

Method

1. In a large bowl, marinate kumquats in the sugar, honey, ginger and 1 tsp of curry powder. Cover the bowl with the three slices of lemon and press down on it to release some of the juices of the fruit. Set it aside for 15-30 minutes.

2. Prepare onion, garlic and tomato’s.

3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pot on medium to high heat and drop in, chili flakes curry leaves and bay leaves.

4. Fry onions until it’s see through then add garlic.

5. After about 1 minute, add kumquats and the lemon marinade to the pot and give it a good stir.

6. Add sumac to the pot, cover and let the fruit cook until it gets a little bit soft.

7. Add tomato’s, juice of 1 lime and another 1 tsp curry powder. The tomato’s will soften and add liquid to the chutney, add a little extra water if need be, but it’s not necessary.

8. When the tomato’s are soft, add hake to the pot, lower the stove to medium and let the curry simmer for 10-15 minutes. More liquid will be released from the frozen fish.

9. In the meantime, in another very small pot, heat 1 tbsp of oil with star aniseed, cloves, cinnamon, another tsp of curry powder, jeera, and garam masala.

10. When you start smelling the spices and see the oil bubble, carefully remove it from the stove and pour it into the haddock chutney.

11. Salt to taste and garnish with fresh coriander once the gravy thickens.

Top tip: If you want the gravy to thicken faster, let the chutney boil without the lid for a few minutes.