Seafood In Lime Coconut Milk

I bought a bag of limes recently because they looked so sprightly and beautiful. The marriage between lime and oil is especially magical and makes for a simple salad dressing.

This weekend however, I wanted to create something special for myself. I’ve been running a lot and taking advantage of the freedom under the new lockdown regulations. So instead of my usual vegetable soups, I decided to make use of all the seafood in my freezer to concoct a coconut rich, lime chowder of sorts; but without the wine.

Did you know: The juice of one lime contains 11 calories and 0.1 g of fat. If you press the juice of 5 limes you would reach the amount of vitamin C needed in one day. One lime, excluding the peel, has 22 percent of a persons daily recommended vitamin C intake.

Ingredients for 2 portions

10-15 mussels

4 hake medallions

12 prawns

1 tin Coconut Milk (lite)

1 tin tomatoes (I use Woolworth’s Organic Italian Chopped Tomatoes)

Salt to taste

250 ml fish broth (optional) (I use Woolworths Fish Liquid Stock Concentrate)

2 tsp cayenne pepper or chili spice

1 tbsp garlic

1 medium onion diced

1 lime, washed and quartered

1 tbs coconut oil

1/2 cup dhania (cilantro)

Method

1. Prepare your oysters, prawns and halve your hake medallions.

2. In a deep pot, heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil on medium heat and fry onions for 5 minutes.

3. Add garlic and cayenne pepper and fry for another minute.

4. Pour in can of tomato, coconut milk and fish broth.

5. Add three quarters of lime to the gravy and place it around the pot. Let the broth simmer for 15 minutes on medium heat. Keep the pot closed the entire time.

6. Add salt to taste and all the seafood. Simmer for another 5 minutes. If you’re using fresh oysters you will hear them pop open. Discard all the ones that remain closed or that are cracked.

7. Remove the lime at this point and throw it away.

8. Garnish the dish with dhania and serve hot with a squeeze of the remaining lime quarter, croutons or crusty bread.

To prepare oysters: Remove the beard of each oyster and wash it well with salt and vinegar. I usually scrub them with a tiny brush. If the oysters are frozen, carefully steam them in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler you can make one by placing a colander in a deep pot filled with water, that’s then heated to a rolling boil. Steam the oysters for 10-15 minutes until they start to crack open and discard all the ones that are cracked and still closed.