Masala-Poached Mahi Mahi

The mahi mahi was so good last night, that I decided we needed more of it tonight. The masala-poached mahi mahi was served with a coconut rice and gingered mango-cucumber raita.

I started dinner with the rice by combining coconut milk, basmati rice, water, sugar and salt in a saucepan, bringing it to a boil and cooked for 18 minutes until tender. The rice was kept covered and warm until serving time.

Meanwhile the sauce was started for the fish by scenting some vegetable oil with a cinnamon stick and some whole cloves, Some diced onion went in to the scented oil and allowed to cook until the onion browned. The cinnamon stick and whole cloves were removed and in went some hot curry power, fresh garlic, minced garlic, minced ginger, minced serrano pepper and a bay leaf and cooked for a minute. Some chopped fresh tomatoes were added with a little brown sugar and allowed to cook down for 10 minutes.

The mahi mahi fillets were poached in this sauce, covered, for 8 minutes until cooked through. The fish was transferred to dinner plates while the sauce was finished off by swirling in a little bit of butter, some garam masala, lime juice, salt and chopped fresh cilantro. The finished sauce was spooned over the fish and served with the rice.

The final component on the dish was the gingered mango-cucumber raita. This came together by stirring together equal amounts of diced cucumber, mango, minced fresh ginger, sugar, ground cumin, salt, pepper, plain yogurt and fresh lime juice.

I'm so glad to be back in the kitchen and serving a meal like this. The heat in the sauce on the fish was fabulous, slow building and lingering, absolutely superb! The rice was sweet and a nice contrast to the fish. The raita did a fabulous job of cooling everything down.