Just came up with a couple of dishes that struck the right notes, spicy but not in your face, so worth recording.
First off, Hake fillets in a light curried batter.
To a cup of chick pea flour add tablespoon of ground coriander, half teaspoon of ground white pepper, turmeric and ginger, large pinch of asafoetido and cayenne. Add about half pint of water mix to smooth thin paste until like single cream. Beat the yolk of one egg, you may need to use another egg depending on the size of fillets. Beat egg white separately until beginning to stiffen, fold into chickpea batter mixture.
Dip Hake fillets into seasoned flour, dust off excess, dip and coat in egg yolk and then into batter mixture. Slid into corn oil at 190C in a wok, after a few minutes, turn over until all sides are just golden. Take out and put on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Eat immediately.
Chick Pea Curry
Precook the chick peas, reserve about a pound of the cooked peas with cooking juices to cover. Use the remainder perhaps to make a houmous. In a covered small pan, sweat off a large onion cut small in a tablespoon of olive oil. When softened, take off lid turn up heat and drive off moisture. Add about three tablespoons of chicken stock, carry on cooking till all moisture absorbed, repeat. Then drain chickpea juice into pan and carry on until moisture is just driven off. Be careful you cannot rush this or turn your back on it, it will quickly colour, then burn, not what you are after.
Now add tablespoon ground coriander, half teaspoon ground cumin and quarter teaspoon ground fenugreek. Blend. Then add two tablespoons of dark molasses sugar, turn until absorbed then add a whole can of chopped tomatoes. Stir in, drive off excess moisture, turn down heat to very low, to let flavours absorb,. Keeping stirring occasionally taking care not to burn. Add reserved chickpeas with one small red chille, seeds removed and chopped fine, leave for a few minutes to warm then turn off heat and leave to stand on ring to absorb any moisture. Stir a good handful of coarsely chopped coriander leaf. Serve
