Sri Lankan Fish curry

 I'm a huge fan of Sri Lankan food, it is everything that I love about food, spicy, aromatic and heady with coconut. Fish curry is a national dish in Sri Lanka and is something my husband and I ate everyday on our honeymoon. I think a lot of people are terrified of making curries but it is not as difficult and you think, most certainly not Sri Lankan curries, the wonderful thing about their curries is that they are really fresh tasting so they taste much lighter than ghee based curries. If you are a vegetarian you can replace the fish with paneer or vegetables, but if you are obsessed with fish this dish is pure heaven.

You will need:
2 tbsp of coconut oil
100g of sliced shallots
25 curry leaves
2 tsp of turmeric
1 tbsp of Sri Lankan curry powder (see my previous Sri Lankan recipes for curry powder blend)
1/2 tsp chilli powder
3 green birds eye chillies
2 pandan leaves
25g of chopped garlic
100g of fresh chopped tomatoes
300ml of cocnut milk
1 lemon grass stalk
2 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of salt
1 tbsp of lime juice
Sword fish or monk fish fillet cut into inch cubes

In a pan fry the curry leaves and onions until the onions are softened, add the spices, lemon grass, pandan leaves and garlic. Add the green chillies whole, this is purely for flavour. Fry until the flavours are released from the spices then add the coconut milk, sugar, salt and tomatoes and bring to the boil, add the fish and reduce the heat, cook for a further five minutes before serving with rice and coconut sambal.