Gulf News Food Show’s Singapore Hammour curry - a taste of spice and tradition
Packed with aromatics, this recipe is perfect for a comforting family meal
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 Hammour (approx 1 kg with innards removed and descaled)
Singapore sauce
200 gms Marinara sauce
100 gms Singapore chilli paste
80 gms Coconut milk
30 gms Light soy sauce
20 gms Fish sauce
45 gms Jalapeno
40 gms Garlic
10 gms Dry chilli
25 gms Lemon grass
30 gms Chicken stock
5 gms Coriander leaves
5 gms Spring onions
Marinara sauce
400 gms Red onion, (julienned)
200 gms Garlic
2 kg Italian Roma tomatoes, peeled
100 ml Olive Oil
10 gms Fresh basil
Singapore chilli paste
5 gms Kaffir leaves
5 gms Lemon grass stalk
10 gms White sugar
10 gms Salt
160 gms White pumpkin seeds
85 gms Red onion
85 gms Garlic
36 gms Dry chilli
16 gms Red Thai chilli
16 gms Ginger
Method
Marinara sauce:
Crush all the tomatoes into smaller pieces. Set aside.
Heat a large pot and add olive oil. Sweat out the onions and chopped garlic over a low flame until fully cooked, then add the crushed tomatoes.
Simmer and cook for at least two hours until fully reduced and thickened, then add basil, salt, and pepper.
Singapore chilli paste:
Add oil to a pan over a medium flame. Add julienned red onions and let it sweat. Add garlic, fresh chilli, ginger, and dry chillies. Then, add pumpkin seeds and cook on low heat until fully cooked, for approximately 1 hour. Add kaffir leaves, lemongrass stalk, and season. Then puree and strain. Set aside.
Singapore curry:
Add oil to a pan and sweat the garlic, Kashmiri chillies, chopped jalapeno, and lemon grass stalk in a pot over medium flame until just cooked.
Add Singapore chilli paste and marinara sauce. Then add chicken stock and simmer.
Continue to stir until the paste is fully cooked. Simmer for one hour, then season with fish sauce, soy sauce, coconut milk, and fresh lime.
For the fish fry:
Get 1 kg of hammour. You can either cut it into pieces or keep it whole. (A flakier, lighter fish works best). Score the fish so that it cooks evenly. Season with salt, pepper, and chilli powder. Dust with cornstarch and shake out the excess. Fry at 350°C for eight minutes or until the fish is cooked. Set aside.
To assemble:
To serve, put the sauce down and lay the fish on top of a plate. Add basil, coriander, and spring onion, and serve it with rice or mantou!
Tips:
1. Peel a couple of carrots in the sauce while cooking and remove them once it is done. This will give the sauce more taste and make it less acidic.
2. White pumpkin seeds can be used in recipes that use peanuts or cashews for a mild flavour and thick curry consistency.
3. It is a versatile curry base that you can use for any vegetables and protein of your choice.
4. The pro tip hack is to make the base and freeze it for future use. Makes for a great gift to friends who could use a homemade comfort meal that's easy to access or for your next meal!
Singapore curry is one of the most iconic dishes in Singaporean cuisine, and my mother makes it for us once a month as a Sunday family treat. This is her version of the iconic sauce, to which she adds a touch of tomato in order to add acidity and balance to the dish. She would go to the fish market early in the morning to buy the whole fish; then, she would start toasting and grinding the spices. By the time we woke up, a pot of curry would be cooking, wafting the aroma through the home. Always served with rice, we would eat the curry for every meal throughout the day as my parents would be away working on the weekends.
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