Pineapple Broth with Cod

Pineapple Broth with Cod

Perhaps recent enthusing about Roopa Gulati's recipes has tempted fate. Today's recipe was ... well ... a little disappointing. Her introduction to the recipe in The Soup Book states that this combination of South Indian and South-East Asian flavours is "a marvellous match" for any firm-fleshed fish or seafood. Those flavours are derived from onion, peanuts, coconut, ginger, coriander, sesame, cumin, poppy seeds, tamarind, turmeric, chilli, pineapple, lime and mint.

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I started by preparing the paste: chopped onion, peanuts, desiccated coconut, ginger and four different seeds (coriander, sesame, cumin and poppy) heated until the coconut darkened. When cooled, I put the mixture into my processor, but didn't have much luck creating a coarse paste. So I got out the stick blender and had a go with that. I then added the tamarind paste, turmeric and chilli powder, but the blender was no match for the tamarind paste. It retired itself.

I left this paste aside and did a few other things, including watching one of my favourite comedy films of all time: What's Up, Doc? Then it was time to cook the soup. I fried the paste, stirred in some sugar, poured in fish stock and pineapple juice and simmered. I poured the broth into the food processor, liquidised it and poured in coconut milk. Next I reheated the broth, then added cod, lime juice, pineapple pieces and mint leaves.

The spouse and I were quivering with anticipation; the younger offspring was more circumspect. I've already indicated that we were expecting more from this soup in terms of flavour. Roopa, we are rueful, but it's unlikely that we'll revisit this recipe.

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