I love discovering new dishes! This dish was like ‘wow’ !! So much flavour it’s unreal, again with very few ingredients, as they say – ‘less is more’.

The recipe is a modified version of a dish by ‘Mother India’ whom I discovered during a work trip to Glasgow. The original recipe used halibut, but living in the middle of England finding this well sort after fish in the supermarkets / fish mongers is very hard, plus it’s a very expensive piece of fish.

I substituted the halibut with cod loin. I used the same method due to the thickness and firmness of the cod .

The book itself gives a great insight into the family & business along with a historical journey through Glasgow, which by the way if you’ve not visited…..what a city!! Such a beautiful place steeped in so much history.

One of the amazing things about this dish other than the flavours, is how quickly it comes together. Using the humble cabbage taking it to another level!

Ingredients-

3 tbsp of sunflower oil

1 onion finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 tbsp of ginger paste

1 red chilli finely chopped (recipe says green but sadly I forgot to pick these up)

1 tsp of roasted cumin seeds

1/2 tsp of roasted fennel seeds

1/2 tsp of roasted mustard seeds

1 star anise

6 curry leaves

1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp of sea salt

1 tsp of chilli powder

1 tsp of ground turmeric powder

1 small cabbage sliced and parboiled

1 tsp of olive oil

I used 3 pieces of cod loin but recipe states 4 pieces of halibut or monkfish

1 lime cut into wedges

& to finish jasmine rice.

Method –

The basics firsts –

Add the whole spices – cumin seeds, mustard seeds & fennel seeds into a dry frying pan and gently toast them for a minute or two then take off the heat and set aside.

In a large saucepan of water add the diced cabbage tabs bring to a boil and gently simmer for a few minutes. Drain and set aside. You can do this whilst you start the prep for the main dish.

To start building the dish, which is very simple.

Heat the sunflower oil in a heavy based pan (with a lid). Once hot add the diced onion and gently fry for 5 minutes or so until it’s nice and translucent.

Once you’re happy with the onions add in the garlic, ginger & diced chilli and cook for another 3 minutes stirring the pan.

Now it’s time to build the flavours. Add the dry roasted seeds (keep the frying pan) and the star anise. Mix well and fry for another 2 minutes, the kitchen will start to smell heavenly.

Then add the chopped tomatoes and curry leaves. At this point I also added a splash of water. Mix well and simmer for 5 minutes.

Now add the ground spices – chilli powder and turmeric plus the salt again giving it a good stir. Simmer again for 3 minutes.

Add the drained cabbage. Stir well and again I added a splash of water.

Take the frying pan you dry roasts the spices in, return it to the heat with a splash of olive oil. Add the fish and gently fry for 2 minutes on one side, gently turn the fish and fry for another minute.

Remove the fish very gently not to break it. Lay it on top of your spiced cabbage mix.

Place a lid on the pan and allow the fish to steam as this will finish the cooking. The pan frying is to firm up the fish for this process.

Gently remove the fish to a separate plate. Plate up your spiced cabbage and rice then lay the fish back on top of the cabbage and serve with a piece of lime.

For me, this was a lovely dish. Full of flavour, utilising a cabbage along with getting stuck into this book and taking me back to Glasgow.

A very wholesome creation ❤️

If you’ve read this far, thank you.