King Fish – my favorite fish and Corn Chowder – my favorite soup. When they merged together, I had two of my favorites to dig in from one plate.
Deadline for February Royal Foodie Joust is just around the corner. I first thought of skipping this contest as I had won the January contest and the ingredients for this month were chosen by me: Fish, Coconut milk, Nutmeg. But, last night I happened to make dinner with these ingredients and the dish came out pretty delicious. Hence, I felt I should submit the recipe for the joust as there is no restriction that the previous winner shouldn’t participate. So, here I am trying my luck yet another time.
The reason for choosing fish and coconut milk was solely because I had grown up having these two. While I was thinking about the ingredients to choose, these two seemed stuck to my head like a snail and couldn’t help but pick them. I chose nutmeg as this would go along with the fish well.
King fish has been my favorite fish from my childhood days, and this is the most famous fish in Kerala. This is also an expensive fish and considered as the royal fish that is found during all special occasions. If there is any extravaganza feast, you could find this fish as the main dish under seafood. I’ve felt this as the tastiest among all fish. Surprisingly, in the US it is nearly impossible to find this fish in any restaurant menu. I still haven’t figured out the reason. Also, it is not widely available here. We could find these only in some Asian fish markets and mostly in Indian stores. If I come across this fish in any market, I never let them go from my hands. And this fish is always seen stacked in my freezer.
For last night’s dinner, King fish was my target and thought of incorporating the other 2 ingredients with it. I first, marinated the fish with salt, pepper and nutmeg and shallow fried it. For the sauce, I made corn chowder, I used coconut milk instead of cream. I loved the flavor of coconut milk in the corn chowder. I think I am going to stick in coconut milk for any recipe that calls for cream:)
When the fish was frying in the pan and the corn chowder simmering in the saucepan, I looked at both of them and thought whether they would make a great pair. I had a feeling that they would .
Verdict: when I tasted this pair, my taste buds applauded in approval.
Kingfish with Corn Chowder:
Ingredients:
For shallow frying fish:
- Kingfish- 4 steak
- Ground pepper- 3/4 tsp
- Nutmeg- 1/2 tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Oil- for shallow frying
Instruction:
- Marinate the fish with the above ingredients except oil and keep aside for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Heat a nonstick pan over medium flame, add oil, when it gets hot place the fish on it.
- Shallow fry the fish flipping on both sides until it turns golden brown.
- Remove from the pan and keep aside.
Corn Chowder:
- Olive oil- 2 tsp
- Onion, minced-1
- Celery, chopped-2 ribs
- Corn, rinsed- 1 can
- Thyme- 1 sprig
- Flour- 1tbsp
- Vegetable stock- 1cup
- Coconut milk-3/4 cup
- Ground Pepper- 1/2 tsp
- Salt- to taste
Instruction:
- Place a saucepan over medium heat, add olive oil, onion, salt, ground pepper and saute.
- Add celery and thyme, cook until the veggies turn tender.
- Add flour and combine well into the veggies
- To this add vegetable stock and stir constantly to prevent the flour turning into lumps.
- Add Corn to this and cook for few minutes.
- Finally, lower the heat and add the coconut milk, heat the milk but don’t boil it.
- Remove from the heat and keep aside.
Merging Fish and Corn Chowder:
- While plating, first place a kingfish steak, on top of the fish pour a spoonful of corn chowder.
- Enjoy this meal with dinner rolls.
- Leftover corn chowder can be transformed into next day hot soup after thinning it down with more of the coconut milk.
- Kingfish- 4 steak
- Ground pepper- ¾ tsp
- Nutmeg- ½ tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Oil- for shallow frying
- Olive oil- 2 tsp
- Onion, minced-1
- Celery, chopped-2 ribs
- Corn, rinsed- 1 can
- Thyme- 1 sprig
- Flour- 1tbsp
- Vegetable stock- 1cup
- Coconut milk-3/4 cup
- Ground Pepper- ½ tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Marinate the fish with the above ingredients except oil and keep aside for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Heat a nonstick pan over medium flame, add oil, when it gets hot place the fish on it.
- Shallow fry the fish flipping on both sides until it turns golden brown.
- Remove from the pan and keep aside.
- Place a saucepan over medium heat, add olive oil, onion, salt, ground pepper and saute.
- Add celery and thyme, cook until the veggies turn tender.
- Add flour and combine well into the veggies
- To this add vegetable stock and stir constantly to prevent the flour turning into lumps.
- Add Corn to this and cook for few minutes.
- Finally, lower the heat and add the coconut milk, heat the milk but don't boil it.
- Remove from the heat and keep aside.
- While plating, first place a kingfish steak, on top of the fish pour a spoonful of corn chowder.
- Enjoy this meal with dinner rolls.
- Leftover corn chowder can be transformed into next day hot soup after thinning it down with more of the coconut milk.
