June 29, 2021

Chai Tea Smoked Black Cod with Red Lentil Dahl

Black cod, also known as sablefish, has beautiful velvety flesh & a buttery flavour making it really stand out from other types of white fish. This recipe uses a smoking method which is simple to carry out at home. Our black cod are sold whole, but you can request to have it filleted and portioned by the Reach team.
Serves 4 as a main course Cooking Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Ingredients 
For the smoking:
2 tbsp chai tea
100g basmati rice
Good pinch cumin seeds
2tsp sugar
 
For the Dahl:
300g red split lentils, soaked for 30 mins
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
3 stalks curry leaves
½ tsp turmeric
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
75g butter
1 can coconut milk
Salt
Sugar
2 tbsp oil
 
Special equipment: round trivet or round wire rack
 Method
 To make the dahl, heat the oil in a pan over a medium/low heat, add the onion and cook for around 10 minutes until deep golden brown.
  1. Next add the garlic, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, 1 tsp cumin, turmeric, curry powder & the curry leaves from 1 stalk. Cook for a couple of minutes until everything smells nice and fragrant, stirring so stop the spices from burning.
  2. Add the coconut milk plus ½ can filled with water, bring to the boil then turn the heat down low and simmer with a lid on for 12-15 minutes until the lentils are cooked. Keep warm until you are ready to serve.
  3. To smoke the fish, place a piece of foil shiny side down in a wok. Mix together the tea, cumin, rice & sugar and place on top of the foil.
  4. Prepare your fish skin side down on a lightly oiled trivet and have your lid ready.
  5. Prepare your fish skin side down on a lightly oiled trivet and have your lid ready.
  6. Heat the wok over a medium high heat until the rice mixture just starts smoking. Place the trivet with the fish into the wok over the smoking mixture and immediately cover with a lid. Turn the heat down low and allow the fish to smoke for 5 minutes.
  7. Turn off the heat and remove the cod fillets. Discard the foil and smoking mixture very carefully as it will still be hot (you can place this in the sink under a little cold water if you wish to cool it quickly).
  8. Heat a little oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, add the cod fillets skin side down and cook until the skin turns golden (around 5 minutes), turn the fish flesh side down and cook for a further two minutes until it is cooked through.
  9. Melt the butter in a pan, once foaming add the remaining curry leaves and cumin seeds and cook until fragrant.
  10. Pour some of the hot spiced butter over the dahl just before serving with the black cod.
Written by Reach Food