Tomato coconut dal with baked fish

Simplify your week by making a fragrant dal and using it in two dishes. Subtly spiced, this nutrient-packed one-dish dinner from Nabula El Mourid makes an easy yet elegant evening meal. The dal base can be made a few days ahead, or frozen, and a little set aside to use on breakfast flatbreads.

Tomato coconut dal with baked fish. Credit: Hardie Grant Books / Rob Palmer

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 4 × 200 g (7 oz) firm white fish fillets, skinless and boneless (see Note)
• ½ tsp paprika
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle and serve
• Basmati rice, to serve
• Greek-style yoghurt, to serve
• Coriander (cilantro) sprigs, to serve (optional)
• Lemon wedges, to serve

Tomato coconut dal (see Note)

• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp curry paste
• 250 g (9 oz/1 cup) red lentils, rinsed
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced (see Note)
• 400 g (14 oz) tinned crushed tomatoes
• 400 ml (13½ fl oz) tinned coconut milk
• 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) vegetable stock (or chicken bone broth or stock, if you don’t need to keep this vegetarian/vegan, e.g. to use in other dishes, see Note)

Instructions

1. For the dal: heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Stir in the curry paste and cook for a further minute until fragrant. Add the lentils, sweet potato, tomatoes, coconut milk and stock. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils and sweet potato are tender and the dal has thickened, about 25 minutes.
3. Put 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) of the dal aside to make spiced egg and tomato flatbreads for brekkie later in the week, if desired (see Note).
4. If not using the dal straight away, allow it to cool, then store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
5. For the fish: Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F).
6. Season the fish fillets with paprika, salt and a little olive oil. Place the dal in a shallow ovenproof dish and nestle the fillets into the dal.
7. Bake for 12–15 minutes, or until the fish is just cooked through and softly poached.
8. Serve with basmati rice and a dollop of yoghurt topped with some black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Add coriander (if using) and lemon wedges on the side.
   

Note

• Any type of firm white fish will work; use what is available.
• This fragrant dal can also be served on rice with a green leafy salad. The recipe makes enough to put a little aside for a satisfying breakfast of spiced egg and tomato flatbreads.
• Roast the sweet potato cubes used in the dal beforehand for a slightly caramelised flavour. Swap out the sweet potato for pumpkin (winter squash) if preferred.

This is an edited extract from The Weekly Grocery Shop by Nabula El Mourid (Hardie Grant Books). Photography by Rob Palmer.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.