There is an anime called Food Wars (Shokugeki no Soma) that is about a young man entering a prestigious and very competitive culinary school. It’s ridiculous and over the top and not always in a good way. But the food usually makes sense and looks good and there are some novel ideas in there. One such dish was a curried version of a Japanese fisherman stew, dobujiru, which literally translates as soup of the ditch. This is typically made with angelfish or monkfish and features a strong liver taste.
Now I don’t have access to monkfish or angelfish and definitely not their livers and when I think of curry I think of something completely different than the Japanese. As such here is my interpretation with a more Malaysian bent using catfish.
Curry Paste:
1 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1 tsp fennel seeds, ground
1 tsp black peppercorns, ground
1 tbsp turmeric powder
5 or 6 dried puya chiles
25g garlic, roughly chopped
25g peeled ginger, roughly chopped
100g shallot, roughly chopped
2 lemongrass stalk, core roughly chopped
1/2 tbsp of shrimp paste
Process in a food process or pound in a mortar and pestle into paste.
To finish:
2 lbs of catfish steaks
6 oz of chicken liver
1 14-oz can of coconut milk
4 tbsp mixture of red or white miso
1 tbsp of palm sugar
2 tbsp of tamarind water
Fish sauce, sugar, lime for additional seasoning
cilantro for garnish
Heat a couple tbsp of oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Once shimmering, add chicken livers and sear until well browned all over. Remove livers from skillet and turn heat down to medium. Blend or process livers, coconut milk, miso, sugar and tamarind water together. Add curry paste and cook for about 4-5 minutes until very aromatic and then add coconut/liver mixture to skillet and mix with paste. Bring contents of skillet to a simmer and then add catfish steaks and cover. Steam for about 10 minutes, flipping once. Remove from heat and serve.
Bunzai 