Rockfish Curry

On the boat, the heady scent of this Thai-style green curry fills the cabin and makes everyone go nuts. Firm and flaky yet subtle, Pacific rockfish absorbs all that flavor beautifully, and I love to catch them. They just hang out on a reef and wait for something to make them mad enough to strike, so you can drop some squid on a hook and easily pull up a monster. You never know which you’ll get because there are dozens of types. Bocaccio, Canary, Chilipepper rockfish; Vermilion rockfish, tinted red from eating urchins and shrimp—the diversity is part of the adventure. On the East Coast, black bass or red snapper are good substitutes. Out sailing, we clean the fish ourselves, but to save yourself the trouble, ask your fishmonger to do it for you.

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Total Time 1 15

Course Main Course

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons coconut oil
6 ounces (170 grams) chopped shallots
6 ounces (170 grams) chopped fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 lemongrass stalks, chopped
3 or 4 serrano chiles, chopped
2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
2 star anise pods
½ cinnamon stick
2 (14-ounce or 415 milliliters) cans coconut milk
6 makrut lime leaves (also called kaffir lime leaves)
Peel of 2 limes, pith removed
¼ cup (60 milliliters) white soy sauce, plus more as needed
1 whole, cleaned rockfish or snapper, 1½ to 2 pounds (680 to 910 g)
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
6 baby bok choy
Steamed short-grain white rice, for serving

Instructions

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt coconut oil. Add shallots, ginger, garlic, lemongrass and serrano chiles and sauté them until you can really smell them, about 5 minutes.
Add sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, star anise and cinnamon stick and toast them, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add coconut milk and bring to a boil. Knock heat down to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
Hand-crush lime leaves, then add them, along with lime peels, to broth and cook until they turn drab, 3 minutes. Immediately strain broth through a chinois (or finemesh strainer) into a clean pot, then stir in white soy sauce; cover pot and keep it warm while you grill the fish.
Pat fish dry inside and out. With your knife at a 45-degree angle, make three deep scores down to the rib, on each side of the fish, from top fin to belly. This will ensure it cooks through on the grill. Brush exterior with canola oil and season it all over, inside and out, with salt.
Build a medium-hot fire in your grill or heat a grill pan on stovetop to medium-high. Add fish and grill it, using a fish spatula to flip it and cook it on all sides, including top and bottom of the head, until skin is crispy and meat is white all the way through, 10 to 15 minutes total.
Cut baby bok choy in half and rinse out sand. Add bok choy to strained curry; bring curry back to a simmer over medium heat and cook bok choy until it’s just wilted, about 5 minutes. Place fish in a shallow serving bowl, ladle curry and bok choy all over it and serve with rice on the side.

Notes

Editor’s Note: You can substitute firm white fish fillets for the whole fish, if you’d like.

Keyword fish, seafood