Hawkesbury River Mullet With Hot Chip Curry

Recipe courtesy of Nicholas Hill

INGREDIENTS

1x 500-700g mullet - as fresh as possible
Clarified butter
Diced butter

3 large Sebago potatoes
Fresh curry leaves

Curry:
2 brown onions diced
8 cloves garlic sliced
150g raisins
250g butter
60g keens curry powder
50g hot mustard
100g white wine vinegar
1L roasted fish stock
1l water
200g yoghurt

METHOD

Firstly scale and gut the mullet and be sure to remove all traces of the innards with a dry paper towel.
Some mullet can be more earthy than others so it is important to keep the flesh as clean as possible.
Butterfly the mullet from the inside out to create a very flat surface of skin leaving the head and tail on
Store on a dry cloth skin side down in the fridge.

For the curry:
This is best made at least 24hours in advance to achieve the best flavour.
Sauté the onions and garlic in all of the butter on a medium heat with a good pinch of salt until the butter begins to lightly brown and foam.
Then add the raisins and let them hydrate in the butter until they are plump and sticky.
Next add the curry powder and cook for a few more minutes.
Now add the stock, mustard, vinegar and water and bring to the boil.
Once boiled for  5 minutes remove from the heat and blend in the yoghurt with a stick blender. Season gently and add a little lemon juice if required.

For the Chips:
Wash and cut the potatoes to the desired thickness.
Steam in a convection oven or bamboo steamer until very tender and season once cooked.
Let cool to room temperature and then cool completely in the fridge.
Next bake the chips in the oven very gently until almost totally dehydrated.
This will stop the chips from absorbing all of the curry and leaving the sauce stodgy.
Once chips are dry, fry in hot oil at 185-190c until golden brown and crisp.
Reserve until required.

To serve:
Remove the mullet from the fridge 15 minutes before cooking.
Rub a little olive oil on the skin and season with salt.
In a non stick pan with medium heat add a healthy amount of clarified butter
gently add the mullet skin side down and press the fish down with your fingers or alternatively a weight to keep the fish from curling up.
Once the skin begins to colour increase the heat to high and cook until gold brown.
Next add some diced butter and let it foam with a pinch of salt and baste the flesh of the fish.
Once the mullet is almost cooked very gently remove from the pan and allow the fish to rest through to finish the cooking.

Place the fish on a large serving dish and keep warm.
Very quickly deep fry a handful of curry leaves until crisp, season with salt.
Warm up the curry sauce and adjust seasoning if required.
Re fry the chips to achieve a super crunchy exterior.
Toss the chips in the sauce and pour generously over the fish with some extra sauce on top.
Garnish with the curry leaves and serve with some soft white bread and butter.