Perfectly Cooked Halibut & Coconut Curry with Cilantro Rice

Coconut Curry Vegetables with Pan-Seared Halibut & Lemon Brown Butter

This one started as a thank-you meal. A friend of ours cuts my husband’s hair, she comes to the house, hangs out, the whole thing. A few weeks ago she showed up with a massive zucchini and a yellow squash from her garden. She’s mostly vegetarian, so I wanted to make her something worth the trip. This is what came out of it: coconut curried roasted vegetables, a simple herbed garlic rice, and a pan-seared halibut fillet with lemon brown butter on top.

A quick word on curry powder, because it always comes up: in India they don’t actually cook with “curry powder.” They have a masala dabba: a round tin with all the individual spices — coriander, cumin, turmeric, chili powder, cinnamon, clove, everything that goes into a curry powder, kept separate. My husband is from India and he doesn’t even really know what curry powder is. I had a Thai yellow curry powder on hand, which tastes and smells like any other curry powder, so that’s what I used — plus garam masala and extra coriander. Don’t overthink it, use what you’ve got. (I said curry powder so many times in this paragraph)

The method here is simple: roast the vegetables while you build the curry base, then marry them in the pot. The potatoes do something wonderful as it simmers, their starches thicken the sauce until it’s luscious.

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Coconut Curried Roasted Vegetables

Serves 6-8 (Maybe more, this is a big batch, I don’t like leaving leftover veggies to rot in my fridge so I used up my huge late season squash and a whole head of cauliflower. You can absolutely do less, and probably should unless you have people to share with.)

Vegetables for roasting:

- 1 lb tiny creamer potatoes, halved

- 1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets

- 2–3 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks

- 1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash, cut into half-moons

- 1 red bell pepper and 1 orange bell pepper, cut into chunks

- A handful of snow peas

- Avocado oil, salt, and pepper

Curry base:

- 2 onions, diced (about ½-inch — I like a good amount of onion in my curry; it’s not an afterthought, it becomes the curry paste)

- 3–4 tbsp garlic-ginger paste (or about ¼ cup)

- 1 to 1½ tbsp tomato paste

- 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

- 2 tbsp curry powder

- 1 tbsp garam masala

- 2 tsp ground coriander (on top of what’s already in the curry powder)

- Salt and pepper

- 2 cans (13.5 oz each) coconut milk + 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut cream (the cream makes it richer; a third can of coconut milk works too)

- About 2 cups chicken broth, plus water as needed (use vegetable broth to keep it truly vegetarian)

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the potatoes, cauliflower, and parsnips with avocado oil, salt, and pepper and get them in first — they need 25–30 minutes.

2. About 15 minutes in, add the zucchini, yellow squash, and bell peppers (tossed with oil, salt, and pepper). Everything comes out together at around 30 minutes, and the softer veg only roasts for 15.

3. While that goes, build the base: sauté the diced onions in avocado oil until they start to soften, then add the garlic-ginger paste and cook until it’s aromatic and no longer raw, the onions just beginning to brown.

4. Stir in the tomato paste and let it cook down a few minutes. Add the chopped Roma tomatoes and all the spices — curry powder, garam masala, coriander, salt, pepper — and let it all come together into a thick paste.

5. Pour in the chicken broth, stirring until it loosens into a gravy.

6. Add the roasted potatoes and cauliflower first; let it go about 5 minutes. Then add the rest of the roasted veg and enough water to just cover everything. Simmer until it thickens into a rich sauce — the potato starches do the thickening for you.

7. Once the vegetables have simmered a while, stir in the coconut milk and coconut cream and let it all come together.

8. Stir in the snow peas at the very end — they’ll fall apart if they go in early. You want them bright and just crisp.

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Cilantro Garlic Rice

Nothing fancy — just the right bed for the curry.

- 1 small onion (or medium shallot), diced

- Butter

- A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

- 1½ cups rice + water, cooked your usual way

Sauté the onion in butter until soft, stir in the herbs, add the rice and toast it briefly, then add water and cook it up in the pot.

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Pan-Seared Halibut with Lemon Brown Butter

The spice mix is basically a blackening seasoning — which sounds a little wild next to Indian flavors, but it works. Paprika, Indian chili powder (or cayenne pepper), garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper.

- 2 halibut fillets (2 portions)

- 1 tsp each: paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper — plus Indian chili powder (or cayenne) to your heat (start with ½ tsp; it’s the spicy kind)

- Avocado oil

- 2–3 tbsp butter + 1 juicy lemon

1. Pat the halibut very dry on both sides. Coat generously with the spice mix (you will probably not use all of it).

2. Heat a thin film of avocado oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high. Lay in the halibut and don’t touch it — 3 to 4 minutes, until you can see it turning opaque almost halfway up the sides.

3. Flip it gently and do the same on the second side — about 4 minutes a side depending on the thickness of your fillet. Watch the opacity and touch it; it cooks through very easily and you absolutely do not want to overcook it.

4. Pull it off and rest it on a plate under some foil.

5. Back in the same pan — if any of the spices are starting to burn, wipe it out first. Melt 2–3 tablespoons of butter over medium-low until it browns. Savor this moment, it smells so good.

6. Pull the pan off the heat for a minute, then squeeze in an entire juicy lemon. It’ll sizzle — that’s why it’s off the heat. You don’t want the brown bits to burn, and you want it cooled just enough that the lemon juice doesn’t go crazy.

7. Back on medium-low for a couple of minutes to cook down and reduce into a rich, flavorful, lemony sauce. Drizzle it over the halibut and top with a simple slice of red serrano.

My husband said it was the best fish he’s ever had.

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To serve

Mound the herbed rice in the middle of a wide bowl, ladle the coconut curry around it, lay the halibut on top, and spoon over the lemon brown butter. The still from the video says the rest.