If you’re looking for an easy scallop recipe, they don’t get much tastier than this seared scallop curry. Cooking scallops is a real treat and not something I get to do too regularly, so when I do I want to make it a really special dish, and my word is that curry sauce special! Alas, the sauce isn’t mine but one that Atul Kocchar shared recently on Saturday Kitchen.
Saturday Kitchen on BBC One is a staple in our household and a great place to find culinary inspiration. Atul Kochhar was a recent guest who is known for delivering exquisite double-Michelin star food, and my word does he deliver BIG on flavour! I adapted this scallop recipe from the seared scallop curry on the show, yes it’s got a lot of ingredients but it really isn’t difficult to make and the results are sure to wow anyone that you cook for. It’s very adaptable too, instead of cooking scallops, try beautiful roasted aubergines and change up the stock to make this a wonderful vegan feast (Here’s another one too), or go the grilled chicken route if you’d prefer…the options are many. You can also prep the sauce the day before if you want to take the strain out of a special meal, meaning you can focus on cooking scallops to perfection! The samphire and spiced mushrooms couldn’t be easier either. If you’re wondering how to cook samphire, it’s very straightforward. A quick blanch for one minute and you have delicious, vibrant samphire that’s the perfect partner for this scallop recipe.
This is definitely going to be my go-to curry sauce, tons of beautiful flavours but pretty mild in terms of heat (although you can easily fire it up with more chilli). A great big thank you to Atul Kocchar and Saturday Kitchen for the original seared scallop curry recipe. Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments, I hope you love it as much as I do!
Seared Scallop Curry, Samphire and Spiced Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 6 large hand-dived scallops removed from shells *
- large handful samphire blanched for 1 minute
- 1/2 lemon juice
Curry Sauce
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 green cardamon pods
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 green chilli split but kept whole
- 3 onions roughly chopped, fried in vegetable oil and blended into a paste **
- 1 tsp ginger finely crushed
- 1 tsp garlic finely crushed
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 2 tbsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 50 – 100 ml fish stock
- 200 ml coconut milk
For the Mushrooms and Beans
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 10 grams fresh root ginger peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 10 grams fresh tumeric peeled and cut into matchsticks (use dried if unavailable)
- 1 green chillli finely chopped
- 50 grams green beans trimmed and blanched
- 100 grams mixed fresh wild mushrooms
- 1 tsp medium curry powder
- 1 small pinch ground Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Sauce – Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add cardamom, bay and chilli then stir for 1 minute.
- Add onions and fry for 2 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until mixture is light brown. Stir in mustard, coriander and chilli.
- Next, add half the stock and slowly add coconut milk. Taste and season. Simmer and adjust consistency to your liking by reducing slightly or adding more stock. Strain sauce through sieve and keep warm.
- Mushrooms and beans – Gently fry the mustard and cumin for 1 minute *** in a large frying pan on a moderate heat. Add ginger, turmeric, beans and mushrooms then turn up the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in curry powder and season to taste. Keep warm while you cook scallops.
- Scallops – Heat large frying pan on high heat until very hot. Add oil, then add scallops in clockwise pattern starting at 12 o’clock. Cook for 1-2 minutes until golden, flip them over in the same order you placed them in the pan and repeat process. Squeeze over lemon and remove onto kitchen paper lined plate.
- Add a ladle of curry sauce to each plate. Top with mushrooms and beans. Add three scallops per plate, then top with samphire. Thank you Atul!
