Seafood Made Simple: Steamed hake with a fragrant coconut and lemongrass curry

Irish Examiner

12-07-2025

Alex Gazzangia at Singing Frog Gardens in Drimoleague West Cork is growing some of the most exotic vegetables in Ireland.
This summer marks three years of Alex's produce featuring on our menu at Goldie.
The boxes vary each week: it's always so exciting unpacking the delivery seeing what direction our food will take, mindful to make the most of what's available and preserve a little extra to encapsulate the flavours of summer for the darker months of the year.
Lots of the vegetables you'd expect like Florence fennel, cucumbers, beetroots, courgettes and herbs to beat the band; basil, cinnamon, lime and red, sweet cicely, chervil, lemon balm and one of my absolute favourites this time of year - summer savoury.
Alex is one of the only producers in Ireland that's cracked the code of cultivating wasabi. Notoriously difficult to grow, it's a product we are so delighted to be able to have on the menu for most of the year. A plant so volatile, its flavour dissipates quickly after grating.
Impossible to preserve this intense flavour, the wasabi we come across in Ireland is most often horseradish died with wasabi leaf.
The list of peculiar vegetables goes on with myoga, a perennial herb and member of the ginger family which we pickle to preserve.
Or Kinome, the leaf of the Szechuan peppercorn tree. A wonderful peppery and citrus flavoured addition to so many dishes.
The first delivery of West Cork Grown lemongrass took me by complete surprise. It wasn't just a couple of stalks. Kilos of large, metre-long sticks, bunches the size of rhubarb.
It makes up the base of the most fragrant broths and dressing and is superb in a lemongrass meringue pie.
Such a fantastic accompaniment to seafood, this lemongrass and coconut curry sauce sings with a piece of steamed hake.
Steamed Hake with Coconut and Lemongrass Curry
recipe by:Aishling Moore
Such a fantastic accompaniment to seafood, this lemongrass and coconut curry sauce sings with a piece of steamed hake.
Servings
4
Preparation Time 
20 mins
Cooking Time 
18 mins
Total Time 
38 mins
Course 
Main
Ingredients 1 tsp coriander seeds
4 shallots chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
50g thumb of ginger peeled and chopped
2 sticks of lemongrass chopped (outer layers removed)
2 green chillies finely diced
1 large bunch coriander (leaves reserved for garnish)
4tb golden rapeseed oil
1x 400ml can coconut milk
1tb fish sauce
1/2tsp palm sugar
2 limes
Method
For the curry sauce:
In a small heavy-based saucepan on medium heat, toast the coriander seeds until fragrant. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Place the toasted coriander seeds, chopped shallot, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chilli and the stalks of coriander in a food processor with 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil.
Purée until a rough paste is formed.
Heat a medium-sized heavy-based saucepan on medium-high heat.
Add the remaining 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil and curry paste to the pot. Cook for 4-5 minutes to soften the harshness of the garlic, shallot and ginger, stirring regularly to avoid catching.
Add the coconut milk to the pot and bring to the boil. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any sediment and avoid burning.
Reduce for 4-5 minutes until thickened and season with fish sauce, palm sugar and fresh lime juice to finish.
For the hake:
Bring to the boil a large pot of water that snugly fits your steamer attachment.
Using rapeseed oil, lightly grease a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the surface area of the steamer. Make sure it's large enough to allow space between each fillet of fish.
Place the fillets of hake skin-side down in the steamer on top of the parchment, season with fine sea salt and reduce the heat to a simmer.
Steam for 6-8 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillet, which will flake when pressed.
Serve with the lemongrass curry sauce and some boiled rice. Garnish with coriander leaf.
Fish tales
Hake is a very delicate fish, it's one of the reasons it's so enjoyable to eat, however it can make for tricky handling. Steaming with the skin on is my top tip to help maintain a little more structural integrity when cooking serving.
Sufficient space between each fillet is key to allow the fish fillets to cook evenly.
If you're a little sensitive with heat, deseed the red chillies in this recipe.
This curry pastes stores well in the freezer and can be made a day or two before if you'd like to get ahead.
If you'd rather a one-pot wonder, you could add diced fish to the curry sauce and gently poach instead of steaming.
Pack this curry sauce with vegetables as you wish, pak choi, green beans and chard work brilliantly.