Bengali-Style Basa Curry With Spinach Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 220°C/ 200°C (fan)/ gas 7 and boil half a kettle

Chop your potatoes (skins on) into bite-sized pieces

Add the chopped potatoes to a baking tray with a drizzle of vegetable oil and a pinch of salt and give everything a good mix up

Put the tray in the oven for 20-25 min or until golden and crisp

Peel and grate your brown onion[s] roughly

Heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick with a matching lid) with a generous drizzle of vegetable oil over a medium heat

Add the grated onion with a pinch of salt and cook for 4-5 min or until the onion is starting to soften

Meanwhile, chop your tomatoes roughly

Peel and finely chop (or grate) your garlic

Peel (scrape the skin off with a teaspoon) and finely chop (or grate) your ginger

Slice your green chilli[es] in half, lengthways

Add the chopped ginger and chopped garlic to the pan with your garam masala, black mustard seeds, half your ground turmeric (you'll use the rest later!) and the halved green chilli[es] (can't handle the heat? Go easy!)

Give everything a good mix up and cook for 2 min or until fragrant

Dissolve your vegetable stock mix, tomato paste and 1 tsp [1 1/2 tsp] [2 tsp] sugar in 200ml [275ml] [350ml] boiled water – this is your tomato stock

Add the chopped tomatoes and tomato stock to the pan

Mix it all together and cook for 12-15 min, stirring occasionally, or until the sauce has thickened and the tomatoes have softened

Reboil a full kettle

Pat your basa fillet[s] dry with kitchen paper, then sprinkle over the remaining ground turmeric with a pinch of salt and cut each fillet in half on the diagonal

Add the chopped basa to the pan and cook, covered, for 5-6 min, or until the basa is cooked through

Tip: Your fish is cooked once it turns opaque and flakes easily

Remove the lid and cook, uncovered, for a final 2 min or until the sauce has thickened – this is your Bengali-style basa curry

Wash your spinach, then add to a colander and pour boiled water all over it so that it starts to wilt

Rinse the wilted spinach under cold running water until it's cool then squeeze the water out of the spinach as much as you can then chop it roughly

Remove the potatoes from the oven and top with the chopped spinach, then return to the oven for 2-3 min to warm through