Sea bass with a plantain & tomato puree

At 3 AM this morning I couldn’t sleep so whilst I was daydreaming I thought surely, I can do something with the ingredients I have in my kitchen. well, I managed to recreate a typical dish in every Nigerian household: plantain, rice and stew. As I mentioned earlier in the year, I’ve been making more of a conscious effort to reduce the amount of food I waste. Whilst I was making this dish, I couldn’t help but reminisce on CBBC days where I’d watch Art Attack and think “well I don’t have all the materials he’s using but I’ll figure it out and make my own thing.” So I’d encourage you (and myself) to take on that attitude with your ingredients and use what you have.Hope you enjoy!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Blender
• Knife
• Chopping board
• Spoon
• Saucepan

INGREDIENTS

• 200g long grain rice (my go to is Tilda Long grain)
• 1 ½ onions
• Chilli powder
• Knorr cubes
• Salt
• Olive oil
• 2 fillets Sea bass (I bought mine from Lidl for £2.57)
• 2tbsp butter
• 1 can of peeled / chopped tomatoes

For the plantain puree

• 1 plantain
• 28g butter
• 83ml water
• Seasoning to taste (Knorr cubes)

STEPS

Prepping the tomato sauce

1. Put the tomatoes, onion, garlic and scotch bonnet into a blender and blend until it is smooth in consistency.
2. Add some olive oil to  the saucepan, then pour in the mix. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes. (Tip: Add a little water, each time it gets too thick). Once the sauce is ready, move to the side.
3. Whilst the sauce is cooking, cut off the ends of the plantain, then cut in half and boil in a saucepan for 30 minutes.
4. Whilst both the tomato and plantain are cooking, season the sea bass with chilli powder, garlic, salt and black pepper. Then set aside in a fridge.

Plantain puree &  the rice....

1. Whilst the plantains are cooling down, heat the butter. Then add onions, garlic and seasoning to flavour. Then cook for five minutes on a low-medium heat.
2. Working in batches, put the onion mix and water (used to boil the plantain) into a blender and mix until a smooth puree consistency is obtained. Then set aside.
3. Now follow the cooking instructions on the rice packaging.

... and now the Sea bass

1. Wipe off any seasoning from the seabass.
2. Now, heat the oil so it is hot. Then add the seabass with the skin facing down. (Tip: It’s important that the oil is hot so that the skin can be very crispy) .
3. Whilst frying, press down the fish with your fingers for a few minutes, then turn.