The chefs of Thailand have a fancy name for this dish but Western visitors soon learn to order it as 'two-fish curry'. Excuse the pun, but if you taste it once you will be hooked for life because it's absolutely delicious.

And the beauty of this dish is that you don't need many fancy, expensive ingredients. In fact, most of what goes into this curry is freely available at most supermarkets.

The secret of any fish curry is to slice the fish into thick cubes and to cook it gently and briefly. Overcook it and it becomes chewy and tasteless.

You also have to work gently with the fish, otherwise it breaks up and the dish turns to mush.

I love the combination of tuna and kingklip and I also add a couple of chopped crab sticks for a little extra flavour.

To serve four portions you need:

Ingredients

300g cubed tuna steak

300g cubed kingklip

2 crabsticks, sliced into wheels (it will fall apart in any case)

4 tablespoons Thai fish sauce

2 tablespoons Thai light soy sauce

1 fresh green chilli, seeded and finely chopped (you can use more chillies if you like, but be careful not to overdo the bite otherwise you overpower the taste of the fish)or

Juice of one lime (or 1/3 cup bottled fresh lime juice, not the commercial gunk you find behind bar counters)

1 can coconut milk

4 kaffir lime leaves (if you can?t source them then use curry leaves instead)

1 sachet of Taste of Thai red curry paste (or a tablespoon of any other Thai red curry paste)

1-2 lemon grass stalks (the white bits only, finely chopped), or the finely grated peel of ? lime or lemon

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh coriander leaf

Method

To really instil the flavours of this dish it?s necessary to marinate the fish for an hour or two.

To do this mix half the soy sauce and half the fish sauce in shallow, non-metallic dish with the chopped chilli and lime juice, add the fish, turn and coat well, cover and set aside in a cool place

In a large solid bottom pot or pan bring the coconut milk to a gentle bubble and add the Thai red curry paste, the kaffir lime or curry leaves, the remaining fish sauce, the chopped crab sticks and the grated peel or lemon stalk

Simmer for 10 minutes then add the cubes of fish. Cover and simmer for 5-6 minutes or until the fish is barely done

Serve immediately with freshly-steamed basmati rice sprinkled with the coriander leaf

Footnote: If the sauce thickens too much you can thin it with a little more coconut milk or an oopsie of white wine, chicken or vegetable stock.

Mike from Wine Concepts recommends the Delheim Gewurztraminer 2008 ? Stellenbosch ? R75.00

Full, rich complex wine with aromatic rose petal aroma following onto a palate of soft litchi flavours with a delicate freshness on the finish.