Sandpaper Figs Green Curry

I have been inspired by Aussie Bush Tucker lately since I have so many growing wild on my property. One such delight is Sandpaper Figs. They are smaller than normal figs and most people find them bland to eat on its own. When it’s very ripe it does have a mildly sweet flavour. So I used these in my Sandpaper Figs Green Curry.

I buy my fish directly from fisherman Ivan of Unreel Seafood. In this way, I can be assured my food is always fresh. For my Sandpaper Figs Green Curry, I used Rosey Job Fish. Another name for it is King Snapper.

I have several frangipani trees covered with pink flowers and so I decided to present my dish decorated with frangipani. This Sandpaper Figs Green Curry dish is easy to make. Did you know that frangipani flowers are edible?

I preserve green chillies by blending them with garlic and vinegar and store in the fridge

Rosey Job Fish From Unreel Seafood

Sandpaper Figs Green Curry served with spinach and brinjal stirfry and lemon pickle

Sandpaper Figs Green Curry

Ingredients

1/2 cup coriander

1 small zucchini

1/2 cup green chillies blended with garlic and vinegar

1-inch piece galangal ginger 

1 400 ml can of  coconut milk

1/2 cup sandpaper figs 

1 cup pumpkin chopped into cubes

3 tablespoon fish sauce

Method

Blend together coriander, zucchini and blended green chillies. If you don’t keep preserved blended chillies like me in the fridge, just blend together three green chillies with three cloves garlic and two tablespoon vinegar.

A local chilli farmer gave me a lot of chilli peppers which were slightly blemished and not good for the commercial market. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them nutritionally. Only aesthetically they don’t fit commercial requirements.  As I could not use all of them fast enough,  I blended them with garlic and vinegar to preserve them. I use them as chilli sauce such as when I eat fries and I also use them in dishes such as this Green Curry Sandpaper Figs.

Sandpaper Figs In A Bowl

You can turn this dish into a vegetarian dish by leaving out the fish and using more sandpaper figs. Use one cup figs instead of half cup. As the fish sauce is salty, no need to use salt. The figs are delicious as they soak up the curry and taste like mushrooms in this curry except that they have a sweeter disposition.

This Green Curry Sandpaper Figs was served on brown rice, accompanied by a simple spinach brinjal stirfry. I also added a touch of lemon pickle on the side. To make lemon pickle, I preserve whole organic lemons in salt and when they are ready after several weeks, I use them in various ways. When I want to use them as a pickle I blend a piece of preserved lemon with red onion and chillies. 

An alternative to the spinach brinjal stirfry is spinach, kale and tempeh stirfry. We had this on the second day when we had finished eating all of the spinach brinjal stir-fry but still had some of the curry left. So I made this spinach, kale and tempeh stirfry fresh and ate it with the left-over curry on the second day.

Vegetarian sandpaper green curry figs with more figs and no fish served up with kale tempeh stirfry and a little lemon pickle on the side. The pickle looks pink because of the red onions I used.

Incidentally, on the same day I made this Green Curry Sandpaper Figs we found our friend this green frog in out outdoor toilet bowl.

We had “rescued” him out of there several times but he still finds his way back in there. We even close the lid and he still gets in.

So in keeping with our green theme, I will post this video if only to put a smile on your face. At the end of the video you will see the brinjal plant which supplied the brinjals for the stirfry.