Sea bass with a Curry Coconut Quinoa

Chilean Sea bass is an incredibly flavorful white fish. Its high oil content keeps it moist and gives it a rich flavor profile. Now it is an expensive fish. If you are looking to conserve money, you can use any other white, flakey fish such as hake.

I created this recipe the other day. I knew when writing it that it was going to be an extremely flavorful dish but I did not realize just how delicious it would turn out. I made it for my mom, aunt and cousin. They were moaning the entire time. With this recipe you are sure to impress your guests.

The seas bass absorbed flavor very well. You could taste the sweet shallot, wine and tomato throughout the fish. The sweet flavors from these ingredients were a nice compliment to the earthy, spicy flavor of the curry.


Like the fish, quinoa absorbs flavors easily. However, the only time to flavor the seed itself is while cooking it. Therefore, I like to cook my quinoa in chicken broth instead of water. Here I cooked it in half chicken broth and half coconut milk. Coconut and curry pair well together. The flavors in the quinoa are surprisingly mild and will not take away from the fish.
When cooking this recipe I wanted to add a vegetable so I grilled yellow squash- after lightly brushing it with olive oil, salt and pepper- until tender and placed it over the quinoa.

Serves 2

-1/2 cup coconut milk + 2 tablespoons Healthier Choice: use low fat coconut milk

-1/2 chicken broth Healthier Choice: use low sodium

-1/2 cup quinoa

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon curry masala mixture- I use a Woodlands French Masala Curry mixture

-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

-2 medium shallot cloves

-2 medium garlic cloves

-1 large tomato, chopped

-1/4 cup white wine

-2 6-ounce fillets sea bass or any meaty white fish

-Fresh ground pepper and sea salt

-Handful of roasted chopped almonds

-Cilantro to garnish

In a pot add quinoa, ½ cup coconut milk, chicken broth and salt. Stir and bring mixture to a boil.  Once boiling, cover and reduce flame to low. Cook for about 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Fluff quinoa with a fork. Add ½ teaspoon curry mixture and the remaining coconut milk. Stir the quinoa.

Heat 1-tablespoon olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add shallots and garlic. Cook for a couple minutes until you can smell the aromas. Add tomatoes, wine and 1/2 teaspoon of curry. Cook for about three minutes. 

Clear room in the center of the saucepan. Season both sides of the fish with sea salt and ground pepper. Add remaining olive oil in the center of the pan. Add fish to the center. Cook each side for about 4-8 minutes, depends on the thickness of the fish.

To serve, spoon quinoa onto a plate. Place fish on top. Add tomato mixture. Sprinkle almonds on top of the fish and garnish with cilantro.