Although I’m usually left to my own devices to come up with suitable recipes for cookery demonstrations, one food festival organiser specifically asked me to present ketogenic dishes.
As an appreciator of carbs, this isn’t what I would naturally cook but for the sake of balance, and given the science behind the keto diet, I rose to the challenge.
The premise of the ketogenic approach, for those of you that aren’t familiar, is a high fat, high protein, very low carb, sometimes with short periods of fasting that gears the body to burn fat for fuel instead of sugar.
Research links this way of eating with better blood sugar control, improvements in certain disease states and weight loss (search for “ketogenic diet in pubmed.gov if you are interested in the exact science).

This beautiful fish, watercress sauce and crispy garlic recipe isn’t just low carb at below 12g of carbs per portion, it’s also super high in nutrients and big on flavour.
If you aren’t particularly bothered about the carbs then it works really well with a few new potatoes added, the fish is easily substituted with some firm tofu for a vegan version or you can cook the fish in coconut or rapeseed oil for a dairy-free alternative.
It makes a delicious dinner however you chose to amend it.

Ingredients (feeds 4)
For the watercress sauce:
100g of cashews
2 large handfuls of watercress (60g)
2 large handfuls of spinach (60g)
one handful of parsley (10g), both the leaves and stalks are ok
250ml of hot veg stock or hot bone broth
zest & juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 teaspoon of good quality sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the crispy spice mix:
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
2 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons of dried curry leaves
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of black onion seeds

For the fish
Good quality, organic butter
4 cod loin pieces
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

For the charred sprouting broccoli
320g sprouting broccoli (the long stem variety)
Rapeseed oil
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Boil 1/2 a kettle of water.
Put the cashews in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak until you prepare the rest of the ingredients. This will soften the cashews and ensure they blend easier.
Use some of the boiling water to make the stock, if using.

To make the charred broccoli:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Put the broccoli on a baking tray. Season with sea salt and black pepper, drizzle with some rapeseed oil and roast for 15-20 minutes until the stems have softened and the edges of the crown are slightly crispy.

To make the sauce:
Drain the cashews and pop in a blender with the remaining sauce ingredients.
Blend until smooth.
It should retain some heat from the hot stock or bone broth but it can be heated gently on a low heat. Just avoid bringing it to a boil since that’ll turn the sauce brown.

To cook the fish:
Add a knob of butter to a frying pan on a medium heat.
Season the fish with sea salt and black pepper.
Put the fish in the pan and only turn it once the edges have changed to opaque white. Flip it over and cook it for a couple more minutes.
Set aside & keep warm.

To make the crispy spice mix:
Put the coconut oil in a small saucepan on a high heat.
Drop in the garlic, followed by the curry leaves 10 seconds later then the cumin and black onion seed.
Remove with a spoon once the garlic slices start to turn golden.
Drain on kitchen paper.
Be careful not to burn the garlic/ spices. It cooks very quickly.

To assemble: add a ladle of sauce, place the fish on top, the broccoli on the side and sprinkle over some of the crispy spice mix. Drizzle over some of the coconut oil that was used to cook the spice mix if desired.