Seafood
Coconut Thai Red Prawn Curry
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 cm piece of ginger, finely grated
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 lemongrass stalk, cut in half (smash with a rolling pin to releases the flavour)
10 limes leaves (reserve 5 leaves and julienne for garnish)
2 Tbsp red curry paste - recipe below or store bought (see note). Add more if you like it spicy
500mls coconut milk
2 tsp coconut sugar
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp tamarind concentrate
800g of green large prawns, peeled and cleaned with tail left on]
150 g green beans, cut in half
1 lime juiced
To finish
½ bunch of fresh coriander leaves
1 long red chilli
Julienned limes leaves [see above]
Instructions
Heat oil in a large non-stick frypan over medium heat.
Add the onion, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and curry paste to the frypan and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add coconut milk, fish sauce, torn lime leaves, and coconut sugar.
Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes to cook out the spices.
Add prawns and beans, cover and simmer for roughly 6-8 minutes, until just cooked (the prawns will keep cooking when you take them off the heat).
Remove lemongrass stalk and stir in lime juice.
Pour curry into individual bowls and top each individual bowl with a sprinkle of coriander and lime leaves as well as a squeeze of lime juice to enhance the flavour.
Serve as is, with ginger jasmine rice (recipe in vegetables) or vermicelli.
Thai curry pastes
Curry pastes one of the most essential components, or foundations of Thai cuisine; pastes form the base of many dishes, from soups, to curries, to stir fries.
In Thailand you’ll find curry pastes available at all markets, fresh, but produced in mass quantities.
In other countries you can normally buy Thai curry pastes in cans or tubs. Mae Ploy is one of the most famous brands but nothing compares to the flavour of Thai curry paste made yourself from fresh ingredients.
Believe me you’ll taste the difference. This slow method ensures all the oils from the chilies and garlic are fully released but it does definitely take a lot of work.
Alternatively, you could pulse everything in a food processor or blender if you need to.
Thai red curry paste
Makes 8-10 Tbsp
Ingredients
8 dry red spur chillies (soak them in water for a few minutes to rehydrate them)
3 tsp white pepper corns
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
10 – 15 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp fresh coriander roots , roughly chopped
1 Tbsp sliced lemongrass, roughly chopped
2 French shallots or eshallots (small red onion), roughly chopped
1 tablespoon sliced galangal
1/2 the peel of 1 kaffir lime (when you peel the lime be careful not to take too much of the white pith as well. You only want the zesty, green lime skin)
1/2 tsp shrimp paste
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
1. Place white pepper corns, coriander seeds and cumin seeds into a small fry pan and dry roast for 5 minutes on a medium heat, or until you can smell the lovely fragrant.
2. Add the roasted seeds to your mortar and pestle and pound seeds until it’s a fine powder. If you have an electric spice grinder, please use then set them aside.
3. Drain the chilies. Cut off their stems and chop them into small pieces. Some people take out the seeds to make their red curry paste less spicy, but in my opinion, you’ve got to keep the seeds.
4. Add the chopped dry chilies to the mortar and pestle along with ½ teaspoon of salt and start pounding. Keep on pounding for about 5 - 10 minutes until most of the chilies are nice and broken with the oils are coming out
5. Toss all of those ingredients into the already pounded chillies and keep pound until you’ve got a buttery, oily, and extremely fragrant curry paste. This should take anywhere from 10-15 minutes. It’s tough work, but it’s worth it (alternatively you can use a blender or food processor).
6. When your paste is buttery and smooth, add the white pepper and dry spices, and mix it into the paste.
7. Final step is to add in just ½ tsp of shrimp paste. Pound your paste together again to make sure the shrimp paste is thoroughly mixed in.
Chef’s notes
Prawns
Nutritional benefits
Prawns are a good source of omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. They contain a high amount of Vitamin E and B12 which is what keeps metabolic functions in your body going, so that your cells can use the energy from the food you eat. Prawns also contain minerals calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and selenium. They have less saturated fat than other protein sources and more Vitamin E than meat and chicken.
Miso Salmon with Soba Noodle Salad
Serves 2
Ingredients
300g salmon fillet , skin on (cut into 2 x 150g portions)
Marinade
2 Tbsp white miso
1 Tbsp sake
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Topping [optional]
1/2 tsp toasted white and black sesame seeds
1 stalk of spring onion, sliced
Method
1. Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl and toss in salmon to evenly coat.
2. Cover and keep in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes (no longer as miso will be too salty).
3. Line a baking dish sheet with parchment paper for baking. As miso burns easily, remove excess marinade completely from the salmon and place it on parchment paper.
To bake
Preheat the oven to 190ºC (fan forced). Place the baking dish in the centre of oven rack and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the salmon skin is blistered and lightly browned. You do not need to flip the fish.
To pan fry (see chefs notes on the tips for pan frying salmon)
1. Using your hands, rub each salmon fillet with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
2. Heat a large, non-stick fry pan over a medium-high heat and cook the fillets, skin side down for 5 minutes.
3. If you want super crispy skin push down each fillet with an egg flip.
4. Now turn and cook for another 2-3 minutes – the salmon should still be pink in the centre.
Sake
Sake is made from rice and water. Although sake is referred to in English rice wine, sake is made through a brewing process more like beer. For sake rice starch is converted to sugar, then that sugar is converted to alcohol by adding yeast. A good quality of sake depends on the quality of rice and water being used for brewing.
Sake is often used in marinades for meat and fish to tenderise and to remove their smell. It is also used to add umami and a natural sweet flavour in soups, stocks and sauces.
Mirin
Mirin is a sweet cooking rice wine used as a seasoning and glazing agent. Mirin tenderises and adds a mild sweetness to dishes. With a deeper body and umami, Kirin also helps to mask the smell of fish and seafood.
Chef’s Notes
Salmon
Nutritional Benefits
Rich in Omega-3 fatty long chain acids, EPA and DHA that are considered “essential,” meaning you must get them from your diet since your body can’t create them. EPA and DHA are credited with several health benefits, such as reducing inflammation, lowering blood pressure and decreasing risk factors for disease.
It is a rich source of protein, potassium, selenium and B group vitamins which are needed for energy production, controlling inflammation and protecting heart and brain health. Salmon contains the antioxidant Astaxanthin that reduces the oxidation of LDL cholesterol and increases the beneficial HDL cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease, as well as helping your skin.
FISH COOKING
Pan frying salmon with or without skin
Take the salmon fillets out of the refrigerator. Remove the salmon fillets from the refrigerator about 15 minutes before you're ready to cook (this will give them enough time to come closer to room temperature).
Dry the salmon fillets. Use a paper towel or clean kitchen towel to pat each fillet dry on the top and bottom to prevent them from sticking to the pan.
Heat a wide frying pan over medium-high heat to allow it to heat up. [the pan needs to accomodate fish easily and not be squashed in].
Use water to test if the pan is ready. Flick a few drops of water into the pan to test if it's hot enough. If the water sizzles and evaporates almost immediately, the pan is ready to go.
Add oil to the pan, so that a thin layer of oil coats the bottom. Continue to heat the oil until you see ripples across the surface, but not long enough that it smokes.
Season the salmon with salt and pepper [if not marinated]
Carefully place the fillets skin-side down into the pan.
Cook the fillets skin side down as this is when the majority of the cooking takes place. Please resist the urge to poke, prod, or move the fish; it's important that you leave it be. As the fish cooks, you'll notice the colour of the fillet begin to lighten, starting at the bottom near the skin and slowly moving upwards. Cook the salmon undisturbed until the lighter-coloured flesh has moved about 3/4 of the way up the fillets. This will come to a total time of 5 minutes for thick fillets and 3-4 minutes for thinner fillets.
Flip the fillets and cook for an additional 2 minutes using a fish or flat spatula or cook to your liking, however please note that fish continues to cook when taken off the heat, so my advise is slightly undercook.