Kedgeree

Some people love it and some people don’t. It’s a curious dish, fused from Scottish smoked fish and Indian fried rice. 

Usually it’s made with smoked haddock, but I’m using kippers today. Although I think any smoked fish will be great in this dish. Lot’s of sweet veggies compliment the smoky fish and a bit of umami rich Thai fish sauce adds the right kind of savouriness. 

Ingredients 

2 kipper fillets, poached in milk, broken into chunks

(Reserve the milk for cooking the rice)

1cup of Long grain or basmati rice (cook in one and a half times the amount of liquid to rice and using the poaching milk from the fish and/or water) 

1tbs Ginger-Garlic Paste

2 fresh chillies, chopped

1onion, chopped

1red Pepper diced

1handful Frozen peas

1handful sweetcorn kernels

1handful chopped spring onion

1handful chopped fresh coriander

1tbs Indian curry powder

1tbs Thai fish Sauce 

1tsp black Pepper 

Poach the kippers in the milk for just a couple of minutes. Use the Milk to cook the rice. 

Fry the onion and add the ginger garlic paste. 

Ad the cooked rice and all the veggies and mix well in the hot pan/wok/kharai 

Add the curry powder, pepper and fish sauce and taste for the right Balance. 

Serve with lemon if you like. I prefer it without. 

Bon Appetit! 

Spinach and Feta Lasagne

This recipe has one of my favourite combination of ingredients - Spinach and Feta. This time realised in a Lasagna. 

Ingredients 

400g Spinach, blanched

200g Feta 

250g Ricotta

2 Eggs

8 Lasagne sheets

A grating of nutmeg

A few grinds of pepper

300ml Hollandaise Sauce

80g grated Cheddar Cheese

Mix together spinach, ricotta, crumbled feta, eggs and seasonings. 

Layer the lasagne sheets with the spinach mixture in a baking dish, topping the last lasagne sheet layer with the hollandaise sauce and the grated cheddar. 

Bake in the oven at gas 6 or 170C ish for about 40 minutes. 

Let the top get nice and golden brown. 

Cut into squares and enjoy with a little salad. 

Stir fried Morning Glory (Pak Boong Fai Dang)

One of my favourites is this Thai style stir fried Morning Glory. 

Very quick and healthy, but most important very tasty.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Morning Glory (Water Spinach) , cut into 1 inch pieces, leaves and stalks separate 

5 gloves of Garlic, sliced

2 long red Chillies, sliced

2 tsp fermented Soybean paste

1 tsp Oyster sauce

1 tsp Light Soy Sauce

1 tsp Thai Fish Sauce

1 tbs Water

1 tbs vegetable oil

Prepare all the ingredients beforehand, ready to wok. 

Make a sauce from the water, fish sauce, soy sauce and soybean paste. 

Heat the wok, then add the oil, garlic and chilli.

Stir fry for a moment just to soften slightly then add the stalks of the Morning Glory. 

Stir together then add the sauce.

Heat through before adding the leaves at the last minute, just to let them wilt. 

Ready!

Serve with steamed rice.

I also added a Thai style omelette to complete my meal. 
Bon Appetit! 

Dim Sum - Daikon Cake - Lo Bak Go

So today I am making one of my favourite Dim Sum. Called by different names in English, like Turnip Cake, Radish Cake etc. 

I decided to call it by it’s actual ingredient that I’ve used, which is Daikon. 

The Daikon I got is fairly small, so I’m using two. But they come in all kinds of sizes, so you’ll have to adjust the recipe to suit your amount of Daikon.

Daikon is a kind of radish by the way, in case your not familiar with it. 

Instead of Chinese sausage I am using a nice smoked bacon, not only because I haven’t got any Chinese sausage, but also because I think it tastes nice. 

The cake needs to be sautéed, cooked, steamed and fried. So there are many steps to follow. But none are difficult. 

Here goes:

First the ingredients

2 Daikon shredded or grated

3 thin slices of smoked streaky bacon, chopped (or 1 small Chinese sausage]

2 dried Shitake mushrooms (soaked for 3 hours, starting with 150ml hot water) stem discarded and then chopped

1 heaped tbs dried shrimp (soaked for 3 hours together with the shitake) (keep the soaking water) and chopped a little smaller

100g Rice Flour (I used brown)

1 tbs Tapioca Starch

100ml water

1tsp of Salt and a pinch of white Pepper

2 tsp Sugar

Once all the ingredients are prepared we are ready to start cooking. 

Start by frying the bacon on a low heat to release all their oils or fats.

Add the mushrooms and shrimp and sautéed a little more.

Add the shredded Daikon and let it wilt and settle in the heat. 

Season with salt, white pepper and sugar, then add 100 ml water, put a lid on, 

and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile mix the soaking water, taking care that there is no grit in it, with the rice flour and tapioca starch.

After 10 minutes the Daikon should be soft and the starchy slushy is ready to be added. 

Stir everything well until it thickens into a paste. Turn of the heat.

Now to steam the Daikon Cake. 

Line a cake tin with cling film, leaving some excess over the edges, to be folded over later. 

Transfer he Daikon Paste mixture into the cake tin and smooth the top.

Fold over the cling film, to prevent drips from the steamer lid falling onto your cake.

Place into your steamer basket and steam for 1 hour.

Leave to cool before removing and be careful of the steam. 

Cool completely in the fridge. 

Remove from the tin and cut into thick slices.

Fry in a little oil until nice brown edges have developed.

Or be a rebel like me and fry it all like a frittata.

Serve with soy and chilli dipping sauces. 

Bon Appetit! 

 

Surf and Turf P.F. Chang‘s style

So I had this dish at P.F. Chang’s in Fort Lauderdale once and loved it. Ever since I’ve been trying to recreate it. There are some copycat websites, but non seemed to have the recipe for this one.
This is my version. It has no lobster, but don’t let me stop you from adding a tail or two.
My recipe has ribeye instead of filet mignon. But it’s a part of the dish that can be changed to your liking. I can imagine Venison or even Kangeroo making a great substitution.

Surf and Turf Ingredients
Prepare all these ingredients separately and put aside, together in a bowl.

10 King Prawns, cooked
1 Filet Steak, cubed into 2cm pieces, quickly seared on all sides
5 asparagus spears, cut into 1inch length and steamed for 3 minutes, then refreshed in icecold water
5 Shitake mushrooms, sliced thickly and fried quickly
2 medium potatoes, diced and fried until golden

The butter glaze
Mix together
1 tbs oyster sauce
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbs shao shing rice wine
2 tbs water
2 tsp honey
1 the butter
1 tsp cornstarch
1 star anise
3 slices ginger
1 sliced garlic clove

Bring this sauce to a simmer. Then leave to cool and remove the whole spicings.
Now the preparation or mise en place is complete.

When ready to serve the dish, heat a wok as hot as it gets and throw all the surf and turf into it.
Quickly stirfry to heat everything through, add the sauce, let it bubble and coat/glaze everything. Serve right away garnished with chopped spring onion and coriander.
Bon Apetit.

PS, if you know another good version, please let me know :)

Jellied Eel

As per repeated request I am posting this recipe which stems from my mother and her mother before that. 

Eel is caught in the lake of my hometown in Germany by the local fisheries. 

I was very happy to see their van/stall parked outside the supermarket. As I walked towards it, I was saying Eel, Eel, Eel repeatedly in my head, wishing it to be there. 

And yes! He had just two lovely and fresh Eels there, just waiting for me. 

This recipe is ever so easy and even considered old fashioned and unpopular. But before it gets lost, I am writing it down now. My mum is old now and doesn’t remember any receipts. 

So here it is the way I recall it. 

The measurements are not in stone, so you have to add little and taste, use your judgement and creativity, and sometimes I think a bit of luck, and a bit of magic.     

Here is picture, but it’s not mine. Mine wasn’t very pretty, so I put it at the end...

Recipe 

1large Eel, 1kg ish,  cut into 1 inch pieces

1 Onion, roughly sliced

1 Carrot, sliced

5 Peppercorns

3 Cloves

2 Bayleaves 

2 tsp sea Salt

2 tsp Sugar

2 tbs White Vinegar

Water

Add the Eel, salt, carrot, onion, pepper, cloves and Bayleaves to a pot and add water 

literally to just cover everything.

Bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes. 

Leave to cool slightly, then season with sugar and vinegar to taste. 

Your looking to achieve a good picking type liquid or brine, which will become the jelly, but also flavour the fish.

Once cooled to room temperature place the fish and liquid into its glass or ceramic serving dish, cover and leave in the fridge overnight. 

In the morning you will have Jellied Eels! The liquid yellifies all by itself. 

Eat with some rye bread or toast or steaming hot boiled potatoes and horseradish sauce. 

Bon Appetit, 

Ps: Eel are not sustainable everywhere, so make sure you get it from a sustainable source.

Shashlik with Letcho

I’m sure you’ve heard the word Shashlik before and maybe in your tradition is actually is a kind of meat on stick dish. The one I’m presenting here is the kind of Shashlik (actually spelled Schaschlik. Where I’m from) I remember from childhood BBQ’s in North Eastern Germany. 

Much of our cuisine was highly influenced by Hungarian dishes, and this one is a prime example. 

Meat on sticks covered with a tangy Paprika and tomato based sauce. Fond memories....

For the Schaschlik any kind of meat or sausage can be used, but tradition had it, that 

Diced Pork Fillet

Thick sliced of bacon and diced pork liver

Or pieces of liver rolled in bacon

Sliced pickled cucumbers and 

Onion segments

were used to make up the sticks. 

Nowadays I like to add more things. Meatballs, bratwurst, peppers, mushrooms and whatever else I can think of. The more variety to more fun to eat! 

The Letcho sauce is made by 

Sautéing Bell peppers or similar and onions in bacon fat or olive oil, then adding fresh tomoatoes, preferably skinned or tinned or passata. I like passata as it’s nice and smooth and makes an attractive sauce. 

Simply add salt, pepper and paprika powder to taste and a delicious sauce awaits. It’s lovely hot, but I actually really like it fridge cold. 

The traditional Schaschlik Recipe:

1 Pork Fillet, diced into 1inch pieces

400g chicken livers, cut into equal size pieces to the Pork 

4slices of streaky bacon cut in half and used to roll around the chicken livers

1 onion, quartered, then the segments separated. 

1 large gherkin, thickly sliced

Salt, pepper and paprika powder mixed together to make the seasoning 

Alternate the ingredients onto your skewers and bbq, grill or shallow fry on a medium heat until cooked through, while turning frequently. 

Letscho German Style:

1 red, yellow and green bell pepper, sliced

1 400ml jar of passata

1 onion, sliced

1tbs lard, (I’m using olive oil, but lard was the fat of choice in olden days)

Salt, pepper and paprika powder to season

Sauté the peppers and onions in the fat until softened, the. Add the passata, season and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Serve hot, warm or leave to cool. It’s delicious at any temperature.