Spicy Seafood For A Romantic Summer Evening

Summer has arrived with a vengeance the last few days. Granted,  is still officially spring. But it is quite warm and the southeaster is blowing us into the next century.

Weather which calls for relaxing with friends and loved ones over a light meal. A braai with meat is OK, but the food tends to be heavy. In addition, we have a regular braai once a week at the yacht club. So a lighter meal is in order.

Which brought me to think more towards a salad. But salads are too light to my taste. Even those with something hot, like pieces of chicken or fish. So the choice went to something Asian. Asian dishes are generally easy and quick to make, as well as being on the light side. Of course, this is just what one wants, as it leaves more time to spend with your close ones.

Having gone through all of this reasoning, I decided on a Thai style seafood curry in a coconut sauce. I had this idea in my mind for a long time. Now, at last, the weather is playing along.


This dish is very easy to make, with hardly any messy work. It also is quick to  make, as the ingredients are not heavy and therefore cooks fast. You don't want to overcook fish anyway. The coconut base makes it quite fruity, which adds to the idea that it can serve as something with more body than a salad, but in the same category of light food.

Try to steer away from using a ready mix seafood. These tend to have more of the cheaper cuts. I settled for mussels and small prawns, with a dash of seafood mix. I was a bit put off with the quality of the mix. Next time I shall buy the ingredients directly and make my own mix.

This dish is prepared by making a sauce, then cooking the fish in this sauce. No need for frying the fish. For the coconut one can use a can of coconut milk, mix powdered coconut with water or even use desiccated coconut soaked for a hour in hot water. All will work.

Having read about the latest Banting craze, I am following suit by using real butter to fry the onions. It does make a difference, not only in the taste. The butter triggers your body's reaction to make you feel satisfied, so you tend to eat less because you feel full sooner.
Which, in my case, is good.

This dish goes very well with a fruity dry sparkling wine, as it is not that spicy. Here in South Africa we are blessed with a variety of bottle fermented sparkling wines at a steal. The La Vallee from JC le Roux and Pongracz  immediately comes to mind as a romantic pairing. We also have some magnificent Sauvignon blanc wines from the Durbanville region, our neighbours. Choose your own, bearing in mind the type of company you will have for dinner.

In my case it is my missus of over thirty-five years' standing, so the JC le Roux la Vallee wins hands down.

As for cooking utensils, I used my new stainless steel saucepan from le Creuset. These have a stainless steel lining inside, a layer of high carbon steel outside to make it magnetic for use on induction hobs, and a layer of aluminium sandwiched in between. This causes better heat distribution and more effective cooking. The pot gets warm on the sides too, unlike some other brands of cookware. This better heat distribution also uses less gas. In fact, a lot less. One needs to be careful of burning the food.

The ingredients are simple and few, which makes it easier to get them all together. I used the canned variety of bamboo sprouts. There are others. Some recipes call for the sour variety, others use the plain bamboo sprouts. It seems not to make a real difference.

Ingredients

500 g seafood, I used a mix of prawns and mussels
1 cup basmati or jasmine rice
1 can coconut milk or cream. Or a sachet of coconut powder.
1 medium to large onion, chopped
½ sweet bell pepper, chopped
3 toes garlic, mashed
2 hot chillies, chopped
1 teaspoon medium dry masala
2 teaspoons wet masala (recipe here)
1 dessert spoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
2 dessert spoons fish sauce
½ cup bamboo sprouts
½ cup sugar snap peas
½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
½  cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
4 bay leaves
some butter for frying
salt and pepper to taste

 Process

Fry the onions and sweet pepper in the butter until the onion goes translucent. Add the wet masala, chopped chillies and mashed garlic and fry these for thirty seconds. Add the dry powdered spices and fry for fifteen seconds or until the flavours come out. Add the coconut milk and stir, making sure that there is nothing sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.

Bring this to the boil, then add the seafood. Add the fish sauce and sugar and check for enough salt. Turn down the gas flame and cook this for ten minutes or until the seafood is almost done, then add the sugar snap peas and the bamboo sprouts. Cook for another five minutes, then take the saucepan off the heat. Add the chopped basil and coriander leaves and mix through. Then set this aside to rest while you cook the rice. This will allow the curry to repose and develop flavour.

Then dish up.

Now is the time to open that second bottle of bubbly...

Bon appetit!




Authored by Johan Zietsman


Last updated on 2014-10-20

Pakistani Style Biriyani

Biriyani must be the most the most underrated dish in the culinary world. Here in South Africa you even get it in cans, if you look in the right place. Very common over the whole of Asia, it appears.

It is very easy to make. Perhaps that is where the idea comes from that it is a commonplace dish and therefore treated with disdain.

However, there is much variation to this dish. You can make it in a multitude of flavours, ranging from mild to strong. You can actually make the meaty part very strongly spiced as the rice part will dilute the strength somewhat.

But the appeal of this dish lies in the gentle flavours it carries. If you intend to use saffron, it is sacrilege to make it too spicy. The spiciness will overpower the exotic flavour of the saffron and it will turn out to be just another spicy rice dish.

Biriyani is made in two parts, then assembled and steamed. Cook the rice and cook the meaty part. And the exotic flavour lies in the preparation of the meaty part. Especially the process.

The meat is marinated in a spiced yoghurt marinade. Fresh herbs make a huge difference to the end result. I used fresh coriander leaves. The rest of the herbs and spices are the normal ground spices available through your local supermarket or spice shop. Whatever you do, try your utmost to get hold of fresh herbs and spices. It really makes a difference.

For this version I decided to broadly go along with the basic recipe from my food blogger friend Maria Nasir. She lives in Lahore, Pakistan and makes the most heavenly food in her kitchen. Pakistani food is quite spiced, but not strong. They focus on flavours over there. You can find Maria's recipes at her Foodaholic web site. Well worth the visit.

Of course, the Hungry Sailor will impart his own ideas on the basic dish. Just because I live in a different part of the world and simply cannot get hold of the same spices as in Pakistan. But also just because  the Hungry Sailor is in a creative mode.

Perhaps also because I am a bit of a pirate at heart. There is a saying in sailing circles that you should always  be yourself, except when you can be a pirate. Then always be a pirate. Very tongue in cheek, but quite uplifting. So I decided to do the pirate thing.

I used Maria's recipe as input to my dish. You  need to marinate the chicken, no arguments about that. Use lemon juice to cut the heat if too spicy. I used lemon as garnish only, This dish does not normally come out spicy.

You will need quite a large casserole with a lid to make this dish. As it is a rice dish, the rice needs to be fluffy and loose. You steam it slowly to obtain the final flavours.

So here goes.

The marinade ingredients 

Ingredients

1 kg chicken. I used a barbecue pack with loose pieces.
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 dessert spoon level masala paste. (Get a recipe here)
1 teaspoon turmeric
250 ml plain yogurt
Some coriander leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon heaped masala powder

This is a chunky version

8 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
pinch of saffron stalks, soaked in ½ cup of boiling water
salt
pepper
2 star aniseed
3 cinnamon sticks
some butter for frying
1½ cup raw basmati rice
½ cup raw lentils
some butter for frying

Process

Marinade

Chop some of the coriander leaves and mix with the yogurt. Add the turmeric, some salt, masala powder and cumin. Mix thoroughly. Add the chicken and marinade for at least half an hour. I removed the skin from the breast and thighs. Cut the chicken into manageable pieces. I find that the marinade does nor penetrate the skin, so I remove chicken skin as far as is sensible. Cut the breast pieces into double thumb sized chunks. This dish is chunky.

After the meat has been properly marinated, start the cooking. As usual, we start by frying the onions in the butter until at least translucent, but preferably caramelized. Add the garlic at the end, frying it for about fifteen to twenty seconds. Then add the meat. You don't need all the marinade, so chuck it. It will clutter your final dish and make it soggy.

Main dish

In the mean time, cook the rice and lentils on the side.

Fry the meat until it is well cooked, then add the chopped tomatoes.  Add the cinnamon sticks and aniseed at this stage. Turn the heat down to minimum and simmer for at least twenty minutes. The juices need to cook away a bit and the resulting masala needs to be on the dry side. Watch out for burning, you don't want that, it will make the dish bitter and you start over.

The last part of the masala coming along nicely

Remove the meat and masala from the pot and keep warm on the side. You will now start to build the final biriyani.

Building the final dish

Put  a layer of rice in the bottom of the pot, then add some of the meat and masala. Cover this with another layer of rice and add the rest of the meat part. Don't add the mushy gravy part, your biriyani will come out soggy. Cover the last meat layer with the last of the rice and lentils. Garnish this with some lemon slices and some coriander leaves. Add the saffron tea to the dish now, cover and simmer at the lowest heat for at least twenty minutes. Then switch off the heat and let the dish rest for another twenty minutes to develop flavour.


Mix everything up before dishing up. Add salt as required. This dish has a very subtle set of flavours, so perhaps it is not a good idea to pair this with a heavy red wine. In Pakistan this is served with a raita, a sauce made of yogurt and spices.

Bon appetit!



Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2014-09-21