Food thread

[Jovial Monk]

Home made spring rolls, hmmm mmm hmmmm!

Gawd, had like 8 of them, stuffed to the gills!

Dog had a windfall, one roll wasn't rolled right and insides of it would have spilled into the oil so dog got it!

[Jovial Monk]

350g fillet of red mullet, sea bream or snapper--go for the deep sea bream, it is excellent here and cheap as
1 cos or romaine lettuce
1 papaya or mango, peeled and sliced
1 large ripe tomato cut into wedges
1/2 cucumber cut into batons
1 pitaya (dragonfruit) or apple etc
3 scallions (spring onions) sliced
salt

Marinade
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp garlic oil (120ml sunflower oil cooked gently with 2tbs crushed garlic. Strain into jar and put in 'fridge
1/2tsp chili sauce

For the dressing
1tbsp creamed coconut aka coconut cream
3tbsp boiling water
4tbsp EVOO
finely grated rind and juice of 1 lime (or lemon if no lime)
1 fresh red chili seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp caster sugar
3tbsp chopped cilantro

Cut fish into even strips, removing any stray bones, place on a plate
Make the marinade by crushing the coriander, fennel & cumin seeds plus sugar in a mortar and pestle. Stir in chili sauce, garlic oil, salt to taste and mix to a paste. Slather this over the fish strips and bung plate into 'fridge for 20 mins. (Or overnight if this is part of a dinner party etc.)

Make the dressing by putting the creamed coconut, boiling water, lime rind and juice, chili, sugar & cilantro into a jar. Shake really well, not forgetting to put the cap on the jar first.

Make the salad from the lettuce, tomato yadda yadda in nice big bowl, add dressing and toss off, errr well. Heat a non-stick frypan (I don't have one, normal frypan with smidge EVOO worked well) and cook fish strips for 5 mins, turning just once.

Add fish to salad and serve immediately or sooner.

Serves 4 as a main--I served 6 people with this as half a main.

Not that hard! And cheap, deep sea bream is HALF or less the cost of snapper, flathead and works well. Prepare marinade & fish, make a salad and dressing, 5 min cook the fish, bung on salad and serve up! It is fucking delicious and a bit exotic with the mango and pitaya.

This salad, the Thai fishcakes (no one game to make these yet I bet) the spring rolls and pretty much all the Thai recipes come from this great book:

Judy Bastyra and Becky Johnson "Thai food and cooking" Anness Publishing, London

[Jovial Monk]

Hmmm the Viet cookbook (North or South Nam? ) looked very interesting on a quick flick through. Bloody good value for $7! (the Angus & Robertson book shop on Jetty Rd, Glenelg often has fantastic little cookbooks for a few bucks, well worth browsing now and then. Got a great little potato cookbook there and one on berries)

Look forward to a recipe for VN cold rolls!

[annielaurie]

You like to cook too!
I can almost taste that fish salad, just delicious ...

[Jovial Monk]

It is, cheap, tasty and nutritious. Tempts the appetite on a stinking hot summer day.

[Jovial Monk]

Thought I would copy this here:

FISH CAKES WITH CUCUMBER RELISH
Great served cold!

300g of some sturdy fish: snapper or flathead etc
8 kaffir lime leaves
2tbsp red curry paste
1 egg
2tbsp thai fish sauce
1tsp sugar
2tbsp tapioca or cornflour
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
60g finely sliced french or snake beans

For the cucumber relish (make this first to chill)
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar (or other white vinegar if you don't want to be authentic, slob!)
4 tbsp water to dissolve 1/4 cup granulated vinegar: thai is all sweet/sour)
1 head pickled garlick (from Chinese s/mart)
chunk fresh ginger root
1 cucumber cut into thin batons (sticks, moron!)
4 shallots (the little onion-y things. not scallions which you call spring onions)

Mix mix the vinegar (you just couldn't get the rice wine vinegar could you, loser?) water and sugar in a small pan on medium heat, stir until sugar dissolved THEN cool it, dummy! Not yourself, sheesh, the water-sugar-vinegar whatsit!
Get the head of garlick, separate the cloves and slice them finely. Add sliced shallots and cucumber batons, then add the vinegar-water-sugar thingy.
Put all that in the fridge.

Thinly slice (gotta be thin or these leaves will slice your oesophagus wide open!) 3 kaffir lime leaves
Put chunks of the fish, curry paste and egg into blender then blend! To a smooth paste
Put in a bowl and whack in the fish sauce, tapioca flour, sliced kaffir lime leaves and beans.
Mix well and shape mix into cakes 5cm across and not too thick, unlike your spotty selves!
Deep fry in batches (unless you have the world's biggest fucking deepfryer) in 190C oil. Takes about 4-5 minutes if you have oil temp right! Nice and brown. Drain on paper towels and keep hot!
Serve with the relish: you forgot about the cucumber relish, didn't you? Putz! And decorate with the other 5 kaffir lime leaves.

Too lazy to get kaffir lime leaves? (knew you were) Add a squeeze of lime or lemon juice to the fish etc.

Hehehe no one has made these yet, but they repay the bit of work needed.

[Jovial Monk]

Those fishcakes are deelish on a hot day! Tasty cakes with a bit of chili heat eaten with a nice cold cucumber relish sweet-sour-salty. The whole lot takes less than an hour to make.

[annielaurie]

Ooooo that cold cucumber relish sounds mmmmmm mmm mmmmmm ...
You cook all that for yourself, or do you have guests for din din ...

[Jovial Monk]

Heh, if it is just for myself I get takeaway. No fun cooking for one!

[Auzgurl]

having fun Monk..?