Fusion Flavours - Carrot and Nori Fritters with Wasabi Coconut Cream

I am a huge fan of Japanese cuisine – but it’s not something I’ve really had a great deal of experience cooking. Apart from the odd okonomiyaki and teriyaki here and there, most of my Japanese eating has been out at restaurants. But I had a craving for Japanese, a few sheets of nori left over from a failed cauliflower rice sushi experiment  and a couple of sachets of wasabi floating around from my last takeaway. I didn’t have a great deal of veges left in the fridge, which is where the rest of the main ingredient inspiration came from – carrots. I always buy carrots…but I very rarely actually cook with them. They usually only ever get chopped up into salads or munched on raw (with almond butter and dukkah). So given they’re not my go-to vege, I often end up having lots in the fridge. It was time to try carrot fritters/okonomiyaki.

To serve, I made a wasabi coconut cream. Mainly because I wanted to temper the heat of the wasabi, as my husband isn’t the hugest fan, and I didn’t have any greek yoghurt – which is what I normally would’ve turned to first. Not shopping can provide so much inspiration! We had just come home from a trip fishing on the Blackwood River on Molloy, so I also had fresh bream fillets to serve with it which you will see in the photos – but they are flavoursome enough to be a vegetarian meal on their own. Slightly sweet, delicious, crispy little things that they are!

Carrot and Nori Fritters

5-6 baby carrots
1 tbsp cornflour
1 sheet of Japanese nori/seaweed
2/3 cup plain flour
1 tbsp of corn flour
1/4 tsp of salt
2 egg whites
1 cup cold water
oil for frying

Wasabi Coconut Cream

1 tin coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
2 sprigs coriander, leaves removed and shredded
Pinch salt
1-2 sachets wasabi (or a 2-4 cm squeeze from a tube)

Preheat the oven to 150C for keeping cooked fritters warm whilst you cook the remainder.

Grate the carrots using a coarse grate. (I do this in my food processor). Use a pair of kitchen scissors to chop the nori up into thin strips. Mix the carrot and nori together and toss through 1 tbsp cornflour.

In a separate bowl, whisk together plain flour, the second tablespoon of cornflour and salt. Whisk the eggs gently and add the cup of water to the eggs, mix together. Pour this batter over the carrot mix and gently fold together until it comes together. Don’t overmix it.

Heat a frypan to a medium-high heat. Add a layer of oil to the pan and allow to heat as well. Ladle the mixture into the pan to form fritters to the size of their choosing. I like pikelet size ones – around 10cm diameter. Cook for 2-3 minutes until crisp and golden. Flip over and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Remove to a plate and keep warm in the oven.

Meanwhile, pour the thin watery layer of the coconut milk off and reserve for another use. Beat the wasabi and salt to taste into the remaining cream with a hand beater. Stir through the coriander.

 
Serve alongside the carrot and nori fritters

Resolution Follow Through - Cornbread Waffles

So, remember how making more cornbread was part of my late-recognised New Year’s Resolution? Well, I’m extending the definition of cornbread to include these cornbread waffles. We received a waffle maker as a wedding present, and I don’t use it anywhere near as much as I should do. Waffles are awesome. Sweet and savoury, I love them all. I currently am in love with these specific cornbread waffles. I love the savoury/sweetness that using cornmeal automatically adds. They taste chewy and dense but light and waffly all at once. We don’t really do the savoury waffle thing very much in Australia, but I am a champion of it. So here you’ll see it served with BBQ beef. So. Unbelievably. Good. This makes a pretty big batch. Way too much for the two of us for dinner. I wrapped the remainder in single serve portions of foil and froze them, then toasted them as required in the toaster. I took some down to Molloy for a group getaway and they made the most delicious breakfast with hickory bacon and creamy scrambled eggs. 

Cornbread Waffles1 cups plain flour¾ cup cornmeal 2½ tsp baking powder ½  tsp bicarb soda ½ tsp salt ½ tsp pepper ½ tsp smokey paprika½ tsp sweet paprika 1 cup ricotta 2 large eggs 1 cup milk½ cup water 4 tbsp melted butter 2 tbsps finely chopped herbs (I used parsley, basil and coriander) Butter for the waffle iron Preheat the oven to 150C to keep cooked waffles warm. Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the ricotta and eggs until smooth. Add the milk, water and melted butter and stir to combine.
 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix gently until no flour remains. Fold in the herbs.
 Heat the waffle iron and brush with melted butter. Add the required amount of waffle batter for your size iron. Mine makes small heartshaped ones, so I only need 2 tbsps or so of mixture per waffle. As you can see in the photos above, I was incredibly messy! Cook 5-8 minutes or until crispy and golden. Remove to a plate and put in the oven to keep warm while you cook the remainder. Serve with BBQ shredded beef and roast tomatoes and grapes. Or bacon and eggs and maple syrup. Or just a drizzle of maple syrup and an extra cracking of pepper

Dinner Party Dessert - Choc Peanut Butter Tofu Mousse

This recipe is inspired by Connie from Urban Bakes’ Banana Choc Tofu Mousse. When I saw her recipe I immediately knew it was something I would try. Super easy, relatively healthy and potentially delicious. Just my kind of dessert! Lance isn’t the hugest fan of banana in anything except smoothies – and even then he likes them to have lots of chocolate to disguise the banana – which granted this does have - but I thought I would still omit them. When I made this, I was also having people over for dinner, and not knowing where a few of my guests stand on bananas (they tend to be a bit of a love/hate item in my experience) it just seemed like a safer bet. I decided to add peanut butter, because I’m obsessed with the choc/peanut butter combo and I sweetened it with dates to add a slightly caramelly flavour that dates naturally have. So, on the whole, this is a pretty healthy dessert (dark chocolate is totally good for you!).
 It is also great for dinner parties, because it can be prepared in advance and popped in the fridge to set. I was a little worried that this seemed more like 6 servings, but I divided it up between my 7 guests, but it turned out pretty perfectly. The mousse turned out quite dense and decadent, so a slightly smaller serving didn’t go noticed. I did forget to take photos of it served with the chopped up peanut praline, but it was the perfect accompaniment.
 My full menu was actually pretty brilliant in that the prep work was all done before my guests arrived and I wasn’t a slave to the kitchen, apart from bruleeing the top of the Ceviche, everything was done and just needed to be served.
Salmon Ceviche Brulee
Puerco Pibil with Cashew Crema and Roast Potatoes
Choc Peanut Butter Tofu Mousse
 

Choc Peanut Butter Tofu Mousse12 dates, soaked overnight in water (just cover)
1 package silken tofu (300g)
2 tbsp smooth natural peanut butter
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (approx. 200g) dark chocolate chips
 ¾ cup raw peanuts
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
 In a glass bowl, melt the chocolate by microwaving in 30 second bursts until melted (mine took 3 lots of 30seconds). Set aside to cool slightly.
 Remove the dates from soaking water to a bowl, reserving the liquid. Using a hand beater, blend to a smooth paste. Add a few tablespoons of the soaking water, salt and the vanilla to the paste and blend to thin the mixture. Add the peanut butter and blend fully incorporated. Add the tofu and blend on high until completely smooth and combined.
 Using a spatula, fold the melted chocolate into the tofu mixture.
 Scoop into the serving containers, then chill for 30 minutes to ‘set’.
 To make the toffee peanuts, line a baking tray with baking paper. Melt the butter in a pan and add the sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Approx 2 minutes. Add the peanuts and toss around in the caramelly mixture and toast for a further 2 minutes. Pour the whole mixture on the baking tray and leave to harden and cool. Crack and break the toffee peanuts up to use as garnish

Chip Addiction - Lime and Black Pepper Chip Crusted Bream

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to Red Rock Deli Lime and Black Pepper Chips. We pretty much stopped buying them because we’d open them, Lance would turn his head for 10 seconds and I’d have eaten the whole packet. Then he’d be all sad that he didn’t get to have a snack. I seriously have no willpower when it comes to them. BUT, they are too delicious to give up completely. After a Molloy Island fishing trip, we managed to keep about a cup’s worth of them to do my second favourite trick (you know, after making them all disappear instantly)…crumbing fish with them. So. Good. Obviously lime and pepper are natural friends with fish. Smash a few up, coat the fish and oven bake them (to make them a little healthier) and you have a delicious and super easy dinner. And the best part? You have to eat the rest of the packet!

For a bit of extra oomph, I’ve added some coconut shreds. And for some contrast, I’ve got a slightly sweet dressed salad using a blood orange marmalade that Coles currently have in their ‘limited edition’ collection. You can sub a different marmalade in here if you can’t find it.

Lime and Black Pepper Chip Crusted Bream

3 tbsp olive oil
Juice one lime
¼ tsp cracked pepper
1 cup lime and black pepper chips, measure then crush
2 tbsp coconut shreds (unsweetened)
2 fillets firm fleshed white fish (I used black bream)

Blood Orange Dressed Salad
2 tbsp blood orange marmalade
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
Mixed leaves (spinach, beet leaves, rocket)
Handful grape tomatoes, halved
½ Lebanese cucumber, diced
50g sheep fetta, crumbled
½ pickle, finely diced
Sprinkle of toasted pine nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds

Cut the fillets into two ‘strips’. Mix the oil, lime juice and pepper together, coat the fish in it and allow to marinade while you do the rest. Approx 10 minutes. Heat the oven to 175C. Place a cooling rack onto baking tray and spray lightly with oil.

Microwave the blood orange marmalade with the water for 30 seconds, stir to combine. The idea is to thin out the marmalade. Set aside to cool.

In a mortar and pestle, or a bowl with the back of a spoon, crush the chips into breadcrumb sized pieces, with a few bigger bits. Stir through the coconut shreds. Take each piece of fish out of the oil mixture and let any excess liquid drip off. Press firmly into the chip mixture to coat on both sides. Carefully place onto the rack. Repeat until it’s all coated, then pop it in the oven to bake until golden and cooked through. Approximately 10 minutes.

Add the lime juice, olive oil and mustard seeds to the marmalade then whisk to combine. Assemble all of the salad ingredients except the cheese and nuts/seeds. Dress the salad, then gently fold through the cheese. Plate, then scatter the nuts and seeds over the top. Plate up the fish and eat immediately

 

 

Restaurant Inspired - Sweet Potato and Coconut Gnocchi with Cashew Basil Crema

I recently had a lunch date with my husband at Solomon’s Café in Highgate. It was on the to-visit list for a while and the menu item that most put it there was the famed sweet potato and coconut gnocchi. When we got there, we ordered out meals with a side of sweet potato and coconut gnocchi. And we were told…it’s actually beetroot gnocchi now. They haven’t been able to source any organic sweet potatoes for a while, so they’ve had to amend it. The whole restaurant is organic (and gluten and dairy free), so obviously this is an issue for them. And the gnocchi was soooo good. Everything was delicious, but the gnocchi was definitely the stand-out.

The next morning I was trying to work out what to make for breakfast. The idea of toast wasn’t thrilling me, so in spite of telling Lance that I was going to make some form of ratatouille with the almost-too-ripe tomatoes in the fridge…I wasn’t really in the mood. So I still made the ratatouille (which we had for lunch), and I thought I’d give the sweet potato gnocchi a go.

This isn’t gnocchi in the traditional boiled pasta route, I just fried the pieces until crispy. And I already had some cashews soaking, so I made a kale, basil and cashew crema to go with it. To make it more breakfast-y, I served it with an egg and a few zucchini chips as more of a garnish. To keep the dish quick, I microwaved the sweet potato instead of roasting it.

All in all, not a bad breakfast – and it all came together before 8:30am! Unfortunately, it was too early for me to bother with many photos, so there’s only a couple of the finished product.

Sweet Potato and Coconut Gnocchi with Cashew Basil Crema.
(serves 2)

1 medium sweet potato
3 tbsp coconut flour (depending on how big your sweet potato is)
Pinch sea salt
Pinch black pepper
pinch cinnamon
¼ tsp sweet paprika
Coconut oil for frying.

2 handfuls cashews, soaked overnight

2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 kale leaves, stripped off the rib
Big handful basil
Big handful parsley
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ cup olive oil
Water for thinning

Prick the sweet potato a few times, put in a glass bowl, cover with a piece of paper towel and microwave for around 6 minutes until soft. Set aside to cool.

In a food processor, blend the all the ingredients except the olive oil and water. Pulse at first, scrape down the sides, then run on low, adding the oil and water to reach your desired consistency. Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

When the sweet potato is cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skin. Mash well with a fork. Add the salt, pepper, cinnamon and sweet paprika, and mix through with the fork. Add coconut flour 1 tbsp at a time until it makes a dough. I only needed 3 tbsp for my sweet potato.

Scoop teaspoonsful of dough and roll into gnocchi shapes, flatten slightly with the tines of the fork to shape.

Heat a nob of coconut oil in a fry pan to medium high heat. Fry the gnocchi pieces for a few minutes until golden – around 3 minutes, then flip over and cook that side. Don’t crowd the pan. I did mine in 2 loads, moving the first to a plate in the microwave to keep warm.

Drizzle the sauce onto your serving plates, then top with sweet potato gnocchi.

Serve with an egg if you’d like.

 

Satisfying Cravings and (Late) New Year's Resolutions - Basic Cornbread

At the end of the first month of 2014 worked out that my new year’s resolution is to eat more cornbread. I love it so much, but it’s one of those things I forget about. It’s not often on menus in Perth, so it tends to go off my radar as eating it usually equals cooking it myself. But I went to Miss Kitty’s Saloon in Inglewood for brunch with my husband and sister-in-law a few weekends back and the stand-out dish from what we ordered was the steak benedict. Ignoring for a second the delicious jerk potatoes that it came with, the steak benedict was perfectly created. It was a thin marinated skirt steak, with a tart pink peppercorn hollandaise sauce on top of sweet and juicy caramelised onions all on top of the most melt-in-your-mouth buttery cornbread I’ve ever tasted.

I have a recipe for cornbread floating around somewhere that includes bacon and Cajun spices. I’ll try dig that out again now that it’s my new year’s resolution. But in the meantime, I wanted just your basic cornbread. Given that I’ve spent the last month drooling over the Treme cook book I got for Christmas, I thought that’d be the perfect resource for finding cornbread. And I wasn’t wrong. I’ve only made two small adjustments to their recipe. I used buttermilk instead of normal milk – because shouldn’t that always be a thing in southern style baking? I halved the salt and replaced it with a Creole spice mix. And I used olive oil instead of canola oil. Just because I like olive oil.

I served this as a base for the wonderful mushroom sauce that Alejandra from Always Order Dessert posted last year. And voila! Dinner. Just me and my baby.

There’s a recipe for jalapeno cornbread that might need to be tried now.

Oh, and they included Cane Syrup Butter in their cookbook as an accompaniment. Personally, I’m all for Maple Butter. Just whip a tablespoon or so of maple syrup into 50g or so of some delicious room temperature salted butter. I served this with my lemon and olive focaccia and it did not take long to be eaten!

Basic Cornbread
adapted from Treme
1 cup cornmeal plus 2 tbsps
1 cup plain flour
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp. raw sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Creole spice mix
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsp. melted butter
1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C

Grease a skillet or dish that can go in the oven, and place in the oven to warm.

In a large bowl, whisk the 1 cup cornmeal, flour, baking powder, Creole spice mix, salt and sugar. Add the wet ingredients and stir until just well mixed and smooth. Do not overmix.

Remove the hot casserole dish from the oven, sprinkle the extra 2 tbsp. cornmeal over the bottom and cook in the oven for 2 minutes.

Remove from the oven an gently pour the batter over the top of the baked cornmeal. Cook for around 20 minutes until golden on top. Serve immediately.