Sambal Prawns

Oh my goodness. I have been so incredibly busy for the past few months. A change in lifestyle has meant that the free hours that I use to have at night to bake or write or just be lazy are now gone. Then work got crazy busy and then the kids needed a little bit more of me and then life kicked into overdrive and long story short it's been months of chaos. Tonight though I get to stop the world and hop off and just chill and write and think about food. Ah, the good old days!

In just over a month it will be Christmas. Normally about now I would be researching recipes and digging through boxes for old scribbled notes on cakes or cookies or anything chrismassy. But not this year. In just over 3 weeks the whole crazy clan will be heading to my hometown of Penang, Malaysia. The food haven of Asia. So this year, Christmas prep is a handful of pressies, bags to pack and don't miss that plane! Easy. Love it!

I wanted to share a recipe tonight that is very much a Malaysian recipe. The flavours are familiar and the aromas are so nostalgic to me. It gives me goosebumps and makes me think of Mummy cooking in her kitchen. There is another reason too. My Eligible Batchelor Cousin T2, who doesn't really cook, ok NEVER  EVER cooks but is willing to learn, was chatting to me as I was prepping for the dish and I said I'll show him the steps if he tried to cook it one day. Amazingly brave Cousin T2 said OK so since I was going to be snapping a few pics I thought why not add it to my blog, my poor neglected blog. Thanks Cousin T2.

So here we are, my version of Sambal Prawns. I sincerely hope he tries it as it is delicious and will impress the socks off any seasoned cook. It really will Cousin T2, it really will!

Prawn Sambal

1kg prawns (shelled and headed or not if you like them with)
3 medium onions
6 garlic pips
6 chillies (add 2 birds eye chillies if you want the extra kick)
2 lemongrass stalks (just the white edible part)
1 heaped tablespoon belacan (shrimp paste)
1 teaspoon turmeric
about 5 tablespoons of tamarind juice (quite strong and not too diluted)
2-4 teaspoons of sugar (to taste)
a slurp of soy sauce (to taste)
1 cup of spinach
a handful of baby tomatoes
about a handful of curry leaves (more if you love them like I do)
a little bit of water

1. Blend the onions, garlic, chillies and lemongrass.

2. In a hot wok saute the blended mixture. When the smell hits you like an aromatic slap start adding in the belacan, turmeric, curry leaves and tamarind juice.
**** Give it a good stir making sure the belacan is broken up and mixed right through****

3. Add prawns and stir well and coat in the beautiful spices.

4. Add a little water, maybe about a quarter cup and mix. The add a good pinch or 2 of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar, about 3 teaspoons of soy sauce and mix. Taste as you go. Add a little more sugar if it's too sour from the tamarind or if it's too sweet add a little water and a drop of soy sauce.
****it's all about the balance so taste as you go as the taste changes the more it cooks****

5. When prawns are cooked throw in spinach and tomatoes and turn the flame off.

6. Serve when hot and shove in face. When I have it with steamy hot white rice, please do not speak to me for a few minutes as I will need a moment to just appreciate the party in my mouth. As you will too. You will need a moment too I promise. ENJOY Cousin T2.

Seafood Pie Delight

There's something very welcoming about the warmth of homemade pie to counter the chill of winter. I wanted to cook something with fish for dinner but at the same time I wanted to make something pie like so Fish Pie would have been the obvious choice. So I went to the supermarket and as I stood at the seafood counter indecisiveness hit and I could not decide what I wanted. After a lot of uhmming and arrhing I decided to ditch the notion of fish only and got a seafood mixture that had fish, prawns, mussels and calamari.

Whilst I have eaten several outstanding fish pies in seafood restaurants over the years I had never made one. I love love love the combination of dill and dijon in seafood pasta so I started looking at different pie recipes to see if other people had tried that combo before and lo and behold I found that the good folks at Souvlaki For The Soul had the very same thought.

So inspired by their lovely recipe and photos I made my very first Seafood Pie - not topped with pastry but with a mash of potato and cauliflower which I must say was a success. I made a family size pie, enough to feed 8 people and by the time dinner was over there was only 1 serve left. My family consist of 2 adults and 2 toddlers so the fact we ate 7serves of pie between us is pretty damn impressive I must say. Here's my pie, not the prettiest looking thing BUT I promise you, YUM YUM!!

SEAFOOD PIE WITH CAULIFLOWER AND POTATO MASH

1kg of seafood mix (fish, prawns, mussels and squid)
1 leek
1 large onion
1 lemon
2 carrots
3 sticks of celery
6 potatoes
1/2 head of cauliflower
a big bunch of dill chopped fine (about 4 tablespoons)
6-8 stalks of spinach
2-3 tablespoon Dijon mustard ( I used 3 as I love it)
approx 150ml cream
a handful of grated cheddar cheese
butter
salt and pepper

1. Cut leeks, onions, carrots, celery, 2 potatoes (diced) and garlic and cook it down for about 5-6 minutes. Then add seafood and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

2. Add mustard, dill, juice of lemon and give a good stir. Then add cream, stir and season well. Set aside in a baking dish while you make the topping.

3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

4. Steam or boil potatoes and cauliflower until soft. Mash together but it doesn't have to be super smooth as the cauliflower and potato chunks will add a nice texture to the top. Add butter and seasoning to taste.

5. Cut spinach and add it as a layer on top of seafood mix. Second with salt.

6. Top the baking dish with the mash. Scatter cheese and pop in oven for 40 minutes.

Smorgastata - The Birthday Cake for he who does not like sweet things.

Smorgastata

It takes all sorts of people in this world, I get that .. I may not understand all of them but variety is the spice of life after all. One particular breed of people I do not fully understand are those of the "I do not like sweet things" ilk. Yes, hard to imagine but they are out there. Stranger yet, I am married to one of them!!

My dear husband turns 4* today (best I do not reveal his age without permission) and although he does eat the odd sweet thing he really is a savoury man. I wanted to make him a nice birthday cake of some sort and was hurting my brain as to what to make when it hit me. He loves smoked fish, I love cake .... let's make a smokey fishy creamy cake!! That was when I remembered the Smorgastata.

A Smorgastata is a Swedish Sandwich Cake. If I make this sandwich cake it would become our meal and because it will look like a cake I'll pop a candle (or several dozen) and it'll also be the "cake" du jour. 2 birds 1 stone and all .. I'm all about multifunction!

My inspiration came from a recipe I saw on panini happy and like all recipes I want to try there will be adjustments and adaptations be it for the fact some items can't be found where I am or I like more of something or less of something else or for no real reason other than I just felt like it. Here is my offering of a Smorgastata.

Happy Birthday my darling Husband!!

1 rectangle Vienna loaf (go round if you prefer)
smoked salmon
cooked prawns
cucumber
pickled onions
gherkin
red capsicum
radishes
jarlsberg cheese
smoked trout or herring mousse (I didn't have any so I used smoked salmon and dill dip)
mayo
mustard
iceberg lettuce
cream cheese
sour cream
* basically anything you want
** do not season with salt as it will be salty enough
*** I did not write how much of each ingredient is required as being what is effectively a sandwich it really does depend on how much you want

1. Cut loaf of bread into 3 even layers, remove the crust.
2. Then all you need to do is basically layer the ingredients and make the biggest fishiest creamiest sandwich ever.
3. Make "icing"  for the cake by mixing cream cheese and sour cream to a consistency that is easy to ice a cake with.
4. Ice "cake" and garnish.
5. Attach candle, sing song to husband .... another year, another adventure.