prawn pot stickers

Lily loves dumplings so when I came across this recipe here at Rasa Malaysia, I decided to give it a go.
Just simply ingredients which were all in the house.
She used  square wonton wrappers but I prefer the round ones and I just used sweet chillie sauce as the dipping sauce and of course I didn't fold them like hers either.

Don't over fill them or it makes it difficult when it comes to the folding and sealing.
I folded them over in half using a bit of water as glue and then pleating them until sealed.
Put them in the freezer until you are ready to use them.
I also cooked them differently as I wanted pot stickers with the crunchy bottom.

When you are ready to cook them put the dumplings (frozen) in a frypan on a high heat along with 1/2 cup water and a dash of plain oil.  Put a lid on it and bring to the boil.  Once the water has evaporated take off the lid and turn the heat down to low.  The dumpling will come off the bottom of the pan once it has got some goldeness to it.  Don't be tempted to play around with them or you will get a big mess.
They probably take about 10 minutes.

prawn pasta

I decided to make this for lunch today as my old friend and neighbour Cathy who now lives in Canada, left me a comment saying she had made my prawn linguine.  I love to get comments and feedback as it reminds me of some of the recipes that I haven't made in a while.  This recipe is not the same as I didn't have all the ingredients.  I have come up with a flavour base that is not new but one that I have not done before.  That is to melt anchovies with garlic and olive oil.   Really delicious..

For this recipe I used

• 500g of dried linguine or bavette pasta
• 400g of raw prawns
• 4 large anchovies in oil
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 1 cup of chicken stock ( I used some stock that I had  made from the scampi tail shells that I had in the freezer.)
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• a few shakes of chile flakes
• handful of italian parsley
• black pepper

Start off heating a good glug of olive oil in a large frying pan on low heat.  Add the garlic and anchovies.  You do not want the garlic to colour.  Once the anchovies had melted in the oil add the capers, chile flakes and tomato paste.  Stir around and cook the rawness out of the tomato paste and then deglaze with the stock.  Let it bubble away and reduce by at least half.  Add the prawns.  They will only takes minutes to cook through.  Next goes the butter, zest, and parsley.  The butter thickens it up a little.  Lastly add the cooked pasta to the pan mix through the lemon juice and the black pepper.

simple prawn salad

This is really simple and the sort of food I like to eat.  I bought the prawns already cooked.  They were surprisingly good and I will buy them again.  The rice is my sticky rice recipe.
The salad is what you can see, prawns, cabbage and sticky rice.  Of course I did put a dressing on it before I ate it and some chile as well.
I think it would be nice with a wasabi mayo type dressing which I will make some time soon but I had it with the usual sweet soy sauce.  It's kind of eating sushi without the nori.  Some avocado would be nice also, oh and some sesame seeds, ah and some raw tuna, the possibilities are endless.

blue cod with prawn salsa

This is what we had for dinner last night.  The blue cod came courtesy of my sister and brother in law.  It came from the Chatham Islands and for those who don't know, the Chatham Islands are 800 km east of the South Island of New Zealand..
It is the most devine fish I have tasted, dense and sweet.
It was simply panfried in butter and olive oil and light dusted in flour before hand.  I used cornflour for Finns.

For the salsa put together what ever you have in fine dice.. I used


1 orange pepper
1 yellow pepper
8 tomatoes
2 avocados
1 fiercely hot green chile
1 mango
1 tablespoon of finely chopped coriander
zest of 1 lime
250g of chopped cooked prawns


The dressing was a combination of palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce.
The salsa goes really well with corn chips too...

This is my ultimate favourite dinner...
actually some shoe string fries and some aioli  on the side and it would be perfect,  oh don't forget the wine...

photos by Jacob

miso soup

Everybody loves miso soup in our house.  I like to have mine filled with vegetables or noodles and make a decent lunch out of it.

My simple version  you will need

• 2 tablespoons of white miso paste
• 1 sachet of dashi
• 2 cups of water
• 1 spring onion
• vege of choice ( I have used steamed cauliflower and broccoli)
• 8 small raw prawns

Add the sachet of dashi and miso to the water in a pot along with the chopped spring onion and gentle bring to the boil until all is dissolved.

At this point add the veges and heat them through, then add the  prawns.  They will be cooked as soon as they turn pink (not long and they keep cooking in the broth).

Pour it into a bowl add some sweet chili sauce and some sesame oil if you feel like it as I do and enjoy.

paella

I was watching 'Master chef' master class last week. They were making Paella and decided I would give it a go as I have never made it before.  My recipe is n't exactly authentic but close enough.  I researched a few recipes and they are all done quite differently.

This is my recipe - You will need

• 500g of Bomba rice (quite expensive but I wanted to use the real thing)
• 1.5 litre of stock, chicken or fish ( I used a combination of chicken and some stock that was left over from the mussels that I steamed when making some fritters the other day)
• 1 chorizo sausage sliced
• 1 chicken breast sliced into chunks ( thigh would probably be better)
• 15 whole raw prawns with their heads and shells on
• 250g of squid ( I bought the already prepared scored diamond patterned in a packet)
• 1 red pepper chopped 
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
• 5 small tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon of saffron 
• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 2 bay leaves
• parsley
• lemons sliced into quarters

I started off frying the chicken with salt and pepper just to get some colour on it and then removed it from the paella pan.  It was not cooked through.
Next I added the onion with some olive oil along with the pepper, chorizo and garlic until golden.

Add the stock (which has been heated in a pot), tomatoes, bay leaves, saffron, smoked paprika and lastly the rice.
Keep the temperature at the lowest setting and gently cook till the rice absorbs the stock.  You can stir it around for even cooking.  I even turned the heat off so as not to burn the bottom at times.  It is supposed to have a crunchy bottom or 'soccarat' crust.  You just don't want it burnt.

When you think it is fully absorbed or nearly add the prawns first then the chicken and squid.  I overcooked my prawns and chicken.  So I suggest you just add the protein turn off the heat and cover in foil and leave for 5 minutes.  Apparently it is really hard to overcook this rice, so don't worry about over doing it.

Finally finish up with the chopped parsley and lemons.
Don't forget to squeeze on the lemon and some ground black pepper before eating.
I really enjoyed it, it was  full of flavour and just what I felt like.

prawn linguine

Pasta is not really loved in our house hold, the exception Jacob and myself,  so I have to make it for myself at lunch time if I want to eat it.

For this recipe you will need

• 1 packet of linguine (my favourite type of dried pasta)
• 1 packet of raw prawns
• zest and juice of 3 lemons
• 10 garlic cloves finely chopped - yes 10
• 2 handfuls of basil - or more
• 100g of butter
• generous amounts of olive oil
• salt and pepper

Boil the water in a large pot for the pasta and cook until al dente - keep some of the cooking water to stop the pasta from sticking together while you are cooking the prawns

Prepare all the ingredients so you are ready to go

Gently fry the garlic in the butter and olive oil, do not let it burn

Add the prawns and fry until cooked through and coated nicely in the garlic and butter

Pour prawns over the cooked pasta and add the remaining ingredients and mix  well and transfer to a serving bowl.

I cannot stress enough - do not scrimp on the flavorings or it will be well boring and tasteless.

More is more in this case.

prawn noodle salad

This is what I had for lunch the other day.  

• Finely slice up some red and white cabbage
• Grate 1 carrot
• Cook 1 serve of dried egg noodle (make sure not to over cook) you need the bite of the noodle for this dish.
• Cook 6 prawns any way you like.  I pan fried mine and let to cool.
• Sprinkle of sesame seeds
• 1 finely sliced spring onion cut on the diagonal
• Sprinkle of 7 spice assorted chile pepper - nanami togarashi
• Miso dressing

Toss the first 5 ingredients together with the miso dressing in a bowl and then transfer to a plate.

Place the spring onions on the top and sprinkle with the chile pepper

Asian omlette with prawns

We eat a lot of eggs in our house and this is another way to have them.
I use my 20cm cast iron fry pan to make the omlette.
This is a generous portion.
For 1 serve you will need

• 3 eggs whisked together
• 3-4 cooked chopped prawns  ( you don't have to add them, still really good without them)
• 2 spring onions sliced on the diagonal
• 1 tsp of sweet chile thinned with a bit of boiling water
• 3-4 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce (without the cornflour)
• sprinkles of chile flakes or 7 pepper (nanami togarashi)

Add some peanut oil to your pan and make sure it is hot, the egg should bubble when you add it.

With a spoon pull the mixture to the middle to help it cook exposing the bottom of the pan and moving the egg mixture to the space.

Place the prawns and half the spring onions down the middle of the omlette and when nearly set fold one side over the prawns and then the other side, so it is folded into thirds.

When you think it is done and the prawns are warm  through, gentle remove from the pan and put onto a plate.  

Put the pan back on the heat and add the sweet soy sauce.  It will bubble away, be careful so it doesn't burn.  You want it to become syrupy.  

When ready, pour it over the omlette along with the sweet chile sauce, spring onions and chile flakes. 

Pad thai

I made pad thai for dinner last night at the request of my son.  Unfortunately I didn't have all the correct ingredients but made do with what I had.  So this is my version.

You will need

• 1 large chicken breast  (it should be tofu)
• 200g of raw prawns
• 2 eggs
• 1 large packet of rice stick noodles
• 1 lime juiced
• 1/2 cup of roasted chopped peanuts
• 1 teaspoon of chile flakes
• 2 cups of finely slice white cabbage (it should be bean sprouts)
• 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
• 4 spring onions
• 1 cup of pad thai sauce
• Water to loosen the sauce

Pad thai sauce

• 1/2 cup of tamarind puree 
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water

Heat all ingredients in a pot until the sugar has dissolved

It should be tart, salty and sweet.  It will mellow once combined with the noodles and rest of the ingredients

Prep all your things in advance to make the final cooking easy.

Soak the rice stick noodles in cold water.  You want them to be flexible.

Start by making the egg omlette.  I used my wok for the cooking.  Remove the omlette that has been folded into three,  then cook the prawns with some garlic, remove and finally cook the chicken.  Don't over do it as it will need to get heated again in the final cooking when everything comes together.

Heat the wok to medium heat, add some oil and the noodles and 1/2 of the tamarind sauce.  Continously stir around.  You want the noodles to soften up, add water if it becomes to sticky.  Once the noodles are nearly done add the cabbage and the juice of the lime and the chile flakes.  Keep stirring adding more sauce and water to get the desired consistency and taste.  Finally add the nuts, prawns, chicken, egg that has been chopped up and spring onions and warm through.