Tom Rim Prawns – With Tomato, Fish Sauce and Black pepper

April 29, 2013 - Alex Leave a comment

Yet again I was too hungry to care about photography!

April has been a crazy month. Highs, lows, and flat out the whole way through. While we’ve actually done a fair bit of cooking, I’ve just not got around to writing any of it up. But, May is around the corner, and my calendar is starting to look slightly less scary, so hopefully this means it’s catch up time.

In addition to what seems like a billion recipes, there are also a few product reviews in the pipeline, so buckle your seat belts and bear with me while we try to catch up.

Let’s start with this easy prawn dish. As the mania of April subsides I find myself now enjoying a hefty head cold. I have lost my voice, but the majority of my complaints can be cured with cold and flu tablets. However, being a little poorly is always an excuse to eat as much spicy food as possible (well, it is in our house – in theory all the garlic, ginger and chilli will nuke whatever rogue bug it is).

Around Christmas time we are usually able to get hold of some snap frozen prawns, straight off the boat, at a good price. Last year, they arrived on Christmas Eve – provoking a little last minute menu stress. Andy and I are still working our way through our allocation of green prawns. We both love a good prawn curry and now the weather is cooling down, these seem to be making a very regular appearance on our meal plans.

I can’t recall the train of thought that led us to stumble upon this recipe for tom rim prawns. Quite a few tom rim recipes seem to be laced in sugar and almost all have the word “caramelised” in their English names. I’m not so hot on sugar in my savoury foods so when I found this variant, on Australian food blog The Toshes, with less emphasis on sugar and more on pepper and tomato, this was the one we rolled with.

Anyone who has any experience of what a genuine Tom Rim prawn dish looks and tastes like – please leave a comment!

This time round I got the glamour job (peeling the prawns) – complete with assistance from a curious cat. Andy actually did the cooking, and, just like me, made plenty of amendments. The finished product was served simply: on rice. There was enough sauce to go through the rice, the prawns were juicy and the whole thing was deliciously spicy.

As a bonus, it was also very quick to put together – if you forget about the 20 minutes or so peeling the prawns.

Absolutely recommended!

Tom Rim Prawns – With Tomato, Fish Sauce and Black Pepper

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients

vegetable oil
10 green prawns, peeled and de-veined (as much as humanly possible)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
4 tbsp fish sauce
chilli flakes to taste
approx 200 mL water
1 tsp tomato paste
1 fresh tomato
1 spring onion, sliced
3 tsp palm sugar
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
soy sauce (optional)
lemon juice (optional)
fresh coriander, for garnish

Instructions

Heat oil in wok and fry off garlic and chilli. Don't allow the garlic to take on much colour.
Add tomato paste, sugar and prawn. Toss to coat the prawns.
Then add fish sauce, black pepper, water and diced tomato.
Increase the heat and cook the prawns. When the prawns are cooked, remove them from the sauce. Check the sauce for seasoning and chilli/pepper heat and adjust before reducing to the desired consistency. We opted for a splash of soy sauce and lemon juice at this point.
To serve, place rice in bowls, top with prawns and sauce and finish with a garnish of fresh coriander.

https://eatingadelaide.com/tom-rim-prawns/

Incaberry Flapjack Recipe

March 25, 2013 - Alex Leave a comment

disclaimer: I was sent the Incaberries to try.

I am not someone who seeks out so-called ‘superfoods’. I am a great believer in all things in moderation (except bananas, which are truly awful and I would say that they should be banished from the planet, except my toddler loves them). So many food trends pass me by … yes, I’ve heard all about goji berries, acai (I still don’t know how to pronounce that) and quinoa (OK – I do actually want to try that one) but I’m not rushing out to try the latest and greatest antioxidant packed goodie that comes along.

However, I am very much into trying new things so when the internet offered me Incaberries*, who was I to say no?

The Incaberries (actually a type of physalis) come from Ecuador and are organic, high in fibre and antioxidants. They are billed as “a great tasting superfood that you will actually enjoy eating”.

physalis by Thomas Bresson

Physalis is often used as decoration and is known as being quite tart and the Incaberries live up to this reputation. You should have seen the palpable disappointment on my toddler’s face when he first tried them, clearly expecting the berry to be a particularly large sultana …

Andy and I have had quite a lot of discussion about what they actually taste like. Texture wise, they are a dried fruit so they are very similar to a raisin (not quite as juicy as a sultana). The flavour is citrussy and sherberty. Somewhere between a tart raspberry, mixed with some rhubarb, some tangelo and a hint of sour lollies.

If you’re not into tart flavours, it won’t be your thing at all. However, I personally loved them and even Mr Toddler has come around and likes them!

When it came to cooking with them I was originally thinking of making the chocolate brownie recipe that’s on the Incaberry website. However, after tasting them and thinking about both their texture and flavour, I decided that flapjacks would be the way to go.

Now, lots of people seem to think that because flapjacks contain oats they are healthy. This is not true. Yes, oats are another superfood but flapjacks are really just butter, sugar and golden syrup and the oats are there as a vehicle for that. But if you want to pretend they’re a health food – just add incaberries and they’re even healthier!

Flapjacks are a brilliant thing to make with small children. They have few ingredients and it’s a very quick return on your effort. In our household we always seem to have everything we need in the cupboard, too!

Begin by melting 60g unsalted butter with 60g of sugar (I used light brown, but would have used dark brown had I known where it was hiding!) and 2 tbsp of golden syrup. With the golden syrup, lightly coat your spoon (both sides) in a neutral oil before dipping it into the jar: this will ensure the syrup slides off into the pan. For 2 tbsp you only need to do this the once.

When the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved, pour this mix into 100g of oats and mix well. The mixture will be quite crumbly – almost like you’re making the base for a cheesecake. Finishing by mixing through 40g of incaberries.

Grease a 20cm diameter round baking pan and press the mixture into it (it will be just under 1cm thick). Ensure the incaberries are spread through evenly and bake at 180°C (convention) for about 15 minutes.

I was a bit alarmed by the incaberries all puffing up during cooking but they collapse back down as the flapjacks cooled. The tartness of the berries worked really well to counterpoint the sweetness of the flapjacks. After all the sugar you get a lip smacking finish.

A word of warning: don’t use baking paper like me! You actually end up having to wait until the flapjacks are stone cold (and at least half a day old) before you can peel it off easily …

* You can find out where to buy incaberries near you using the store locator.

Pork Chops with Gremolata and Polenta

February 7, 2013 - Alex 2 Comments

Pork recipes are always hugely popular on Eating Adelaide for some reason. The most popular in the last month has been this super easy one pan pork fillet recipe. Today, let’s look at a slightly cheaper cut: the pork chop.

This is not so much a recipe, because all you do is pan fry the pork chop, but it’s more some ideas of what to serve with your pork chop to jazz it up a bit. I always remove the rind from the chops before frying: in the pan they never get crisp and it’s better to remove them, let them dry out in the fridge for a couple of days and throw them on the grill on the weekend when you do your bacon. Delicious!

In this meal, inspired by Delicious (UK), you serve your chop with polenta and gremolata. I added buttered spinach too, for some greens, but a salad would work well and give you a bit more vegetable variety.

For 2 people we find 100g of (quick cook) polenta, cooked with 400g of water, just a little too much. I always have plans to do something with it the next day (polenta crisps, Roman gnocchi) but it just never happens. But the rule is, four times as much water as polenta. Boil the polenta up on the stove, stirring it and keeping the heat under control. If it gets too hot, you’ll have little geysers of polenta exploding out of the pan and if one hits you, you’ll know all about it! HOT!

Cook the polenta until it’s done: and done is when it’s a silky consistency and it no longer feels grainy or gritty. I’ve never yet managed to overcook polenta and, if you find it’s ready a bit soon, you can turn off the heat because it reheats beautifully.

If you watched My Kitchen Rules last night, you’ll have heard Pete Evans mention that polenta needs seasoning. He is not wrong. Don’t be shy with the salt. At a minimum I add grated parmesan and salted butter to my polenta (both to taste or according to how much is actually left in the fridge!). If you have cream, or better yet, mascarpone, add this for beautiful silky smooth polenta. Seasoning is even more critical in a dish like this, where you don’t really have any sauce for the polenta to soak up. Taste as you go, and season by feel.

Gremolata is easy: chop parsely and add finely minced garlic, some chilli flakes and some grated lemon rind. Be careful with the garlic – as it’s not cooked it can easily become overpowering and hot, which is not what you want.

Serve the polenta on hot plates, top with a pork chop and sprinkle with gremolata. Serve extra gremolata on the side, along with some vegetables.

You’ll be able to do the polenta in the time it takes the pork chops to cook, which makes this dish extremely quick – as well as tasty and a pleasant change to a plain pork chop with salad.

Oh – and I’d recommend not serving it in a bowl. Because there’s no sauce you don’t have to worry about the polenta going sloppy and running everywhere and it can be tricky to cut a chop, and work your way around the bone, in a bowl!!!