Hola Amics, King Prawn Laksa and Mallorca?

Posted on June 6, 2015 by julianrolfe

A last-minute decision to go and find some sun, this time last week we were starting our final evening on the stunning island of Mallorca (Majorca). I have never booked a holiday two days before departure but needs must, and what a fantastic time we had.

On the day before we departed from home, a package arrived from those lovely people at Steenbergs, upon opening up the cardboard box it was an opportunity to be part of their taste panel.

Two different Tea samples, a mix for Nasi Goreng and a bottle of Lemon Oil, Organic of course and all were nestling in the vibrant orange paper, with feedback cards to let them know how each product tasted.

Unfortunately testing was going to be delayed as the plane was awaiting, but the next post will be my attempt at Nasi Goreng, with maybe a few twists along the way. I am working on some ideas on how to use some of the Lemon Oil, watch this space.

This particular dish, Prawn Laksa is derived from one by Ching He Huang, the recipe on the BBC website does have a couple of mistakes in it, namely it lists both Water and Chicken Stock in the ingredients but says to use water. I opted to forget the water and use some of the home-made Chicken Stock I prepared recently for an Indian inspired dish. Having checked on Chings’ website under the ‘free member’ section, the recipe is subtly different, but does not mention the water!

Quickly back to Mallorca, we stayed in a delightful hotel in Alcudia, north of the island. It was an all-inclusive style and I have to say the food was some of the best I have had. There was a WHOLE Suckling Pig one evening, I did not have my camera to capture the evidence but it went down a treat.

Anyhow, back to the Laksa, which takes a few stages to complete the 1st being the spice paste.

Take a couple of small Onions, 3 Cloves of Garlic, 2 Lemons Grass stalks (the proper fresh ones from Chinese supermarkets), 1 piece of fresh Turmeric (if you can get it, it makes a difference), a couple of inches of Galangal, 1 tsp Coriander Powder and the same of Cumin, 1 tbls Shrimp Paste, a few Birds Eye Chilli’s (I used three), and whizz in a processor with 50 ml of Coconut Milk into a smooth paste.

The end result is in the white tin to the left of the picture above, in the smaller tin are 4 King Prawns, marinading in a couple of spoon full’s of the mixture, which are then coated in CornFlour and fried until crispy for a tasty, crispy garnish.

The Laksa paste needs frying in a little oil, it will start to darken slightly, I cooked mine for about 5-6 minutes to release the flavours, cook out the spices and evaporate some of the water. It smelt amazing.

After the mix is cooked out, add a few Kaffir Lime leaves, the remaining Coconut Milk (about 250 mls), and Chicken Stock about 1 pint, a couple of tbls of Fish sauce and 1 tbls Palm Sugar, simmer vigorously for about 20 – 25 minutes. I also added two more finely shredded Birds Eye Chilli’s after tasting, to increase the potency slightly!! I also added some grated Lime zest, about 1/2 a Limes worth.

You are looking for a consistency YOU are happy with, not too runny but not too thick as you will be adding more ingredients to finish the dish off at the end.

Whilst the broth is simmering you can prep the garnishes, pick some Coriander leaves, finely shred some Red Chilli (nice colour contrast) and slice some Spring Onion on the angle. You will also need some Lime Wedges which are used as a condiment. The Prawns, and Noodles (fresh please), only take two minutes or so to cook, the marinating prawns can be coated in Corn Flour and deep fried before draining on kitchen paper.

We are onto the final straight, add the Prawns, and cook your noodles according to the instructions, mine were fresh and just needed a kettle of boiling water to be poured over them, left for a minute or so and thoroughly drained, When the Prawns are cooked, add the noodles and stir through for 30 secs to 1 minute maximum to coat.

Serve how you wish, I used a simple bowl with the Laksa spooned in, and then added the Chilli, Spring Onion, Coriander and the Lime Wedge. The crispy Prawns were hung on the side, next time I cook this dish I will do a few more this way as they were stunningly delicious!!

Wowzer, ’nuff said it’s gorgeous, tasty, vibrant, spicy and downright amazeballs.

Even more important, the governor through the same, words like Wow, Mmmmmm (not a word I know but hey), it’s a blinding dish and well worth the effort.

The next post, hopefully very soon will be my interpretation of Nasi Goreng, I have had a few ideas buzzing in my head on how I might do things so…..

………………………..Until next time………………..l8ers

Pistachio Cardamom & Polenta Cake – Cooking for Coeliac’s (Gluten Intolerance)

Posted on January 18, 2014 by julianrolfe

2014 has arrived and there is much excitement in my world. Last year I drove miles, thousands of them and it meant having to stay away more often than I preferred, which reduced both family and kitchen time. This year I am looking after a another team based in the south, so less travelling and some more excuses to adventure with food (and spend time with the family!).

I met the southern team last week, and decided to treat them to some home made baking, BUT one of them is a Coeliac which is an intolerance to Gluten. The only known treatment for this is a Gluten-free diet which is a bit of a challenge, if you check the packets of many ingredients the number that claim Gluten free is not massive especially if baking cakes and desserts!

I did some research and found a suitable replacement for flour was Polenta, which is Maize (Corn) ground into a meal (course Flour). Its not the same as conventional Flour so baking with Polenta requires some thinking. You have to be careful with other ingredients too, Baking Powder which is used as as raising agent can contain Gluten so check your packets 1st before embarking on this particular cake.

I made this in between customer meetings and conference calls so apologies as there are not too many photographs in this particular post (2 to be precise)!

I decided to bake a Pistachio and Cardamom Polenta Cake with a hint of Rose Water & Lime Butter Frosting, Middle Eastern inspired and something which was an ongoing development during the cooking process, here’s the final version, which was AMAZING, your will need the following ingredients!

Cake Ingredients

8 cardamom pods, seeds only
150g pistachios, shelled
100g ground almonds
1 tsp rose water
175g polenta
1¼ tsp baking powder
300g unsalted butter, at room temperature
325g caster sugar
4 medium eggs, lightly beaten
1 unwaxed lime, grated zest, plus ½ lime juice
½ tsp vanilla EXTRACT

Soaking Syrup

120g Castor Sugar (Mine has Vanilla Pods in it to infuse)
1tsp Rose Water
80ml Lemon Juice
30ml Lime Juice
1tbsp Pomegranate Molasses (This is critical as it provides a unique Middle Eastern Flavour)

The basis of the recipe were a couple of cakes I found on the Internet which had Semolina as the base and quite a lot of Rose Water, but could not be used as Semolina contains Gluten, hence the Polenta replacement.

I was a bit nervous about introducing too much Rose Water into the cake, as I think its definitely an acquired taste. I decided to add some further adaptions and significantly reduced the Rose Water component, but introduced some more Middle Eastern flavour in the form of Pomegranate Molasses. I also increased the Cardamon and added Lime reducing the quantity of Lemon, which I prefer……….. YUMMMMMM…!

Lime Butter Frosting

250g Unsalted Butter
256g Icing Sugar
2 Limes Zested
½ Lime Juice

The Cake Process

Grease a round, 23cm, loose-bottomed cake tin and line with baking parchment.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas 3 (If using a FAN oven, drop the temperature a bit).
Extract the Cardamom seeds from their pods and grind to a powder in a pestle & Mortar.
Put Pistachios in a food processor and grind for a few seconds, you don’t want a powder but pieces around 2-3mm so there is still texture.
Add the ground Almonds, Cardamom, Polenta, Baking Powder and 2/3rds of the Pistachios and mix briefly. The remaining Pistachios are sprinkled on the Lime Butter Frosting to finish.
Beat the Butter and Sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the Egg in small amounts, incorporating it well. (A Kenwood is good for this with the beater).
Fold in the mixed dry ingredients, then the Lime Zest and Juice, Rose Water and Vanilla extract.
Put it into the lined tin, level and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until a skewer comes out oily but dry. (Mine took slightly longer, about 1 hr 10 mins)

The trusty Kenwood Chef was used to beat the Sugar/Butter, and also used to mix in the eggs. You might find the mixtures splits during this process, adding a small amount of Polenta will bring it all together.

Put all the ingredients for the Syrup in a small saucepan; bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat.Remove the cake from the oven; while it is still hot, spoon the Syrup over the cake, I used about 4 Tbsp, judge with the eye.

Allow the cake to cool, then take out of the tin. Coat the top of the cake with the frosting, sprinkle with the remaining Pistachios and gentle press in to fix.

I had one challenge whilst trying to find the Polenta in the shops, a large chain had some Corn Meal, but looking on the side of the Packet, there was the label ‘May Contain Traces of Gluten’. This brand was very cheap and obviously processed in a factory grinding flour and other Gluten laden products. Another higher end shop had Polenta, but it was Organic and very expensive. Eventually I gambled and went for Polenta Express, Gluten Free but apparently the dry grains had been pre-cooked in some way, it still looked and felt like flour/meal and worked a treat.

The cake is quite (well very actually) moist and sticky, great on its own (as my new friends found out), but also goes really well with a serving of Crème Fraiche or Double Cream.

Feedback from my new team was VERY encouraging, a couple of them have vowed to make it themselves, they loved it so much. Its definitely an ADULT cake, the Pomegranate Molasses used in the Syrup really adds an amazing flavour dimension, the Rose Water is very subtle, and tends to stimulate the nose rather than the taste buds which is what I was hoping for. The Lime Butter Frosting adds another texture and all the flavours work together really well.

Pomegranate Molasses and Rose Water is readily available, I use Steenbergs and Ottolenghi’s to source mine along with the Cardamom.

So there we go, if you know someone with a Gluten Intolerance, and Dairy is not an issue, have a go at this, you will be pleased you did.

L8ers……

The Christmas Challenge Part Deux – KugelHopf My Way

Posted on October 13, 2013 by julianrolfe

The last couple of weeks have been challenging, lots of travelling and fighting a virus which is not very pleasant, and particularly hideous when its your birthday. I had planned another baking session but did not feel up to it, so postponed the event for a week hoping the virus would have started to clear. I had already starting preparing by putting Raisins and Kirsch In a bowl and covered with cling film, which would macerate for 1 week in the fridge to seriously plump up! So back to the Christmas challenge and another recipe, this time modelled on the ‘Alsacian Kugelhopf‘, an enriched cake made with yeast and butter, and in my case a number of spices and fruits. I have recently acquired a ‘Bundt’ baking tin, a round tin with a hole in the centre and fluted edges, and intended to put it to good use with this recipe. You can see it in the picture below, with most of the ingredients.

The process to make this recipe is quite long, you will ideally need to prove the dough mixture 3 times so allow plenty of time, the 1st proving stage can take 2 – 3 hours, with the 2nd and 3rd another 1 1/2 – 2 hours each. For this recipe you will need the following ingredients:

3 Cups Plain Flour
120 Grams Butter
3 Large Eggs
1/4 Cup Warm Water
1/2 Cup Warm Full Fat Milk
I Sachet Dried Fast Acting Yeast (7 Grams)
1/2 Cup Castor Sugar (preferably Vanilla infused)
1/2 Tsp Vanilla EXTRACT
3/4 Cup Raisins (Preferable Soaked for a week in 1/4 Cup of Kirsch)
1 Teaspoon Maldon Sea Salt
Zest of 1 Lemon
Zest of 1 Lime
Zest of 1 Orange
75 Grams mixed Peel (Orange & Lemon)
2 Cloves ground in pestle & mortar
1/2 heaped Tsp Ginger
1/2 heaped Tsp Ground Allspice
1/4 Grated Fresh Nutmeg
30 Grams chopped Hazelnuts
30 Grams flaked Almonds

Firstly, put the Milk and Water into a jug, add the Yeast and stir. Leave in a warm place for 10-15 minutes until a froth starts to develop on the surface.

Put the Butter, Orange, Lemon, Lime Zest, and Sugar in the bowl of a Kenwood Chef with the Dough Hook attached and mix on a medium speed until pale in colour. It takes between 5 & 10 minutes depending on how cold the butter is.

Now add the Eggs, Vanilla and Yeast mixture and mix thoroughly, then add about half the flour, with the Kenwood set to medium speed. Don’t forget to add the ground Cloves, Ginger, Ground Nutmeg and Ground Allspice at this stage.

It should resemble something like above at this stage, once combined, wipe the side of the bowl down with a spatula and add the rest of the flour, and thoroughly mix for a good 10 minutes, you should end up with a soft sticky dough like the picture below.

Now the mixture needs to be left in a warm place covered, until doubled in size, this takes 2 – 3 hours. I put mine by the fire to help the process along.

After the 1st rise, your should end up with silky smooth mixture that looks like the picture above. You can just see flecks of zest dotted about. The next stage is to ‘knock back’ the mixture to get rid of some of the air, I used a spatula to assist with the process. The mixture will deflate and look like the next picture.

Now repeat the process, covering the mixture with a tea towel and again, the rise should double in size just like before.

Whilst the rising is happening, heavily butter the Bundt Pan, and sprinkle with the flaked Almonds, once the 2nd rise has completed, you need to knock back the mixture and add the Hazelnuts and Fruits making sure they are evenly distributed.

The Mixture needs covering again, and left in a warm place to rise for the 3rd time. It should look like the picture above.

When its done, it should be close to the surface of the tin. You need to bake the Kugelhopf for approximately 35 Minutes at 160 deg (Fan Oven), or 180 deg (Convection Oven). After 15 Minutes cover the top with some tin foil to prevent it from browning too quickly, a side effect of the quantity of butter in the mixture.

When its cooked, leave to rest for 5 – 10 minutes, it should ease away from the sides of the tin, then release from the mould and allow to cool on a wire rack. You can see the effect of putting the flaked Almonds on the tin before adding the mixture in the picture above.

You can decorate the Kugelhopf with plain icing sugar, or make a icing drizzle by adding Icing Sugar to Orange or Lemon Juice, depending on your preferences.

You can find out what it tastes like by having a go at making one yourself, Now I have tested the recipe I will be making another one for my colleagues at work later this week, I hope they enjoy it As I much as I enjoyed creating my own version of this spectacular cake.

Julian Rolfe

My Foodie Life

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