Tag Archives: mint

Prawn, Coconut, Finger Lime and Vermicelli Salad

Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Salads by

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I spotted finger limes in the grocer the other day and I knew I had to make something with them. I tried them recently for the first time and they are the most amazing little citrus delights. They’re a native Australian fruit with a hard shell and once you open it up it reveals these gorgeous little shiny balls, often referred to as lime caviar. Once you bite into the balls they burst into a tangy, limey explosion. You probably won’t find them at your local supermarket but they are getting more and more popular. I found them at my local Norton St Grocer but I’m sure if you asked your local grocer they might have them or would be able to source them for you.

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I decided to pair them with a Thai inspired salad with lots of fresh zingy flavours. The flavour base for the dressing comes from grinding down the ginger, garlic and chilli into a paste, which gives the dressing a really good flavour hit. Don’t worry though, I’ve added some coconut milk as well, which tones it down it bit and makes sure the raw ginger and garlic aren’t too much. The addition of the lime juice, vermicelli and fresh herbs really brings the salad to life and while your eating and burst through one of the finger limes it really is a taste sensation. And how can you forget the sweet, succulent prawns! This is a perfect summer lunch or light dinner and you can whip it up in under 30 minutes. Enjoy!

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Prawn, Coconut, Finger Lime and Vermicelli Salad

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

  • 1.5 kg cooked prawns, peeled and de-veined
  • 1 small clove garlic
  • 1cm piece ginger, roughly chopped
  • ½ long green chilli
  • 1 small red Birdseye chilli
  • 2tbs lime juice
  • 2tbs fish sauce
  • 1tbs soy sauce
  • ½ tsp sesame oil
  • 2 ½ tbs grated palm sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 2 cucumbers, halved lengthways and chopped
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • 2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips, you can use a vegetable spiraliser
  • Seeds of two finger limes
  • 200g vermicelli rice noodles
  • 1 cup mint leaves
  • 1 cup coriander leaves

METHOD

  1. Place the garlic, ginger, and both chillies in a mortar and pestle and grind the ingredients down into a paste. Add the lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the cucumber to the sauce mix and let it marinate for about 15 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, place the noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water and then cover the bowl for 5 minutes. Drain the noodles into a colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together the cucumber sauce mix and coconut milk with the noodles, carrots, finger limes and herbs. Divide the noodle salad into bowls, top with the prawns and garnish with some more mint coriander and chilli and serve.

Coconut Panna Cotta with Passionfruit Jelly, Caramelised Mango and White Chocolate Mousse

Posted in Dessert by

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Summer is almost upon us and that means it’s time for barbeques, salads and long days at the beach. I should know, because as I write this post I am looking rather red from spending rather too much time in the sun. Tut tut. Because the days are warm, we want food that is fresh and light, and while desserts are usually decadent affairs, that does not mean we have to miss out. I know that must be a sigh of relief for all you sugar fiends out there – myself included.

One of my favourite summer desserts is panna cotta, which essentially translates to ‘cooked cream’. I remember first eating his dessert while on holidays with my family in Italy in a tiny little town just outside Florence. It was at a small traditional restaurant and the panna cotta was heavenly – it was smooth and creamy but oh so light and melted on your tongue. We had spent the day sightseeing in the heat, so to end the day eating this chilled creamy vanilla goodness topped with fresh berries was perfect.

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The variation I have made here is a coconut infused cream – make sure you toast the shredded coconut yourself first and try to give it the full hour for the flavours to envelop the cream mixture as it really makes a difference to the end result. I wanted to make this dessert scream summer so I’ve given it a tropical hit with the caramelized mango and passion fruit jelly – with just a hint of pure sugary sweetness from the white chocolate mousse. The flavours work sublimely together it really makes you feel like you’re on holidays in some far away exotic location. While each of the elements is a little time consuming as there is quite a bit of chilling required, they are not all that hard, so please don’t be put off.

Give this a go for your next barbie, or when you want to impress your friends at a dinner party and let me know how you go!

 

Coconut Panna Cotta with Passionfruit Jelly, Caramelised Mango and White Chocolate Mousse

Serves 6

Coconut Panna Cotta

  • 140 gm shredded coconut
  • 400 ml milk
  • 400ml pouring cream
  • Thinly peeled rind of 1 lime
  • 110 gm (1/2 cup) raw caster sugar
  • 4 titanium-strength gelatine leaves, softened in cold water for 3-5 minutes
  • 150 ml coconut cream
  1. Preheat oven to 180C. Spread coconut over an oven tray and toast, stirring occasionally (4-5 minutes). Transfer to a large saucepan, add milk, cream and rind, and bring to the boil over medium-high heat, then remove from heat and stand to infuse (1 hour).
  2. Bring coconut mixture back to the simmer over medium-high heat, add sugar and stir to dissolve. Squeeze excess water from gelatine, add to coconut mixture, stir to dissolve, then strain into a bowl through a coarse sieve (press on solids to extract all liquid; discard solids). Stir in coconut cream, then pour into six 1 cup-capacity jelly moulds or one 1 litre cake tin and refrigerate until set (overnight).
  3. To serve, dip the moulds in hot water, then gently pull edges of jelly away from sides with your fingertip (this helps break the vacuum and release the jelly). Place a plate on top, invert mould and plate, then remove mould.

 

Passionfruit Jelly

  • 375 ml (1½ cups) passionfruit juice
  • 150 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 200 gm white sugar
  • 6½ gelatine leaves, softened in cold water
  1. Combine juices, sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then pass through a muslin-lined sieve. Warm ½ cup juice mixture in a saucepan over medium heat, squeeze excess water from gelatine, add to pan and stir until gelatine dissolves, then add remaining juice mixture. Cool slightly and pour into six 1 cup-capacity glasses and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Once set, cut jelly into small cubes.

Note: To make passionfruit juice, blend passionfruit pulp in a food processor to crack seeds, then strain through a fine sieve. Twelve passionfruit yield about 1 cup of juice.

 

White Chocolate Mousse

  1. 3 egg whites
  2. 200g good quality white chocolate
  3. ½ cup caster sugar
  4. 1 egg yolk
  • Melt the white chocolate over a bain-marie until smooth. Remove from heat.
  • Whisk egg white in the bowl of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar to egg whites. Keep beating until sugar has dissolved and the egg whites are stiff.
  • Gently fold through white chocolate mixture and egg yolk until the mixture has incorporated.
  • Place bowl in fridge and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

 

Caramelised Mango

2 mangoes, flesh sliced into thin pieces

½ cup brown sugar

25 g butter

  • Heat a medium sized frypan over a medium heat. Place the sugar into the plan and leave to heat for about 30 seconds, then add the butter in small knobs around the pan. Mix the butter and sugar together until it forms a caramel paste. Add in the mango and coat it in the sugar mix. Take the mango off the heat and place on a plate after about 30 seconds.

To serve 

  • 3 passion fruit
  • Toasted coconut flakes
  • Handful mint leaves
  1. Arrange the de-molded panna cottas onto plates. Place a few pieces of the caramelized mango around the panna cottas. Scatter some jelly cubes over the mango. Using a piping bag, pipe little mounds of the mousse into the gaps between the mango and jelly. Place toasted coconut flakes into the white chocolate mounds – use the mousse as a glue to stick the coconut into. Garnish each of the six plates with mint leaves and the pulp of half a passion fruit. Serve immediately.

Freekah and Haloumi Salad

Posted in Lunch, Recipes, Salads by

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I think making this salad was wishful thinking. Sydney is still rather chilly and dreary at the moment. Getting up in the morning requires well thought-out layering of coats and scarves. Work lunches normally consist of soup, and numerous cups of hot tea are consumed throughout the day. But I am off to Europe in a month for my first holiday in two years and I think the thought of sunshine, warm water and balmy nights got me confused about which hemisphere I was on. I had urges for something light and fresh – something that I might order while I drink cocktails and relax by the pool in Santorini. This salad seemed to hit the mark rather well though. I may be slightly premature in my food choices but this salad is rather tasty. It’s zingy from the lemon, slightly textural with the crunch of the freekah, salty with the haloumi and with just the right amount of sweetness from the tomatoes. So if you’re dreaming of being on a different continent, do like I did and give this a go!

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Freekah and Haloumi Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

175g freekah, cooked according to packet instructions

1 bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 handful mint, finely chopped

1 small red onion, finely diced

3 spring onions, sliced thinly

3 vine-ripened tomatoes, deseeded and finely diced

125ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra

juice of 2 lemons

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

300g haloumi, cut into 4 slices

 

Method 

Put the freekah in a bowl and add the parsley, mint, red onion, spring onions and vine-ripened tomatoes. Mix well.

Whisk the olive oil and lemon juice together and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the dressing to the freekah and mix through thoroughly.

Place a pan onto the stove on a high heat and add a splash of extra virgin olive oil. When hot, add the haloumi slices and cook on one side for a minute until they turn brown and a crust forms.

Turn over and repeat.

To serve, slice up the haloumi, divide between 4 plates and spoon over the freekah salad.

Israeli Couscous Tabbouleh

Posted in Recipes, Salads by

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When Sunday night comes around the last thing you want to do is be faced with the thought of cooking a big dinner, because honestly who wants to wash up endless dishes the night before the working week starts again. All you want to do is relax with a glass of red and some easy-watching television. Maybe that’s just me, but I think Sunday night calls for a tasty, easy, crowd pleaser. And tabbouleh is just that. It’s zingy and fresh and the perfect accompaniment to grilled lamb or chicken.

It’s also nice to use pearl couscous in place of traditional burghul (cracked wheat) that is most commonly used in tabbouleh. This variety of grain is larger than regular couscous with a round, plump shape. Because of its slightly bigger size the texture is slightly more chewy and it has a gently, nutty flavour. Like most whole grains Israeli couscous is a little bland on it’s own but its enlivened with zingy citrus and punchy fresh herbs. This salad is so simple that you can whip it up in fifteen minutes, which makes it perfect for those moments when you can’t be bothered to cook but don’t want to scrimp on flavour or resort to the takeaway menu. And it also works a treat for lunch the next day. Win.

Israeli Couscous Tabbouleh

Serves 6 as a side

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Israeli couscous (pearl couscous)
  • 4 sprigs spring onion, diced
  • 1 ½ punnet heirloom cherry tomatoes, finely diced
  • 1 ½ bunches flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 bunch mint, chopped
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • sea salt

 Method:

  1. Cook couscous according to packet directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to avoid the couscous from becoming sticky and overcooking.
  2. Place couscous in a large bowl and add the spring onion, cherry tomatoes, parsley, mint, lemon juice and olive oil.  Season with sea salt and serve.

Zucchini, Mint and Chilli Fritters with Avocado Salsa and Poached Eggs

Posted in Breakfast, Recipes by

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Opening the fridge to discover that there barely seems to be any food in there is a rather upsetting state to find yourself in. However, there is always a way to make something with whatever you have handy. Fritters are one of my favourite ways to use up what looks like nothing and turn it into something delicious. These fritters use zucchini simply because that’s what happened to be in my fridge but there are many other standby vegetables that make great fritters. Carrots taste delicious, especially if you add spices like cumin coriander seeds. Then there is corn, the most famous of the fritters but grated potato, sweet potato or peas also turn out tasty meals.

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Zucchini to me is a vegetable that needs the addition of a few other ingredients to really enhance its flavour. Pairing it with mint and chilli makes for a fresh, zingy fritter that is great for either breakfast or lunch.  The mint adds that hit of freshness and lightness while the chili gives the fritter a punchier kick. While fritters are tasty in their own right I find they taste best when there is a sauce or salsa added just because it gives the dish a different textural element and makes it a party for the senses. Creamy avocado salsa with a hit of zingy lime and the addition of an oozing poached egg on top equals a rather scrumptious trifecta.

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Zucchini, Mint and Chilli Fritters with Avocado Salsa and Poached Eggs

Serves: 3

Avocado Salsa:

  • 1 large avocado, roughly chopped
  • ¼ clove garlic, grushed
  • ½ chilli, deseeded and chopped
  • ½ Spanish onion, diced
  • ½ tbs lime juice + extra lime to serve
  • ½ tbs olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

 Zucchini fritters:

  • 2 large zucchini, grated
  • 1 chilli, deseeded and chopped
  • ½ clove garlic, crushed
  • 2 sprigs shallots, chopped
  • ½ cup mint leaves, chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbs flour

Poached eggs:

  • 3 eggs
  • ½ tbs white wine vinegar

Method:

  1. Avocado Salsa: Place all the ingredients in a bowl. Using a fork, gently stir the ingredients together ensuring that the avocado still remains chunky. Season with salt and pepper and stir again.
  2. Zucchini fritters: Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Heat two-three teaspoons olive oil in a shallow fry pan over a medium-high heat. Drop 3 2tbs size dollops of the zucchini mixture into the fry pan and cook for 1½-2 minutes on each side or until cooked through and golden. Place fritters on a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat with the remainder of the mixture.
  3. Poached eggs: At the same time as you are preparing the mixture for the zucchini fritters fill a shallow saucepan close to the brim with water and place over a high heat on the stove. Add in the vinegar. Once the water has boiled lower the heat to a simmer. Crack each egg into a cup and gently pour the egg into the saucepan on the water’s surface. Do not drop the egg from a height or the white will spread and fill the pan. Repeat with each egg and cook for 2-3 minutes for a semi-soft yolk.
  4. To assemble stack two fritters, place a third of the avocado salsa on top and then finish with a poached egg. Serve with extra lime.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

Posted in Salads by

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Spring has definitely sprung here in Sydney. Leaving the house early in the morning on the way to work you can already feel the warmth of the sun on your back. If you’re lucky enough to leave the office on your lunch break, it’s the sort of weather where you head to the nearest park and laze barefoot on the grass with a good book and soak up the sunshine. It’s warm enough to spend your weekends lying on the beach, running to the water’s edge when the sun starts to get a little much and then retreating back to your towel to dry off again and repeat. And if there is fruit that screams summer and sunshine it would have to be watermelon. Biting into a juicy slice of watermelon is supremely satisfying. The juice runs down your face; it’s cool, refreshing, but most of all sweet. Watermelon’s are delicious on their own as the perfect summer snack, but there are so many different uses for them. You can make popsicles, sorbet, granita, juice them, fill them with vodka for a summer BBQ or make a savoury salad as I have done.

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This salad is ridiculously simple but oh so satisfying when you’ve come home after a day at the beach and you’re hot and tired and just want to make something easy. The sweet, refreshing taste of the watermelon is balanced with the salty, creamy texture of marinated feta and the freshness of mint. All these flavours are then married together with a basic vinegar dressing that just gives the salad a hint of tang. Sometimes I can overcomplicate things, and this sort of salad makes you remember that sometimes simple is best because it really does let the ingredients shine through.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo watermelon, chopped into small pieces
  • 100 g marinated fetta
  • 5 sprigs mint, leaves only and torn.
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp seeded mustard

Method:

  1. Arrange the watermelon on a serving dish. Crumble the feta over the top. Sprinkle the mint on top.
  2. To make the dressing: combine oil, vinegar and mustard in a jar and shake. Spoon dressing over salad and serve.