Pan -fried Hake on spiced coconut and chilli puy lentils with pickled carrots, mussel pakora and raita. Serves 4. Pickled Carrots First, prepare the pickled carrots. You can use this simple mix to pickle any sort of vegetable. Put 200gm caster sugar, 200ml white wine and 200ml white wine vinegar into a saucepan, bring to the boil and allow to boil for 5 -10 minutes. Remove from the heat and add either 20 baby carrots or 2 medium-sized carrots, julienned or thinly sliced. Set aside for an hour or so and remove the carrots from the pan when needed. Raita Now, prepare the raita. In a suitable pan, toast ½ tsp cumin seeds. In a small bowl, mix together ½ cup yoghurt (preferably Greek); 2 tsp finely chopped cucumber; half a tomato, finely chopped; and 1 spring onion, finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then fold in the toasted cumin seeds. Mussels Allow as many mussels per person as you want – perhaps 16 to serve four people. In a small pan, melt - but do not burn - 1 tbsp butter. As it starts to bubble, add a little oil, the mussels and a splash of white wine. Put the lid on the pan. After 5 – 7 minutes, once the mussels have opened up, they are ready. Discard any which haven’t opened. Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool. Remove the mussels from their shells and set aside for use in the pakora. (If you don’t want to use mussels, or they aren’t available, you can use any other suitable pakora ingredient, such as onion or sliced par-boiled potato). Pakora batter Next, prepare the pakora batter. Mix together: 125 gm gram flour; 25 gm self-raising flour; ½ tsp garam masala; the juice of half a lime; 6 – 8 finely chopped spinach leaves (if available); half a handful of fresh coriander leaves; 1 tsp finely chopped red or green chilli; salt and pepper to taste; and add enough water to make a thick batter. Set aside. Coconut, Chilli & Puy Lentils : Finely chop a small onion and sauté, in a little oil, in a saucepan. Turn the heat down low and add 1 crushed cinnamon stick; 1 tbsp garam masala; and ½ tsp turmeric powder. Gently cook the spice mixture, for 5 – 10 minutes, ensuring it doesn’t burn. Meanwhile, have ready 300ml vegetable stock and set aside. . To the spices in the pan, add 250 gm Puy lentils, 2 tins of coconut milk and enough vegetable stock to cover the lentils to a depth of about half an inch (1 cm). Bring to a simmer and then turn the heat down very low, as you don’t want the lentils to break down. Stir gently every few minutes, adding more vegetable stock to ensure the lentils don’t dry out, as though you were cooking a risotto. The lentils should be cooked in about 25 – 30 minutes. Cooking the Hake and Pakora Once the lentils are cooking, set the oven to 200˚C, 400˚F. After the lentils have been cooking for 10 minutes or so, heat a non-stick frying pan with some oil until it starts smoking. Drizzle the fish fillets with some oil and add salt and pepper to season. Carefully place the fish in the pan, skin side down, and fry for about 2-3 minutes. After frying the fish fillets on the skin side – there is no need to turn them over – transfer them to the oven, where they’ll cook for 8 – 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Now cook the mussel pakora. Put enough oil to deep-fry the pakora in a pan and leave on a medium heat for 5 -7 minutes. Dip the mussels in the batter mix, drop the battered mussels gently into the hot oil and let the mussel pakoras cook for 2 – 3 minutes. Assembling the dish On each serving plate, make a mound with the lentils or shape them into a disc using a suitable mould. Spread a thin layer of the raita on the remainder of the plate and arrange the carrots on it. Remove the hake from the oven and place it, skin side up, on the lentils. Place the mussel pakora on or alongside the fish. Serve.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 15:57:40 +0000
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