Braaied Indonesian Sea Bream

September 21, 2012 by Larry Susman in Braai, Big Green Egg, Fish, Recipes, Video

Braaied Sea Bream Fillets

People have been asking me if I eat anything else but red meat, well yes I do but only under protest! I'm a true Vaalie and when I grew up chicken was about the only thing that was not red, unless you went down to the coast, I never even thought about eating fish. Well since moving to the UK and getting married to a local girl, things have changed a little. I now eat FISH but only game fish and as I cannot get Yellow Tail or the like in the UK I've found that Sea Bass or Sea Bream is a great substitute.

This week I'm trying a new recipe that I came across for Indonesian spiced fish, I've chosen to use Sea Bream but you could use Red Snapper or something similar if you like. In retrospect it would have been a lot easier if I had left the fish whole instead of having them filleted as cooking them even in a special fish cage was not that easy. So if you have a choice leave it whole for a simpler life and I think you will get a better flavour. Check out the short video at the end to see a pro at work filleting the sea bream.

Serves 4 - Prep: 15 minutes (1hr marinating) - Cook Time: 16 mins

Ingredients:

4 Sea Bream (1 per person) you can substitute Red Snapper if you prefer.
Juice of a lime
4 cloves of garlic chopped
2-3 fresh red chillies, deseeded and chopped
2-3 cm of fresh ginger chopped
4 Spring onions chopped
2 tbsp corn/olive oil plus a little extra for brushing the braai with so they don't stick to it
tbsp sea salt

Method

Preheat the braai to about 200°C (400°F)
Clean the fish (sea video at bottom) and remove the scales
If you are leaving the fish whole then make several diagonal deep cuts across the fish
Put the garlic, chillies, ginger and spring pinion into a blender and blitz it into a paste.
Then add the lime and oil to it and stir in.
Rub the fish with the salt on all sides
Then brush the spice paste over both sides of the fish and if you have left it whole put some inside the cavity as well
Place in the fridge for 1hr to marinate
All you need to do now is cook on both sides for about 6-8 mins and a bit longer if you've left the fish whole
Serve on a bed of rive with some stir fried vegetables.

This was a very quick and simple dish to make that I must say tasted far better than it should! They say simple is better and I think in this case it works just beautifully, the flavour of the fish was not drowned out by the spices as you might have thought. The whole dish was just delightful to eat, the only trouble I'm having now, is Jan is expecting me to cook even more LOL.

I'm in need of a little help, so please leave me a few ideas of what I can cook next in the comment section below. Thanks Larry.

Curry for all Seasons!

September 07, 2012 by Larry Susman in Braai, Food Websites, Beef, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Curries, Video

Beef Durban Curry

Just as I thought autumn was here and we were in for some cold weather, the sun comes back out! Never mind, what I have cooked this week is great at anytime of the year. A Durban Curry, GEE, I can just remember those aromas drifting across the cars in the parking area of the Drive-In back in the old days when my folks took me to see a movie. This is where I first experienced the tradition of a Durbs Curry and Rice, we would park up the car and walk along to the food hut. Where we would queue, for what seemed hours, with that aromatic aroma making our stomachs ache until we got ours. We would then chow down enjoying that unique taste but not really appreciating how good it was, until you look back on it now. Perhaps it is though rose tinted glasses but we would then go and play for a while on the Jungle Gym before the movie started, what a shame my kids can not experience this now days.

For those of you who don't know, Durban Curries are very different to the curries that you have in the UK, they are light, aromatic and not cooked with much oil or ghee. We also eat them with a lot of fruit and salad sambals and a huge helping of Mrs Balls Chutney. A Durban Curry without Mrs Balls is just not acceptable and in some households and could cause a riot.

This is a very authentic curry as it uses dried spices to make the very distinctive flavour, its not a packed sauce as such as you will need to add a few extra ingredients but it is a very easy curry to make with this one shot pack. We have been selling these in our shop and I have made these curries many times before and believe me when I say they taste just like they did back home. I am making a beef one but you can use whatever you like, its great with lamb and even better with mutton. Chicken, seafood or even a vegetable one will also be just as good, so just choose whatever you fancy.

We have teamed up with Werners to promote these during September and you can get 10% off on our website with this code at the checkout SEPT12. Even better we are going to give away 5 sets of Werners Durban Curries and a bottle of Mrs Balls Original chutney to 5 lucky people who write a comment on this blog, see bottom of this article for details.

As I said this is very easy to make but there is a bit of preparation time needed to get this underway. You will have to prepare some rice and symbols to accompany this dish but I will leave that up to you guys to do.

Serves 4 People

Preparation time to chop ingredients 10 mins, cooking time at least 2hrs, the longer you can leave it to simmer the better. Even better make this the day before you want to eat it and just re-heat before serving, this gives the dried spices time to release the aromas throughout the dish.

Ingredients:

1 x pack of werners Curry spices, from Mild to Ex-Hot
500g Meat, cubed to bite size
2 x medium potatoes, peeled and chopped to 2-4 cm (I've added sweet potatoes as well)
3 x medium tomatoes chopped or tin if you're lazy like me
3 x large finely chopped Garlic cloves
2-3 tsp chopped fresh Ginger (i like a bit more personally)
1 x chopped red onion
1 x red pepper chopped
Handful of chopper coriander leaves.
Sambals of your choice, we had bananas, melon, onion, peppers, cucumber and tomatoes all chopped up.

Method:

Put the meat into a bowl and add the dry Powdered Spices from the pack to the meat and stir with a wooden spoon until all the meat is coated and there is no loose power left. Place aside and leave to marinate for a short while.
Add all the Non-Powdered spices to a tablespoon of olive / vegetable oil in a large saucepan or potjie (dutch Oven) over a medium heat and fry off the spices until the aromas from the spices start to smell wonderful.
Add onions and peppers
Add the meat and lightly brown for a few minutes. Sirt constantly to stop the meat from sticking
Add the Garlic and Ginger
Add the potatoes, tomatoes and then pour some water over the whole lot until it just covers all the ingredients .
Leave to simmer for 1-3 hours at 200°C (400°F) if in a oven or on low heat if on a cooker plate, as i said the longer the better
Depending on how you like your curry, simmer the water until it evaporates away to the thickness of gravy that you prefer.

All you need to do is sprinkle the chopped coriander onto the top of the curry and serve on a bed of rice and sambals on the side with some Mrs Ball Chutney.

5 lucky people will win a 4 pack of Werners Durban Curry and a bottle of Mrs Balls Chutney!

All you have to do is leave us some feed back in the comment area below, this is once again an inducement to leave feedback but I really would like to know if we are giving you what you want. So don't be shy, let everybody know what your thoughts are good or bad, I want to know. The lucky winners will be drawn at random by Friday next week and posted on here for all to see.

Watch us cook this on the braai (Big Green Egg)

Burgers to die for.

August 10, 2012 by Larry Susman in Braai, Beef, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Video

Home made Beef & Pepperoni Burgers

Well, a week's flown past and the weather has not been great but I managed to find a little sun whilst I made this weeks recipe to cook on the BigGreenEgg. I have been ask by a few people why I think this braai can be used all year round, the main reason is because it fires up so quickly. So I've also made a short video 6 mins long on how easily and quickly this Braai lights and cooked these burgers.

I have used the remainder of last weeks left over pepperoni that I used to make the pizza but you can add a little chilli to get the same effect. Or just leave it out altogether if you don't like a spicy hot burger, its up to you.

Recipe for Pepperoni Burgers (serves 5)

700g of pure beef mince (the better the quality the better it will taste)
5 Good size burger rolls or ciabatta
1/2 a coarsely chopped white or red onion
20g of finely chopped pepperoni or chilli
1 egg
10g of bread crumbs
1 teaspoon of white pepper
1 teaspoon of sea salt
3 tablespoons of Worcester sauce
Garnish your burgers with sliced tomato, onion, lettuce and pickled gherkins

This is a very quick and easy meal, just put the mince into a large bowl, throw in all the onion, pepperoni, bread crumbs, salt, pepper Worcester sauce and egg. The egg and bread crumbs are there just to bind the burgers together, this helps when you come to cook then and they will not fall apart. Mix it all together for a few moments and then take a handful and push it together into a firm ball. These are not going to be your paper thin burgers but a good looking 1/2 pounder as they used to say in the old days. Once you have applied a good amount of pressure so that its in a nice ball just flatten off the top and bottom, making that traditional pattie.

You will now need to place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour to help it all stick together, take out for 10 mins before cooking.

Cook for 3 minutes on each side at 485 °C (905 °F) depending on how you like it (this is for medium rare) on a hot braai, remember to let them rest for 3-5 minutes once cooked. This lets the meat relax and the juices will stay in the burger until you bite into it.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts below as I really would like this to be a place you want to come to each week. Feel free to suggest something you would like to see cooked on the braai, cheers Larry.