Heinz’s Assorted Seafood Braised in Coconut Milk recipe, brought to you by MiNDFOOD.
Serves 4
400g white fish fillets, such as monkfish, john dory, barramundi, snapper or sea bass
250g cleaned calamari (about 18cm long), tentacles and fins retained
12 large prawns, peeled, deveined
freshly ground white pepper
1 tbsp lime juice
200g (8 heaped tbsp) Balinese spice paste (basa gede, see below)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 kaffir lime leaves, torn into small pieces
2 fat lemongrass stalks, halved, bruised
120ml chicken stock
250ml coconut milk
steamed rice, to serve
1 Cut fish into 3-4cm pieces. Slit calamari along one side. Open them out flat and score the inside into a fine diamond pattern with the tip of a small, sharp knife. Cut lengthways into 4 wide strips; cut each strip across into 3 pieces (this helps the pieces to curl attractively during cooking). Repeat scoring with fins and cut each one in half. Separate tentacles into pairs.
2 Place fish, calamari and prawns in a shallow bowl and sprinkle with ½ tsp salt. Drizzle with lime juice. Season with white pepper. Mix well. Add 4 tbsp Balinese spice paste and rub it well all over the seafood pieces.
3 Heat oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium heat. Add remaining spice paste and fry gently for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant. Add kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and chicken stock. Simmer for 1 minute.
4 Add fish (not the squid or the prawns) to frying pan and cook for 1 minute. Turn fish pieces and cook for a further 1 minute. Add coconut milk, squid and prawns, and simmer for 2 minutes or until seafood is just cooked. Season with salt and drizzle with lime juice, if desired. Serve with steamed rice.
Balinese spice paste (basa gede)
1½ tsp black peppercorns
½ tsp nutmeg
25g candle nuts, cashews, macadamias, or roasted peanuts
1 tsp sesame seeds
60g shallots, roughly chopped
25g peeled ginger, roughly chopped
40g peeled galangal (or extra ginger), roughly chopped
15g peeled fresh turmeric, chopped, or 1 tsp
ground turmeric
3 fat lemongrass stalks, core chopped
20g garlic
2 medium-hot red chillies, deseeded, roughly chopped
3 red bird’s eye chillies, roughly chopped
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp vegetable oil
½ lime, juiced
Place peppercorns, nutmeg, nuts and sesame seeds into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Transfer spice mixture to a food processor. Add remaining ingredients and blend until a very smooth paste forms.
