Royal Foodie Joust: Malaysian Fish Kebabs

This is a strange post. Partly, because I already know it is going to seem inordinately long for the final effort. But also because I am currently flying over Carlisle at a cruising speed of 34,000 feet. Or so Pete, our captain, has just informed me! And finally, because I haven’t even finished cooking my dish yet (nor am I likely while at this altitude).

But I unexpectedly have to return to my native Scotland for a meeting on Monday morning… and decided to take advantage of the trip to stop in and see the parents – for a hug, a natter and some good, Scottish home-cooking! Tonight, I have chosen steak pie… made from skirt of beef and beef sausages, served with creamy mashed potato and real gravy. And I even get a proper breakfast tomorrow – square sausage pieces with broon sauce! Yum yum yum – it doesn’t seem too difficult to say no to the budget airline’s reheated soggy panini - even though my belly is rumbling!

So back to why I am writing my post at 34,000 feet, when I haven’t finished cooking! The Royal Foodie Joust is hosted by HRH Jen over at The Leftover Queen. I have been curious about it since I started food-blogging, and finally registered on the forum a couple of weeks ago. Each month three ingredients are chosen, and each entrant has to make a dish which includes all three. This month, the ingredients are coconut, lime and something from the sea… These are my kind of ingredients, and I had worked out my recipe within a few hours of registering!

Coconut and Limes!

But real life kicks in, and between Easter weekend, illness and work I realised that the only night I would have to make my dish was tonight – Sunday. Which gave me one day to write it up – perfect!

But my unexpected trip has thrown that askew. I briefly thought about offering to cook for my parents, but I selfishly wanted my mum’s home-cooking (plus, I haven’t told them about my blog yet so the camera may surprise them!)

…

I am now in Edinburgh airport – my steak pie was fabulous, the sausage square, and my meeting concluded to the satisfaction of all. I have, however, just eaten a rather sub-standard chicken Caesar salad (not so good) and am quaffing a large glass of pinot grigio (much better!) So here goes for 40 minutes typing before I have to proceed to the gate!

So, tonight I am flying back to Brighton, where upon I need to go to the supermarket to buy some fish, prawns and cilantro (fishmongers will be closed by then!), before heading home to finish cooking my entry for RFJ. I hope that by preparing the curry paste and dipping sauce yesterday morning, then by starting my post in the air, I will actually make the deadline!

I wanted to make something a bit different. The ingredients obviously call out for Asian handling, and it seemed like ages since I did something new. Soup? No, I seem to have made a LOT of soup recently. Curry? Meh. No, fancy something different, really. Asian-Brit Fusion? (Think coconut breaded cod, with chips and a limey tartar sauce…) Hmm… maybe not!

I eventually hit on an idea – spicy fish kebabs, with a limey dipping sauce. But I had to make the paste, and the dipping sauce, from scratch… This has more of a Malaysian influence – containing the slightly earthier spices of Indian cusine, as well as the fresh/salty/sweet of Thai food! The three key ingredients: lime, coconut and the sea, feature in every element of this dish… I’ll let you know how it goes later!!

A lot of chillies - 15 Thai red chillies to make 6 kebabs! I love the Thai shop round the corner!!

Malaysian Fish Kebabs

200g raw prawns
450g cod fillets
Half a grated fresh coconut
4 lime leaves, finely chopped
Zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup Curry Paste
3 Thai red chillies
6 lemongrass skewers
1 tsp brown sugar
Fish sauce/Thick Soy sauce – to taste

Take about 2/3 each of the prawns and cod and blitz to a fine paste. Roughly chop the remaining prawns and cod – you want a bit of interesting texture to it!

Mix both sets of seafood with the curry paste, coconut, lime leaves, lime zest, chillies and sugar. Take a little dod of the mixture and fry it til cooked through. Taste this and adjust seasoning with fish sauce/ soy as required. I suppose you could have only added half the chillies to this point, and adjust the heat here too – but I like it spicy so didn’t bother!!

My coconut - took me ages to get it to this!!

Divide the mixture into six and squeeze round the lemongrass sticks. Put under a medium grill for about 10 minutes, turning frequently, until cooked through.

In their pre-cooked state!

Serve with the dipping sauce and wedges of fresh lime!

Yum yum yum!!!

If you like what you see, you can vote for me here - but do check out the other entrants - there are loads of fabulous entries - stores worldwide will be running out of limes and coconuts!

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