Tag Archives: chilli

Thai Style Tamarind Fish

December 14, 2021 The Captain & the Cook 2 Comments

While in Australia, I made this recipe while waiting to get back to our boat in Thailand. We were missing Thai food, and one of our favourite dishes is tamarind fish. There are several places in Phuket where we enjoy this fish, so I decided to recreate it to eat at home. It turned out just like the fish at one of our favourite restaurants (which has unfortunately since closed down). It is unfortunate how the COVID-19 virus has hit places that rely on tourism!

Ingredients

1 whole fish (we used barramundi)
6 coriander roots
6 garlic cloves
2 small hot chillies
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger
1/2 cup tamarind paste
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
Bran oil for deep frying
1/2 cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of rice flour or cornflour

To Garnish

1 long red chilli, sliced
Coriander, chopped
Fried garlic slices (fried and removed before I add the fish to the oil)

Method

Prepare the fish

Scale the fish and then cut a fillet from both sides of the whole fish, leaving plenty of meat still on the frame. Rinse both the fish and frame under running water. Chop the fillets into bite-size chunks.

For the sauce

Pound the coriander, garlic, chilli and salt in a mortar and pestle to a paste. Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil to a wok or pan over medium heat and stir-fry for the paste for a minute to release the fragrance.

Add the ginger and stir-fry for another minute. Add tamarind, sugar and fish sauce and a few tablespoons of water. Mix well and let boil. If the sauce gets too thick, add more water to get the consistency you desire.

Set the sauce aside (you can reheat the sauce when you are ready to serve).

Cook the fish

Heat the bran oil for deep frying.

Mix the plain flour and rice flour with salt and pepper and coat the fish carcass. When the oil is hot, use tongs to submerge the fish in the oil and cook until crisp and golden. Remove and drain on paper towels. Place on a serving dish.

Coat the cubed fish pieces with the flour mixture and cook in the hot oil in batches until crispy and golden. Drain on paper towels.

To serve

Place the crispy fish cubes on the concave fish frame and drizzle the dressing over the fish and fish cubes. Sprinkle with finely sliced chilli, chopped coriander and some fried garlic. You can serve excess fish on another serving plate.

You can make this recipe with fish fillets instead of a whole fish if you prefer. Just serve the crispy golden chunks of fish on a serving dish, drizzled with tamarind sauce and garnished with chilli, coriander and fried garlic.

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eggs, Fingerfood

Devilled Quail Eggs

November 10, 2021 The Captain & the Cook 5 Comments

I first made these delicious little devilled eggs as finger food at one of our parties at least 12 years ago. We always have quail eggs on hand because we loved having them in our laska soups, and coming up with other ways to use the eggs was not difficult.

I have also made Scotched Quail Eggs, which are supper delicious and served quail eggs with five spice!

scotch quail eggs recipe five spice finger food

Devilled Quail Eggs are a tasty starter at a dinner party and great picnic or finger food. And because they are served cold, they can be made ahead of time.

Ingredients

Tin of quail eggs
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Method

Cut the quail eggs in half and remove the yolks, placing them in a bowl. Mash the yolks with the cumin, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, lime juice, cayenne pepper, and mix well.

Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

When very smooth, put the egg mixture into a piping bag or similar and pipe the yolk mixture back into egg white halves.

Garnish with the egg halves with finely caviar or finely chopped coriander, tomato, cucumber and cracked black pepper.

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Campfire Cooking, chicken

Spicy Apricot Chicken

October 1, 2021 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

This spicy apricot chicken is my twist on the classic apricot chicken recipe my mum used to cook us all the time. It was my favourite of mum’s go-to weekly dishes. Dwayne also loves the original apricot chicken and often craves it. However, now that I have dressed it up somewhat and given it a touch of Oriental piquancy, I’m not sure we will ever cook the classic apricot chicken again.

This chicken has the sweet and savoury flavours of the original, but the addition of garlic, ginger, five-spice and chilli gives it a taste of Asian yumminess.

If like us, you enjoy cooking on a campfire, you’ll love this dish. So easy to make. However, it is just as easy to cook in your oven or slow cooker. Follow each step but instead of placing the ingredients into a camp oven, put them into your casserole dish or slow cooker. Cooking with coals and oven instructions are below.

Our camp kitchen

We cooked this delicious, hearty dish while camped at “The Gap” on Yorke Peninsula.

Ingredients

6 Maryland chicken pieces, skin removed (joint each piece into leg and thigh if you prefer)
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of ginger paste
2 teaspoons of Chinese five-spice
2 teaspoons of chilli flakes
820g tin of apricot halves in natural juice or apricot nectar
40g French onion soup mix

Method

Place the flour in a ziplock bag and add the chicken. Close the bag and shake well to lightly coat the chicken.

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook chicken, in batches, for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden, and place into the camp oven.

Add a little more oil to the pan and sauté the onion until soft, then add the ginger and garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the five-spice and chilli and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add the can of apricots & juice or the nectar and the soup mix, bring to the boil. Mix all the sticking spices from the bottom of the pan. Pour over the chicken (in the camp oven or slow cooker).

We cooked it in the camp oven for 1 – 1 1/2 hours until the chicken was cooked and falling off the bone.

To cook in the oven

Preheat oven to 180c. Follow the above instructions, placing the ingredient into a casserole dish with a lid. Cook for 1 – 1/2 hours in the preheated oven.

For more instruction on cooking with hot coals

If you want to cook on coals from a campfire, you need to burn a good amount of wood to create hot coals. It can take an hour or so for your campfire to make enough coals to cook with. Be sure to factor the process of producing the embers into your prep and cooking time. Alternatively, if time or good wood is in short supply, use heat-beads as they heat up quickly and hold their heat well.

The easiest way to cook in a camp oven over hot coals is to lift the coals out of the fire with a long-handled shovel. Select a safe place next to the fire and put a small amount of *coals on the ground. Place the camp oven onto the coals. Get some more coals from the fire to place on top of the oven. Getting the right amount of coals is not always easy. Be aware of cooking the casserole too hot and burning it. It will take some experimentation to get the temperature right. Therefore, check the chicken after 10 minutes to ensure you are not cooking it too hot or not hot enough.

Alternatively, hang the pot over the heat with a tripod (or, in our case, a star-drop acting as one) and then top with coals.

*you only need a small number of coals under the camp oven or none at all. Too many, and you will burn the bottom of the oven.

Many factors determine the heat of the coals, such as ambient temperature and wind. If it is windy, the coals will cook hotter. Make allowances for wind by reducing the number of coals used.

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Fingerfood, Spain, vegetarian

Spicy Herb Olives

February 11, 2021 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

Spain is renown for its tapas. Tapas meaning ‘small Spanish savoury dish’, is typically served with drinks at a bar. When we visited Spain in 2019 we gorged on tapas and these spicy olives are just one of our favourites, and just one of the tapas recipes I will share with you.

I have hosted dinner parties where I have served tapas. These dinner parties were a hit. A taste of Spain was the theme and many dishes were served at the same time, allowing people to try lots of different tastes and textures. Tapas such as spicy olives, potato tortilla, meatballs, chorizo in wine, stuffed peppers, grilled eggplant, chickpeas and spinach create good variety and a balanced meal.

This recipe is simple, and easily dresses up ordinary olives making them a taste sensation!

Ingredients

1 – 2 tablespoons Olive oil

2 garlic cloves

2 teaspoon of chopped thyme

1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 – 2 chilli, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 cup of mixed olives

Method

Heat oil in a small pan, then add the remaining ingredients and heat gently. Serve warm.

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Breakfast/Brunch, Campfire Cooking, eggs

Camp Oven Eggs in Purgatory

July 13, 2020 The Captain & the Cook 1 Comment

I’m not sure where the term ‘Eggs in Purgatory’ originated. Does it refer to the bubbling red tomato sauce? I’m not sure. However, this recipe is perfect for cooking in the camp oven over a campfire. Perfect for an Aussie bush brunch, this dish is high in protein and super tasty.

Camp Oven Eggs in Purgatory

Our Camp Kitchen

We cooked our Eggs in Purgatory while camping at Mount Bundy Station at Adelaide River in the Northern Territory.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon oil
1 Red onion, finely chopped
3 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 Can of tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon of dried Italian herbs
1/2 – 1 Teaspoon dried, crushed chilli
1/2 Teaspoon beef/veg stock powder
1 Can of mixed beans
4 Eggs
Grated cheese
Cracked black pepper

Method

Heat the camp oven in the campfire* and heat oil. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until onion is translucent.

Add the tomatoes, herbs, chilli and stock powder, and cook for a few minutes until tomatoes start to thicken.

Add the beans and cook for a few more minutes.

Crack eggs into the tomato bean mix, and sprinkle with grated cheese and black pepper.

Put the lid on the camp oven. Top the camp oven with hot coals and cook at moderate temperature until eggs are cooked to your liking.

*Sautéing over the fire in a camp oven can be uncomfortably hot. There are several ways I cook with an open pot, depending on what sort of fireplace we have (e.g. iron fire pit or open fire). One way is to hang your camp oven over the fire with a tripod or, in our case, a star-dropper. Another way is to take a shovel load of coals from the firepit and, in a safe place near the fire, place them on the ground, put your camp oven on top and cook over the coals.

Star dropper instead of a tripod for cooking over the fire.

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From the galley

Delicious Salami Pizza

April 24, 2020 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

I love pizza, and I love homemade pizza because I can make it exactly how I like it. I love all things salty, and this is a salt lovers pizza – anchovies, capers, olives. Seriously, does it get any saltier! The best thing about pizza is that you can top it with anything you like. Change-up the toppings until you have your perfect pizza.

The last time I made this pizza was a month ago while we were sailing through Indonesia. Sailing through Indonesia during the Coronavirus Pandemic was an experience I won’t be forgetting soon. Not all good – gunshots fired in warning, but not all bad – swimming with a wild dugong. Click here to read my story.

Ingredients

For the base

Olive oil, to grease
250ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast
450g (3 cups) plain flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs olive oil

Topping

Homemade pizza sauce*
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 – 8 anchovies, roughly chopped
1 Capsicum sliced
2-3 Tablespoons sliced olives
1-2 Tablespoons of capers
16 – 20 slices of Salami
400g grated cheese (pizza mix is delicious)
Dry Italian herbs and chilli flakes
- amounts are a rough guide only

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush two or three 25cm pizza trays with oil to grease. (I used 3 oven trays and got yummy thin crispy bases).

Mix the sugar and water in a jug or small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and place it in a draught-free place for five minutes, until bubbles form on the surface.

Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and the oil. Mix well with a spoon until blended. Dump the mix onto a floured work surface and knead for six minutes.

Divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces and cover and rest for five minutes. Now is a good time to prepare your topping ingredients.

Roll each dough portion out. Use your hands to stretch the dough gently. Line the greased pizza trays with the dough, pushing the dough to the edges of the trays. Spread the bases with pizza sauce, and top with onion, anchovies, olives, capers, capsicum, salami and cheese. Sprinkle with Italian herb and chilli flakes.

Bake in preheated oven, at 220c for 8 minutes or until cheese is bubbling on top and base is crispy.

* I make pizza sauce with a tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, pepper.

* Another delicious alternative to pizza sauce is using sun-dried tomato pesto for the base. This pesto is a delicious option!

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Salad, Thailand

Thai Banana Blossom Salad

September 15, 2019 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

As we have spent a lot of time in Thailand over the last four years, I find myself cooking many Thai style meals. I usually shop at the local SuperCheap (a Thai supermarket) and use primarily local Asian vegetables and fruits in our meals.

For over a year now I have regularly seen banana flowers in the veggie section and finally decided to make a banana blossom salad. Using the traditional flavours of Thai cuisine this what I came up with…

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 Tablespoon palm sugar*
1 Tablespoon chilli paste or chilli jam
3 Tablespoons coconut cream

1 banana blossom
1 large red chilli
1 large green chilli
1 small carrot (or 1/2 a large carrot)
2 spring onions
bean shoots
4 Tablespoons of Asian fried shallots
2 Tablespoons of crushed peanuts**

Method

Mix the lime sauce, fish sauce, palm sugar and chilli paste in a bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add coconut cream and blend well. Check for the right balance of salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Adjust as needed (fish sauce – salty, sugar – sweet, lime juice – sour and chilli paste – spicy). Set aside.

Cut the chillies lengthwise, remove the seeds and pith. Slice the chillies thinly and add to a large mixing bowl. Grate the carrot and add to the mixing bowl. Finely slice the spring onion and, along with the bean shoots, add to the dish. Set aside.

Fill a large bowl with cold water and squeeze some lemon or lime juice into it. Remove the outer leaves of the banana blossom until all dark leaves have been removed. Keep the best two outer leaves for serving. Cut the blossom lengthwise and remove inner core. Finely slice the blossom and place each slice in the water as you do so, to stop it going black.

Strain the blossom and add to the mixing bowl, add the dressing and two tablespoons of the fried onion and mix well.

To serve

Place two clean banana blossom leaves on plates and heap with the salad. Garnish with a tablespoon each of fried onion and peanuts.

Bon appetite

Notes

*Use soft brown sugar instead of palm sugar

**I didn’t have peanuts so used a seed mix with the salad in the photos. Peanuts would definitely suit the taste better.

Chilli paste, chilli jam and Asian fried shallots found in Asian grocery stores.

This recipe will serve two as a meal or four to six as a side dish.

Add cooked prawns to make it a meal.

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Cooking Our Catch, Crustacean

Chilli Crab

October 15, 2018 The Captain & the Cook 1 Comment

We have caught many blue swimmer crabs in our time. At times in South Australia, they are abundant. Over the summer months, you see many people catching them in crab pots or raking for them waist deep in water.

The sweet meat of the blue swimmer crab is delicious and chilli crab is one of my favourite recipes to make with them! This is how I make my chilli crab and it has been a hit with many people. Be warned it is messy to eat… best not to worry about the mess and dig in though, because it will disappear fast!

Ingredients

1kg raw Blue swimmers
2 Tbs peanut oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp ginger, grated
2 red chillies, seeded and sliced
2 Tbs hoisin sauce
½ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup sweet chilli sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
¼ cup of water
¼ tsp sesame oil
4 spring onions, sliced
½ cup water
Coriander sprigs to garnish

Method

Clean and cut crabs into segments and crack the claws. Click here for video of how to clean blue swimmer crabs.

Combine the hoisin, chilli, fish and tomato sauces, the sesame oil and the water in a bowl and set aside.

Heat wok until hot, add oil and swirl to coat. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.

Add the crab pieces and stir-fry for 5-7 minutes until they turn orange.

Stir in the hoisin, chilli, sesame oil mix. Toss the crab and sauce together to combine well and bring to the boil.

Cover and simmer for about 8 minutes. Sprinkle with spring onion and garnish with coriander.

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Cooking with Local Ingredients, Duck, From the galley

Tea Smoked Duck with Asian Style Salad

March 31, 2018 The Captain & the Cook Leave a comment

I love duck! Love it! Whenever I want to make something special I will often think of duck. This was my first attempt at smoking duck and it turned out delicious… if I do say so myself!

Smoking mix

1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 clove
1 cup of uncooked rice
1/2 cup of tea
1/4 cup sugar

And this is how I made it….

In a mortar, with pestle, I crushed the cinnamon stick, star anise and clove (crushed but not powdered) and then I combined this spice mix with the rice, tea and sugar.

I lined a wok with a couple of layers of foil and added the tea mix. I heated this over high heat until it was smoking hot. On a trivet, over the smoking tea, I placed the duck breast, skin side up.

I covered the top of the wok with foil, put the lid on and turned the heat down to low. Then I let it smoke for 20-25 minutes.

If you want crispy skin duck (as we did), take the duck out of the wok a little earlier. Heat a frying pan (no oil needed), add duck skin down and cook for a few minutes until crispy.

My Salad

Shredded cabbage, thinly sliced large red chilli, thinly sliced beans, bean sprouts, finely chopped small red chilli, chopped coriander, mint and basil, grated carrot and grated green apple (apple tossed with the juice of 1/2 lime).

For the dressing – I used the same dressing I made for my green mango salad.

I served the duck with salad and lontong which is a compressed rice cake.

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Duck, From the galley, Salad

Spiced Roast Duck Breast with Mango Salad

October 23, 2017 The Captain & the Cook 1 Comment

We love duck, and although it is not terribly good for you (it contains a lot of fat between the skin and the meat), it is not as bad as you think. In fact, without skin and visible fat, duck meat has less fat than roasted skinless chicken breasts. But seriously who can resist the crispy delicious skin of roast duck? Not me! Furthermore, duck meat is surprisingly nutrient dense, provides high-quality protein and contains essential amino acids.

Ingredients
2 duck breast, pat dry and score the duck breast

Spice mix

1cm cinnamon stick
4 petals of star anise
1 tsp peppercorns
1 clove

Salad

1 green mango, shredded or grated
2-3 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 Asian shallots, thinly sliced
1 long red chilli, julienned or diced.
basil, mint, coriander, chopped

Salad Dressing

Salad dressing is the same I use for the Cambodian Green Mango Salad

3 Tbs fish sauce
The juice of two limes
2 Tbs of sweet chilli sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar

Method

For the duck…

Using a mortar and pestle, crush the spices until well ground (or use five spice powder if you prefer).

Rub the spice mix all over the duck breast.

Heat a frypan until hot (do not add oil). Place duck skin side down and cook for a few minutes, on moderate heat, until fat renders.

Then place the duck into a preheated oven, set at 210c, for 15 minutes. Remove the duck from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

For the salad…

Put all the ingredients for the dressing in a jar and give it a good shake. Refrigerate until needed.

Combine all the salad ingredients and dress the salad at the time of serving.

Serve the sliced duck with the mango salad for a fresh zesty treat.

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Camp Oven Eggs in Purgatory

Our Camp Kitchen

Ingredients

Method

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