Seared Madras Fish & Green Beans with Peanuts & Shallots

I now love green beans.. like seriously! 

Wow.. it's been a while huh? I haven't done much cooking the past week or so.. I've gained too much weight :p Anyway, to make up for the missing days.. I'll put up 2 recipes. They are actually recipes from my favorite chefs on AFC, Nigella Lawson and Laura Calder. :) I saw Laura Calder made her green beans recipe and I thought.. urghh who eats green beans! yucks.. I know right? but this recipe is to die for. It's sooo good! She used hazelnuts but ermm.. it's expensive. Peanuts are cheaper. I used that ;) The other recipe I found in Nigella's book, Nigella Express. It's called Madras Fish for a reason. It uses MAdras curry powder .. I didn't have any. Didn't even know what that was until I saw some sold at Cold Storage. So I changed the recipe a bit. Used the normal fish curry powder instead. I used some kind of white fish .. I have no idea what it was. LOL but I guess any of your favorite fish would do. Just make sure that the fish is defrost thoroughly and doesn't smell. if it does wash it with turmeric juice. that should do it. Nigella used Salmon .. and fried it using garlic infused oil. Don't worry if you don't have it.. hahaha :) I used vegetable oil.

Seared Madras Fish (inspired by Nigella Lawson)

Ingredients:

white fish
2-3 tbsp fish curry powder
salt, pepper
oil for frying

Method

1. Mix the curry powder, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Rub the mixture on the fish thoroughly. 
2. Heat the pan with oil and cook the fish on high heat for 2-3 minutes a side. Sear the sides if the fish is too thick. 
3. Serve on a plate. 

Green beans with Peanuts and Shallots

Ingredients:

Green Beans
2-3 tbsp fried peanuts (chopped)
2 shallots (minced)
salt, pepper
lemon juice to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Boil the green beans in salted water until tender. Drain and rinse in cold running water to set color. 
2. Heat oil in skillet. Add the shallots for 1 minute.
3. Toss in the green beans until heated through
4. Add salt and pepper. Squirt a bit of lemon juice. Remove from heat
5. Toss in the chopped peanuts. 
6. Serve with the madras fish. 

Madras Fish & Green Beans with Peanuts & Shallots

It's so elegant and so easy that no one would know you spent less than half hour to make this dish ;) Have fun in the kitchen!

Powder Puffs

I love watching Laura Calder on French Food at Home. She's so adorable.... and I just love her dresses.. The recipes on her show are really easy too.. I've tried several recipes I got from the show .. so far so good :)

Anyway one night while making dendeng for my customers at Dendeng, Etc I felt the urge to eat something sweet. Plus, I just watched her show .. and she was showing how to make Powder Puffs. It's a bit too sweet to my taste so I reduced the sugar a little. From 3/4 cup of sugar to a little bit more than 1/2 cup. She also used some really expensive raspberry jam.. I only had this blueberry jam which was more like jelly than jam. Coincidentally I had some whip cream leftover in the fridge. Wouldn't want it to go bad ;)

The decision was worth it. They tasted so good! I didn't have cornstarch at home.. so I substituted it with flour. It was a success.. Brought some for Kak Ina and Kak Ida to taste. They loved it. Kak Ida even ordered some from me.. hehehe :p

Some tips on separating the eggs... I got this from Joy of Baking website I think.. can't remember... Anyways, separate them when they are cold. then leave the eggs covered to warm up to room temperature before whipping the egg whites :)

Anyway the original recipe can be found here .. Here's my take on the recipe :)

Powder Puffs

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs, separated
1/2+  cup caster sugar
1/2 cup jam
3/4 cup whipping cream, vanilla flavored for filling

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. 
2. Blend together the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Set aside. 
3. In another bowl, separate the egg whites from the yolks. Set yolks aside. 
4. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks. 
5. Add the sugar in three stages, beating after each addition to make a stiff, glossy meringue. 
6. Whisk in the egg yolks one at a time. 
7. Sift the dry ingredients together, then sift them over the egg mixture and fold in with the whisk, without beating or you'll lose volume. 
8. Pipe or drop by tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving room between so they can spread. They just grow in size..like nobody's business! 
9. Bake until lightly golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool. They will harden slightly. 
10. Sandwich the rounds together with jam and sweetened, vanilla-flavoured whipped cream. Let sit an hour or so to soften before serving. (This is important. They will not be sponge-like right away, and you want them to be.) Dust with icing sugar before serving if you like.. I didn't. .. already too sweet :D