{"id":324,"date":"2010-03-22T21:41:48","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T10:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/?p=324"},"modified":"2010-03-25T12:56:16","modified_gmt":"2010-03-25T01:56:16","slug":"belly-22-march-2010-mullet-gotu-kola-cucumbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/?p=324","title":{"rendered":"belly 22 march 2010 – mullet, gotu kola, cucumbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOPICS<\/span><\/strong> : the mighty mullet, smokin’, eating your rampant pumpkin vine, healthy traditions – Sri Lanka (gotu kola), dr Siggi’s bad chef recipes – souffle’, Sister Rasela’s Morsels – odd uses for cucumbers<\/p>\n

GUESTS\/INTERVIEWS<\/strong><\/span> : Paul Van Reik, Sri Lankan born wonderful cook and food writer, and youthful father of many children
\nDr Siggi Fried, bad cook freedom fighter
\nSister Rasela – nutritionist and bellysister<\/p>\n

PRESENTER<\/span><\/strong> : Sister T<\/p>\n

FRESH REPORT<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This week sr T is loving pineapples, sea mullet (extra fab to July as it goes North to spawn) and taming the pumpkin vines by shallow frying the flowers and marble size baby pumpkins (in a light flour and water batter).<\/p>\n

The mighty Mullet<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

bake, pickle, smoke, bbq, make fish pastes and pate’, goes with tomatoes, oranges, fennel, mushrooms, onion, garlic, eggplant, all kinds of herbs, substitute for mackerel in Spanish and English recipes (much cheaper)<\/p>\n

SMOKED MULLET OPEN SANDWICH<\/span><\/strong> – by Sr T<\/p>\n

First, smoke yer mullet<\/p>\n

1 wok, a metal cake rack, maybe foil, mullet fillets, skin on<\/p>\n

Smoke mix :<\/p>\n

1\/2 cup each brown sugar, rice and tea leaves (I just used tea that was getting a bit old), a few leaves\/sprigs of woody herbs, maybe a few fennel seeds, lemon myrtle – experiment<\/p>\n

To smoke you need a wok, either an old one, or lined with foil, if you haven’t got a wok lid the foil has to be long enough to cover the fish.<\/p>\n

Put the smoke mix in the wok, heaped in the middle.\u00a0 Then the metal rack, high enough to not touch the mix, the fish skin down on the rack.\u00a0 Cover with lid or crimp foil over so it seals the top but doesn’t touch the fish.<\/p>\n

Cook on high until it starts to smoke, then 10 to 20 minutes on medium heat depending on size\/your preference.\u00a0 If the mix goes out and you need to cook the fish a bit more, finish in a dry frypan, skin down.<\/p>\n

Then you can use the mullet in many ways (lovely for pate’)<\/p>\n

or make a herby garlicky green sauce – I whizzed olive oil, lemon juice, salt , pepper, garlic, parsley, mint, chives and fennel tops in a food processor<\/p>\n

Made sourdough toast, thinly sliced tomatoes on top, then flaked mullet, then drizzled bright green sauce….mmm<\/p>\n

And pretty too.<\/p>\n

GUEST RECIPES<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n

HEALTHY TRADITIONS<\/strong><\/span> :<\/p>\n

* is there a dish in your tradition that is supposed to be extra good for you?\u00a0 Please share it with the bellysisters, either on air or on the website.<\/p>\n

In the Sri Lankan tradition, it is said that gotu kola keeps you youthful, and is good for your blood and rheumatism.<\/p>\n

GOTU KOLA KANDA<\/strong><\/span> – from Paul<\/p>\n

1 cup cooked rice (see below)<\/p>\n

2 -3 tamped down cups of gotu kola leaves (1 bunch)<\/p>\n

Boil rice in a lot of water until grains whole but mushy – a thick starchy soup\/porridge consistency.<\/p>\n

Pound leaves in a mortar, sieve out solids and\u00a0 keep juice or puree
\nwith a little water in a blender and sieve out solids.\u00a0 Makes 2-4 tbs of bright green juice, add to cooked rice with a pinch of salt. It will have a minty\/sharp\/peppery flavour.\u00a0 Add jaggery to taste (or honey\/plain sugar).<\/p>\n

Have a bowl each morning, you can re-cook any leftover dry rice until it is mushy to make this.<\/p>\n

The following recipe is from Paul’s website<\/a>,\u00a0 where you will find many more delicious Sri Lankan recipes<\/p>\n

LEAFY VEGETABLE MALLUNG<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a standard preparation you can make with any leafy green\u00a0 – spinach, silver beet, kankun, amaranth, chrysanthemum, radish and turnip leaves, chickweed and so on.\u00a0 If you can get them, there are two Sri Lankan greens in particular that do well with this treatment – gotukola, also called pennywort,\u00a0 and often available in the growing season from good South East Asian suppliers; mukunawena, a quite specific Sri Lankan herb which you may find at Sri Lankan grocers.<\/p>\n

Ingredients:
\n1 bunch leafy green vegetables
\n1 tsp black mustard seed
\n1 tsp turmeric
\npinch of salt
\n1 tbsp grated coconut (fresh is best, frozen is also fine, desiccated is a no-no)
\n1 tbsp Maldive fish ground fine (you can substitute dried prawns)
\nvegetable oil<\/p>\n

Method:<\/p>\n

Wash the leaves and shred them fine.<\/p>\n

Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan big enough to hold all the shredded leaves.<\/p>\n

Put in the mustard seeds and fry till your hear them pop. Immediately add the leafy vegetables and stir rapidly. You want to try and coat all the leaves with oil and seed.<\/p>\n

Add the turmeric, salt and Maldive fish, stirring all the time to prevent the leaves burning, like in a Chinese stir fry.<\/p>\n

When the leaves have darkened and gone limp,\u00a0 add the coconut and mix it through for a minute or two at the most. You just want it to take on the colour of the turmeric and be thoroughly integrated with the leaves.<\/p>\n

Taste, and adjust the seasoning. If you like, squeeze some lime juice over it. Take it off the stove. You don’t usually serve mallungs hot, so let it cool down a bit before eating.<\/p>\n

(C) 2007 Paul van Reyk<\/p>\n

DOKTOR SIGGI FRIED’S COOKBOOK FOR BAD COOKS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

LEYTON’S SOUFFLE’<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Look up any good cookbook for a souffle’ recipe.\u00a0 Prepare as suggested but don’t worry about using precise amounts as all souffles will collapse in the end.\u00a0\u00a0 However, ther is a trick that Leyton Hewitt, the famous tennis player, uses to create perfect souffles (almost) every time…when the souffle is cooking, stare at it intensely and shout : ” Come On” at least 3 times.<\/p>\n

(C) Dr Siggi Fried<\/p>\n

EDIBLE QUOTES<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n

So much said about the poor cucumber (great for cleaning metal according to Sr Rasela – not sure if this is a compliment)<\/p>\n

“A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.”
\nSamuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer<\/p>\n

\u201cRaw cucumber makes the churchyards prosperous\u201d – English Proverb<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw, inclement summer.” Jonathan Swift\u00a0 (Irish writer)
\n\u201cCucumbers\u00a0 are like virgins, they do not keep long\u201d –\u00a0 Dutch Proverb<\/p>\n

CONTACTS\/LINKS<\/span><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

good mullet info :<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.sea-ex.com\/fishphotos\/seamullet.htm<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.australianseafood.com.au\/species.php?f=78&v=f<\/a><\/p>\n

wok smoking :<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.foodista.com\/technique\/CYZGZ2ZV\/wok-smoking<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/tv\/pohskitchen\/cooking_tips\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.buthkuddeh.com.au\/ <\/a>– Paul Van Reyk<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Centella_asiatica<\/a> – lots of good gotu kola info and pictures<\/p>\n

www.kopping.com<\/a> – dr Siggi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOPICS : the mighty mullet, smokin’, eating your rampant pumpkin vine, healthy traditions – Sri Lanka (gotu kola), dr Siggi’s bad chef recipes – souffle’, Sister Rasela’s Morsels – odd uses for cucumbers GUESTS\/INTERVIEWS : Paul Van Reik, Sri Lankan born wonderful cook and food writer, and youthful father of many children Dr Siggi Fried, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16,33,5],"tags":[64,59,47,57,61,65,60,58,62],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fish-shellfish","category-pasta-rice-other-lovely-carbs","category-radio-show-posts","category-second-life","tag-cucumber","tag-dr-siggi","tag-fish","tag-gotu-kola","tag-mullet","tag-pumpkin","tag-souffle","tag-sri-lanka","tag-wok-smoking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.belly.net.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}