Creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside, with the mushroom enhanced by the addition of seaweed and oriental flavours, you will love these little cakes as much as I do.
Per portion
130 grams firm tofu
50 grams oyster, or other well flavoured, mushrooms
1 sheet dried nori seaweed
1 cm cube, more or less, fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
fresh chilli
2 teaspoons miso soup base
1 heaped teaspoon cornflour plus extra for coating the cakes
oil for shallow frying
To a mini food processor add the roughly chopped ginger, garlic and chilli, then whizz for a few seconds.
Add the roughly chopped mushrooms and break the nori into the mix. Process to combine. Stop the processor and scrape down the mix from the sides if needed.
Break the tofu into the processor and add the cornflour and miso paste. Process until you have an even smooth paste that sticks together.
Remove the mix and divide into four equal amounts. Put some cornflour onto a plate and form each quarter of the mix into a little flat cake, coating it in cornflour as you do so.
Heat oil in a frying pan and add cakes. Cook on a low heat. The cakes are quite delicate so you only want to turn them once, so let the first side get nicely golden brown and crispy before gently turning them over.
I served them with chilli vinegar and some steamed green vegetable dressed with a little sesame oil and seeds.
What to do with half a kilo of minced Turkey given to me by friends who were going away?
I haven’t made chestnut pasta for a good while, which would go very well with the mild gaminess of some little turkey meatballs, nor had I shared the recipe for chestnut pasta with you as I’d thought, so now is the opportunity to do that. The meatballs don’t need a heavy sauce or a lot of sauce, so a mushroom sauce lightly thickened with goats cheese would be perfect.
Serves 4
The meatballs
500 grams lean minced turkey
1/2 sweet onion – finely chopped
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic – finely chopped
1 level teaspoon fennel seeds
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for frying
The sauce
1/2 sweet onion – finely chopped
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
olive oil for frying
100 grams mushrooms – I used oyster mushrooms, but any type of mushroom will be fine – cut into small dice
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
50 grams creamy goats cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese to grate on when serving
The pasta
65 grams chestnut flour
35 grams wholemeal spelt flour
1 large egg
pinch of salt
Start by making the pasta.
Mix the flours and salt in a bowl or on a board.
Make a well in the centre and add the lightly beaten egg.
Mix to make a firm but pliable dough. If it’s too dry add a little egg white and if too wet add extra spelt flour.
Using either a pasta rolling machine or a rolling pin, roll the pasta into an oblong, then fold into three, turn it 90 degrees and repeat the rolling and folding following the instructions in my post – the Beginners Guide to Making Fresh Pasta. Then roll the pasta down to the desired thickness, it was number 5 on my pasta machine, and cut into tagliatelle. Leave to rest on your board while you make the meatballs.
Put the meatball ingredients in a bowl and mix well squeezing the onion and garlic into the minced turkey.
Taking a small spoonful at a time, form the meat mix into balls about the size of a cherry, rolling them between your palms to push the meat into firm balls and lay them out on two trays. If you have lean meat the meatballs will hold together without the need for eggs or breadcrumbs, and you will have a lighter texture to the meatballs. It does mean that the balls are a little more delicate and one has to take care when turning them in the initial cooking.
Once you have all the meatballs ready heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and put in half the meatballs. When they are nicely browned on one side, gently turn them. Keep doing this until they are browned and sealed on all sides. Remove the meatballs from the pan , and put into a dish on the side.
Add a little more oil to the pan and cook the other half of the meatballs in the same way. Remove these from the pan as well.
Add a little more oil to the pan and put in the onions and garlic for the sauce. Fry for a few minutes .
Add the mushrooms, stir to mix and fry to lightly brown them.
Add the stock and heat until the stock is boiling then add the meatballs, turn the heat down to a simmer and leave to cook through for about 7-10 minutes.
Meanwhile bring a pan of salted water to the boil and a cook the pasta for 5-7 minutes. Drain
Cut the goats cheese into small pieces and add to the meatballs to slightly thicken the sauce.
Check the seasoning adding salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed.
Serve the tagliatelle with the meatballs spooned over and grated Parmesan cheese.
I’m not a fan of deep frying, preferring to bake these these Samosas or parcels in the oven. I know that this is not authentic for a samosa, but whatever you want to call them the crispy pastry with a lightly spiced mushroom filling is delicious.
For 8 samosas
1/2 onion – sliced
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
olive oil or butter for frying
300 grams oyster mushrooms
seeds of 8 cardamom pods – ground
salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
juice of 1/2 small lime
8 sheets filo pastry
oil or melted butter for brushing on to the pastry
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and add the sliced onions and chopped garlic. Fry gently until translucent.
Rip the mushrooms into strips and add to the frying pan.
Season with the cardamom, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook slowly, stirring from time to time, until the mushrooms are cooked. Let cool for 10 minutes.
Lay out a sheet of pastry and brush with oil or butter. Fold the top third lengthways over and brush this with fat. Fold the bottom third over and brush with fat. Turn the whole piece over so that the unbrushed third is uppermost.
Add a spoonful or two of the mushroom mix as below and fold the pastry first diagonally and then vertically until the filling is within a neat parcel.
Place all the parcels on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes in a medium hot oven. 130 C in a fan oven, so around 140 C in a conventional oven.
I served mine with Steamed Broccoli and Cabbage with Whole Spices – recipe to follow – and a Tomato and Coriander Salad.
Of course mixed seaweed is not a foodstuff that one comes across easily, but if you are, like me, culinary curious and happen across a market stall selling various salted and dried seaweeds the mixed salad is a good one to buy to see if you like it. My sister and I bought 250 grams and I forget how much we paid, it seemed pricey at the time, but that amount makes about 16 portions. The seaweed expandes to more than twice the size when you soak it. Of course it makes a perfect salad to accompany fish.
For 2 portions
60 grams dried seaweed salad – soaked overnight in plenty of cold water
Cucumber – peeled and cut into julienne
6 radishes – sliced
few sprigs of fresh purple basil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
juice of half a lime
Drain the water from the seaweed and rinse the seaweed in more water. Drain and add to the salad bowl together with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.
RICE NOODLES WITH MUSHROOMS
For 2 portions
50 grams rice noodles – soak for at least an hour in cold water
1 clove garlic
2 cm square piece of fresh ginger – finely chopped
1 tablespoon peanut oil
6 shiitake mushrooms – sliced
6 oyster mushrooms – sliced
1 tablespoon mushroom sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce – Nam Pla
Drain the noodles from their soaking water, put back into the container and pour boiling water over them.
In a wok, fry the ginger and garlic in the peanut oil for a couple of minutes, then add the mushrooms. Fry for a few minutes to cook the mushrooms.
Drain the noodles and add to the mushrooms. Mix well then season with the mushroom and fish sauce and mix again. Vegans may want to omit the fish sauce, in which case add some salt to the dish.
If you are serving the noodles with the Sea Bass in Coconut Sauce, then you can add a spoon or two of the sauce to the noodles to moisten them.
fincafood 