Fish and seafood recipes

Deep fried Shad

Preparation time 30min

Cooking time 8 min

Ready in 38 min

Recipe yields 4 Portions
Shad is one of our best eating fish and can be prepared in many ways. I have added a twist to this recipe by adding ground sundried tomato into the batter.

This is a really nice summer dish and works well with a side salad or chips.

Ingredients

500g Flour 250g for mixing with your spice and 250g to dust the fish with.
50g ground sundried tomato. (use a spice grinder or blender to grind the tomato’s make sure they are 100% dry or it wont work)
300ml Ice water or beer for the batter
1tsp Ground Cumin
1tsp Ground fennel
2tsp Pink salt
1tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Black pepper
1 tbls brown sugar
400ml oil to fry the fish with.

Method
Add the spices to the flour and mix them well. Once they are mixed  then split the mixture in half.
Use half to dust the fish with and the other half to make the batter with. Dust the fish in flour and the in batter
Heat the oil to 190% and fry the fish until golden brown

Calamari dusted in masala served on a Peppadew salsa

Preparation time

Cooking time 18 min

Ready in 20 min

Recipe yields 4 Portions
Calamari has a mild fish taste and can be dusted with all types of seasoning to influence the flavour. Calamari can be put into salads done on the open fire stuffed with rice, Risotto, mash potato or Couscous then baked in the oven with most spices it is a good fish to season with strong flavours and works well with mash potato or chips

This is a really nice summer dish to have on the deck of your favorite seafood restaurant overlooking the harbor or sea with a cold beer.

Ingredients

To fry the calamari

4 tenderized calamari steaks from your local Fruit and Veg City seafood section.

2tbls of seafood masala or any one of you favorite curry powders

Salt and pepper

100g flour any flour will do cake or bread even mazina will work

Mix the masala and flour together and dust the calamari

50g of real butter melted

50ml vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp curry powder

Hot Peppadew salsa

10 Peppadew

2 onions diced

2 garlic cloves chopped or crushed

1 bunch of coriander chopped

50ml white wine vinegar or lemon juice

50ml vegetable oil or olive oil

80 ml sweet chili sauce Woolies or Wellingtons will both work

Chef’s tip

Our local calamari isn’t as tender but if you dust it in baking powder and leave it for 30min before cooking it helps tenderize it. Normal Robertson’s meat tenderizer works as well. Don’t over cook it 3min in hot oil just long enough to brown the flour.

Method

To cook the Calamari either shallow fry it in a mixture of butter and oil or Deep fry in hot oil set to a temperature of 190c quickly for three min any longer and the Calamari becomes tuff. Remove the calamari from the pan or fryer and place on paper towel to drain the excess oil and serve on the bed of salsa as a nice summer starter. Drizzle with some fresh lime or lemon.

Black Tail fillet served on a Sweet potato crisp in a

lime and pepper sauce

Preparation time

Cooking time 18 min

Ready in 20 min

Recipe yields 4 Portions

Blacktail must be one of the most common table fish along with shad and kob along the South African coast and can be prepared in most ways. Pan fried and served with a nice potato bake with a sweet potato or a lemon dressed salad of red onion and cherry tomato and chives. Black tail age very slowly and are around 20 odd years when it reaches the

Ingredients

To fry the fish

4 blacktail fish fillets

40g of real butter melted

50ml vegetable oil

20g Robertson’s fish spice

100g cake flour

The Sweet potato crisp

1 large sweet potato

Salt and black pepper to your taste

Oil

For the sauce

Milk

Cream

1 tbls flour

1 tbls butter

1 table spoon of brown sugar

Juice and zest of a Lime

Chef’s tip

Dust the fillets in dry flour before frying the fish the flour coats the fish and seals them to keep the fish moist.

Method.

Dust the fish. Add some oil and butter to a pan and only when the oil is hot add the fish skin side down. Cook the fish until it starts to turn white half way then turn and cook the other side until golden brown

Method

For the sauce

Cheats method boil the milk add one packet of white onion soup thicken the soup then add the cream and the sugar with the juice of the lime and a few grinds

Melt the butter and flour then add the milk then cream and cook sauce until smooth then season

Yellow Thai Fish curry with Banana mint and

Coriander served on Fennel and carrot Barley

Preparation time

Cooking time 90 min

Ready in 1 hour 45 min

Recipe yields 4 Portions

The worlds best Thai seafood curry

This curry can be made as a green, red or yellow Thai curry just by changing a few ingredients. It is important to use a firm fish and fold the fish though the sauce do not stir it like porridge or you will break up the fish. If possible make the dish a day in advance as this will allow the flavours to infuse into the fish overnight

Ingredients

To prepare the fish

4 Kob, shark or Monk fish fillets

40g of real butter melted

50ml vegetable oil

Robertson fish spice

Flour

Ingredients for the sauce

100ml vegetable oil to fry the carrots and onions

20g or 3 garlic cloves crushed

4 large onions sliced

4 large grated carrots

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp mustard powder

250ml double cream

1 tin of coconut milk

2tbls fish sauce

100ml plum sauce

I bunch of chopped mint and coriander

2 ripe bananas

Salt to taste the fish sauce is already salty

2 tsp Thai paste add more if you like it hot

Juice and zest of a lemon

The Barley with fennel and carrot

500g Pearl barley

1 Lemon juiced

2 grated carrots

30g chopped coriander

Salt and black pepper to your taste

Oil

Chef’s tip

Always add fresh herbs at the end of cooking just before you served the dish don’t cook them in the dish or they will lose there flavour.

Method to prepare the Barley

Step 1

Boil the Barley in some seasoned water add a chicken stock cube to the water this will flavour the barley. Once the barley is tender remove the water and drain it in a colander. Heat a frying pan with some oil and fry 2 table spoons of fennel seeds add some carrots and lightly fry them then add the barley mix the carrots and the barley in the pan and fold some chopped coriander just before you remove it from the pan

Alikreukel cooked in a white wine and vine ripened

tomato Pomadora sauce served with poached linguine

Olicrocks
or Alikreukels

The Alikreukel are found along most of the South African coastline and are often just boiled in a pot or steamed in their own juices on an open fire and eaten out of the shell.

This dish adds a bit of a chef’s touch to the usual way of preparing the Alikreukel and still keeps the natural flavour of this much loved delicacy. You either love or hate the taste and for those of you have never much enjoyed the natural way of preparing this somewhat tough little customer this might be a new way to enjoy eating them.

Preparation time

Cooking time 3 hours

Ready in 3 hours

Recipe yield 4 Portion
Ingredients

20 Alikreukel or Olly crocks 5 per person this is also the daily limit min size 0.65cm

40g of real butter melted

20g or 3 garlic cloves crushed

1 Lemon juiced and zested

For the tomato sauce

4 Fresh tomatos

2 tins of chopped tomato

2 carrots finely grated

5 cloves of garlic

1 head of celery finely chopped

100grams of tomato puree

6 Onions finely chopped and fried until brown

Olive oil to fry the onions

150ml Double cream to finish and enrich the sauce

Salt and black pepper to your taste

Chef’s tip

Break the shells open, remove the flesh and rinse them in salt water removing the soft stomach part. The Alikreukel don’t have to be cooked in the shells. Boil them in salt water and slice them very thinly.

Method

For the sauce: Lightly fry the finely chopped onions and celery until they are lightly browned and then add the garlic. Poach the shellfish in water and slice or dice very finely then add them to the onions and lightly fry then add the white wine and reduce by half. Then add the chopped tomato, tomato puree and the tinned tomato turn the heat down a simmer on a very low heat for two to three hours. Cook the pasta in boiling water until ready and add the sauce then fold it through the pasta and serve. Top with freshly chopped parsley ground black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.

Asian Crab, prawn or fish cakes

Preparation time 30 min
Cooking time 10 min
Ready in 45 min
Recipe yield

Ingredients
500 g crab sticks, prawn meat, crayfish or Shrimps
500g White fish like cape salmon or hake
500 g cooked mashed sweet potato or regular white potato
100ml Wellington’s sweet chilli sauce or mango chutney
1tablespoon of Pacco curry powder
200g / 2 large chopped onion
30g Thai paste red or green
30g chopped chives
4 egg yolks keep the whites to dip the cakes before dipping in crumbs
1 cup of flour for dusting the cakes
Juice and zest of two lemons
40g Chopped ginger
200g White sesame seeds to coat the cakes
2 cups of Japanese bread crumbs or regular bread crumbs/ maize meal
5 chopped or crushed garlic cloves
1 bunch chopped coriander or fresh parsley mint or lemon basil
25g Cerebos lemon salt
5 g pepper

Chef’s tip: Always make sure your cooking oil is hot before placing the crab or fish cakes in the pan to avoid them becoming oily.

Method
Add all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse or lightly blend into a rough paste. If you don’t have a food processor then just roughly chop the ingredients by hand and mix well with the mash potato. Shape the cakes in your hands and lightly dust in the flour. Then dip into the egg white left from the separated yolks and roll them into the bread crumbs or sesame seeds. When finished lightly fry them in hot sunflower or canola oil. Serve as a starter or main with your favourite salad

For the dipping sauce
Wellingtons sweet chili and 1 freshly squeezed lemon and freshly chopped coriander

Chicken and Prawn Tikka Masala

Step 1
5 boneless chicken thighs or breasts
10 shelled prawns

Ingredients to marinade the chicken and prawn

100ml plain yoghurt
30 g minced ginger
30g crushed garlic
¼ tsp. white pepper
1tsp. cumin powder
¼ tsp nutmeg
2tsp crushed green cardamom pods
¼ tsp tikka masala
¼ tsp. Turmeric
30ml lemon juice
50ml vegetable oil
Melted ghee (melted clarified butter) for basting

Chef’s tip: Pan Fry the dry spice seeds to release the oils and improve the flavour before grinding them to a powder to make the masala for the tikka curry.

Method:
Blend all of the ingredients in step 1 together using a stick blender. Dice the chicken into bite size pieces and add the prawns and chicken to the tikka sauce. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Bake the chicken for 8 minutes, basting with the butter. Drain excess marinade and bake for another 2 minutes.

Step 2
For the sauce

2 large sliced fried onions
200ml tomato puree
200 tomatoes, chopped
30g ginger paste
30g garlic paste
1 tsp chopped seeded green chilies
1 Tsp red chili powder
3 cloves
4 green cardamoms crushed
salt to taste
3 T. butter
500ml cream
2 t. ginger, chopped
50 g sugar mango chutney or apricot jam
30 g salt

Method:
Caramelize the onions, place the tomatoes and tomato puree in the pot, then add the ginger and garlic paste, chopped chilies, red chili powder, cloves, cardamoms, and salt, adding approximately 2-1/4 cups of water. Cook over low heat until reduced to a thick sauce. Blend the sauce to a fine paste and add the cream. In a separate pan add butter, then the prawn, chicken, and chutney, and finally the pureed sauce. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes and serve with basmati rice, naan breads and sambals.

Cajun spiced Geelbek or Kob with a sweet and sour salad

Ingredients

4 Nice sized 300g Kob or Geelbek fillets
2tbl spoons of cajun spice powder or tikka masala powder
Salt

Step 1
For the salad
4 Ripe tomatoes

1 thinly sliced or grated cucumber and a spring onion

juice of a lemon
2 tbls of sugar
1 tsp salt
50ml of Olive oil or veg oil

Method
Dice or chop the onion grate dice or chop the tomato and cucumber juice the lemon add the salt sugar and oil and whisk until the salt and sugar has disolved
Pour the dressing over the salad.

Step 2
Dust the fish with the spice powder and pan fry in some vegetable oil on both sides until brown in a hot pan and finish in the oven until cooked.Place the salad on the plate and present the fish on top and serve.

Tiger prawns in a Chimichurri mayonnaise

Ingredients

1 Bunch of parsley

1 Bunch of coriander

6 cloves of garlic

juice of a lemon

salt

oil

Method

Pan fry the prawns in garlic butter and salt until cooked then chop and blend the herbs, add the lemon juice and salt with the chopped garlic add 100ml ready made mayonnaise to the herb paste and mix well

place a spoon full of the chimichurri mayo on the base of the plate top with prawns and serve with a finger bowl garnish with some ready made tomato salasa.

Flame grilled Crayfish
Basted with lemon garlic butter
Topped with Jack Daniels and grain mustard sauce

Preparation time

Cooking time 15 min

Ready in 15 min

Recipe yield 4 Portion
Ingredients

4 Crayfish or lobster tails split and cleaned

40g of real butter melted

20g or 3 garlic cloves crushed

1 Lemon juiced and zested

For the Jack Daniels and grain mustard sauce

2 Tots of Jack Daniels

1 tbls Grain mustard

2tbls Real butter

2 tbls Flour

150ml milk

150ml Double cream

Salt and black pepper to your taste

1 Onion chopped and fried

Chef’s tip

Add a tablespoon of Wellington’s mango chutney to the lemon and garlic butter sauce to balance the sour of the lemon

Method

For the sauce: melt the butter fry the finely chopped onion until its lightly browned. Add the flour to the onions and cook the roux until it starts to fizz then add the milk bit by bit and finish with the cream, season with salt and pepper and mix in the mustard. Then ad the Jack Daniels to a separate pan set the alcohol alight with a flame and burn off the alcohol and add it to the sauce and stir through.

Method.

For the crayfish spilt with a knife or pair of scissors remove the main intestine.

Lightly butter the crayfish with a basting brush and cook on a hot grill very quickly don’t overcook the crayfish. Rather underdone than overdone. Season with salt and black pepper baste the crayfish with the lemon and garlic butter and top with the Jack Daniels sauce