Category Archives: Steam Oven

Little baby cheesecakes

April 21, 2016 2:05 pm / 10 Comments /

Little baby cheesecakes

I found this new baby cheesecake tin in my local kitchenware shop and had to try a quick and simple cheesecake version in my steam oven.  Pretty easy to produce a baked cheesecake in 15 minutes, the steam oven is excellent for this type of baking due to its low and even temperature.

You can basically use any biscuits you have on hand and add any flavourings you like.  I have gone for simple lemon, topped with toasted almonds.  They were really delicious served with my steamed pears here.  Stone fruits or fresh berries would also be great made into a little sauce.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Ingredients:  Makes 12 baby size or 6 small muffin size

¾ cup crushed sweet biscuits.  I used Butternut snaps
50g butter melted
¼ tsp cinnamon

Filling:
125g full fat cream cheese at room temperature
125g smooth ricotta
1/3 cup castor sugar
¼ cup cream
2 eggs
rind ½ lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cornflour
¼ cup toasted, slivered almonds

Method:

  1. Brush tins all over with melted butter.  If your not using pans with removable bases then add little circles of baking paper.
  2. Combine biscuit crumbs, cinnamon & melted butter together.
  3. Press into bases and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
  4. In a bowl or jug with a spout for pouring, beat together the room temperature cream cheese, ricotta, cream, sugar and lemon rind until smooth.
  5. Now all all the other ingredients and mix well.
  6. Pour carefully into tiny tins over the biscuit base.  If you are using the removable bases make sure you sit it in a solid steamer tray as the butter will escape.
  7. Cover with foil and steam baby size @ 100°C for 15 minutes.  Larger muffin tins may take up to twice the cooking time.
  8. Uncover and cool.  They will firm up and sink a little on cooling but should be just set.
  9. Chill until required.  I actually like the texture better at room temperature.

Top with a dollop of cream, toasted almonds and fruit in season.

Posted in: Desserts, Party Food, Steam Oven

Black sticky rice with coconut milk

March 6, 2016 8:08 pm / Leave a Comment /

Black sticky rice

One of my all time favourite Asian desserts.  This classic is also excellent served as part of a brunch or in tiny individual bowls or glasses at the end of a cocktail party.

Yet another rice dish that is fantastic cooked in the steam oven.  I use to cook this in my old Le Creuset pot that was lined in a pale coloured enamel.  A great pot but not for sticky rice as it use to turn it purple.  Easier to cook and wash up in the solid steamer tray.  Half quantity is a generous serving for four.

Result was delicious, just as good as before but without the messy pot!

Ingredients:  Serves 8-10

2 cups black glutenous rice
2½ cups water
2 Pandan leaves, cut to fit length of solid tray and spit down spine

Syrup:
125g palm sugar
¾ cup water

1 cup coconut milk
pinch sea salt to taste (it can be slightly over salted as the rice doesn’t contain any salt and it will balance out all the flavours)

Method:

  1. Wash black glutenous rice well in a sieve under cold running water.
  2. Soak overnight in cold water.
  3. Drain, rinse again and place into the solid steamer tray with the Pandan leaves flattened, ripped into strips down the spine to release the flavour and pushed under the water.
  4. Cook at 100°C steam for 30 minutes.  Open the steam oven half way through the cooking time to push the leaves into the liquid a little more.
  5. Remove from steam oven and immediately cover with a piece of aluminum foil.  The rice should be cooked but still have a ‘bite’ to it.  This process helps to extract all the flavour from the Pandan leaves.
  6. Let it go cold with the foil over until ready to serve or refrigerate for later*.
  7. In the meantime melt the palm sugar and water together in a small saucepan and set aside.  This can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator until required.
  8. When the rice has cooled (about 20 minutes) uncover, remove the Pandan leaves and discard.  You will need to scrape all the rice from the leaves.
  9. Stir in as much of the palm sugar syrup as you like to sweeten*.  It should be sweet but not sickly.
  10. Serve slightly warm* with coconut milk drizzled over the top and fresh, ripe mango for that tropical hit 🙂

Note:  *You can make this a few days before and reheat in the steam oven @ 100°C for 4 minutes.  If you are doing this don’t add the syrup until you are ready to serve.  In fact I never add the syrup until serving time when the rice is warm.  Let your guests add a little more if they like it sweeter.

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Gluten free, Steam Oven, Thai

In-home cooking classes!

March 3, 2016 8:03 pm / 7 Comments /

Don’t know how to use your oven?  Spent heaps of money on all those appliances but can’t even work out how to use the main oven let alone your steam oven or combi steam oven?

I am happy to announce that I am now offering in-home cooking classes in the Sydney metropolitan area!

I will come to your home  and give you an overview demonstration cooking class on how to use your products plus I will prepare you a delicious lunch using those appliances!

For more information please see my cooking classes page here.

In-home cooking classes

Posted in: Appliances, Combi Steamer, Cooking classes, Steam Oven, Traditional Ovens

Pearl barley risotto

November 24, 2015 4:22 pm / 2 Comments /

Barley risotto

I have been wanting to try cooking pearl barley in the steam oven for sometime.  Such an under-rated grain and sometimes passed off as only being for soups, pearl barley has had a revamp as one of the new, healthy grains suitable for all sorts of dishes.  Although it does contain gluten in its current form I believe that the CSIRO have developed a gluten free barley grain that is currently being grown and marketed for commercial sale.  Keep an eye out for this 🙂

Cooking pearl barley in the steam oven is similar to that of brown rice.  It needs washing and picking over and the same amount of liquid as brown rice for cooking (1 to 1.25).  So much easier to cook this all in one pan.  I chose the base of my Le Creuset flat casserole but any cooktop to oven dish that will fit into your steam oven will do.  Great for serving in and less washing up.

I have added fennel and roasted pumpkin to this risotto but play around and change the flavours to suit what you have on hand.  Cooking in the steam oven retained the shape and texture of the grain which is perfect for risotto or salads.  I served it with crumbled fetta which gave it that little extra flavour and another texture.  Would be excellent served under any fish for a more substantial main course.

Fantastic the next day as a salad served at room temperature with rocket, quartered freshly cooked beetroot, goats cheese and a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:  Serves 6

1½ cups pearl barley, washed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small or ½ large fennel, thinly sliced
splash white wine (optional)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
pinch sea salt & ground black pepper
½ small butternut pumpkin, roasted prior
handful of fresh parsley or dill chopped
fetta cheese to serve

Method:

  1. Roast pumpkin, cubed with a splash of olive oil @ 200°C Fan forced for 15-20 minutes until browned.  Set aside.
  2. If your using your combi oven open it to cool down while you prepare the rest of the dish.
  3. In a deep, flat pan that will fit into the steam oven saute the onion & garlic in a splash of olive oil.
  4. Add drained pearl barley and very thinly sliced fennel and stir until coated with the oil and onion mixture.
  5. Add a splash of white wine and let it bubble away the alcohol for a couple of minutes.
  6. Add the stock.  It should just cover the vegetables and barley and cook @ 100°C steam for 40 minutes, stirring after 30 minutes.
  7. Remove from steam oven, taste for seasoning (I needed a pinch of salt even though I used commercial stock for this).
  8. Add the roast pumpkin, herbs and seasoning and stir well.
  9. Cover pan with lid and let it rest for 5 minutes.  This will warm the pumpkin through.
  10. Serve with crumbled fetta cheese if desired.
Posted in: Combi Steamer, Healthy eating, Main Courses, Steam Oven, Vegetarian

Best ever Christmas pudding

October 25, 2015 10:22 am / 22 Comments /

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

Time to make the Christmas pudding!

A couple of years ago I discovered this pudding recipe somewhere and scribbled the ingredients down onto a post-it-note.  Apologies to anyone who created it as I don’t remember where I found it but I changed it a little from the alcohol perspective and used an old cherry brandy that I kept for Christmas cooking.  You can also just use regular brandy as I did last year and it was still wonderful.

Christmas pudding is always a traditional one in our family.  None of this ice-cream sort, trifle or pavlova.  My daughter said it’s the best thing about Christmas!  I will never forget we drove 13 hours to have Christmas with my parents once and my mother produced a ‘home brand’ pudding.  Shock – horror, I don’t think she recovered for weeks!  So the pudding last year was said to be the best pudding I had ever made (and that’s saying something!!) so I thought I would share it on the blog for you all to try to make nice and early this year.

Don’t make it the week before Christmas, it needs time to mature and more time for the extra brandy to be lovingly brushed over the top from time to time 🙂

Below are both steam oven and traditional stove top cooking options.  This is where the steam oven really comes into play.  In 6 hours you will need to re-fill the water container several times but that is SO much easier than attending to a pot on the stove.  You can also attend to other things knowing that you have a good 90 minutes of cooking time in each full water bottle (depending upon which brand of steam oven you own.  Please check your instruction book to see how long your water container will last before needing a refill).  You can get a lot done in 90 minutes can’t you?  Most brands will tell you when the container needs more water which is just so convenient.  Overall it was incredibly easy to cook this pudding in the steam oven.

*Over the years I have had lots of comments on this post.  Until now (November, 2016) I didn’t think that it was possible to cook the pudding in a ‘cloth’ in the steam oven.  I always have used the basin method and any puddings I have eaten that have been boiled in a cloth had quite a thick outer almost ‘skin’ which I always thought came from immersing it in boiling water.  Tonight I witnessed Maggie Beer cook her Christmas cloth pudding in her steam oven!  Certainly a first to my knowledge for TV viewers.  So, apparently you can, so prepare your cloth in the usual way, fill the pudding, tie securely and cook for the same time as you would on the stove.  Her recipe looked about a small 3 cup size and took 2½ hours.  If you use my recipe which was very similar to Maggie’s then it will make two puddings in cloths, place them both on the large solid steamer tray and cook at 100°C for 3 hours.  Remember to be present to top up the water tank if you don’t own the plumbed in model.

Ingredients: Makes 1 large 8 cup pudding

250g butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
750g mixed fruit
1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
3/4 cup dates, chopped
1 cup brandy
1½ cups Plain flour, sifted
1teaspoon mixed spice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon bicarb-soda
½ cup slivered almonds
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Method:

  1. Soak the fruit in the brandy overnight. A couple of days won’t hurt.
  2. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar with a mixer until pale.
  3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.   It may curdle but that’s OK. Remove beaters.
  4. Now in a big bowl fold through the fruit, brandy and then sifted dry ingredients, almonds and breadcrumbs
  5. Mix really well.
  6. Grease an 8 cup pudding basin or ceramic bowl well.  Line the base with a baking paper circle and pour in mixture.  Level out the top.
  7. Cover with 2 layers of baking paper that have a ‘pleat’ on the top to allow for rising.  Tie securely with string around the rim of the basin.  If you are using two small, metal steamers then you can just grease the inside of the lid and use that.
  8. Steam in steam oven @ 100°C for 6 hours.  Because it will take a bit more time to go back to temperature after each water refill I ended up removing it about 20 minutes before the end of cooking time.  Let it rest for about 15 minutes then run a knife around the sides and turn out onto fresh baking paper and foil.  I prefer to remove it from the basin while it is hot so it wont stick.  Wrap securely and when cold place in a plastic bag in a cool place until Christmas.  In Sydney I think it’s better to store in the refrigerator just in case it is humid.  This way I can open it up easily and brush with a little more brandy 🙂
  9. Bring your pudding back to room temperature a few hours before reheating, unwrap and return to the basin.  Cover with foil and secure with string again.  Reheat whole pudding, covered in basin for 2 hours @ 100°C.  Line the basin with strips of baking paper you can use as ‘handles’ to get it out easily.  You can do individual slices for approx. 10 minutes each, just uncovered in the solid steamer tray.  This is what I do as it is really quick, I do four slices for about 20 minutes in total.

OR bring a large pot of water to the boil.  Test that the water comes half way up the sides of the pudding and steam for 6 hours being sure to top up the water so it doesn’t boil dry.  You will need to watch it carefully and do this a few times.  If you are cooking in a pot I would also cover with a layer of aluminium foil.

See comment above here * for a traditional ‘cloth’ pudding method.

Serve with your favourite sauce, cream and fresh berries.  Our favourite sauce is an old traditional Ballarat recipe that only one person I know uses.  It is more like a ‘Brandy cream’ and you can find the recipe here.

Note:  To cook two smaller pudding basins, say 5 cup capacity each cook for 4 hours.  For individual 1/2 cup ramekins cook for 1 hour.

 

 

 

Posted in: Christmas cookery, Steam Oven

Homemade yoghurt from the steam oven

July 12, 2015 10:08 pm / 6 Comments /

Homemade yoghurt from your steam oven.

After I did a cheese making class at our friend Maxine’s place a few weeks ago I got inspired to try to make yoghurt.  We had a great time making feta & ricotta (this is so easy I will never buy ricotta again!) and Maxine also makes her own yoghurt which was delicious.  She uses a commercial yoghurt making machine and purchases the culture required.  I for one don’t want another small appliance anywhere near my kitchen so I did a bit of reading up about making your own yoghurt at home and decided that the steam oven is the perfect appliance to use.  Yoghurt needs a constant, accurate temperature for many hours or overnight for it to set.  With my steam oven you can set the time and go as low as 40°C with one degree increases so what better appliance to use to set yoghurt perfectly at 43°C.  For anyone who has another brand of steam oven that doesn’t have this degree of accuracy then I am sorry I don’t think it will work for you.  By all means give it a go at the closest temperature setting you can get, all you will lose is one litre of milk 🙂

I also wanted to try to make yoghurt using a few spoonful’s of commercial yoghurt instead of purchasing the culture and it worked!  Make sure you use commercial yoghurt with a ‘live’ culture.  Unless it says that on the container then it isn’t live but plenty of good quality yoghurts are easily available now which contain this form of culture.

Ingredients:  Makes 1L

1L full cream milk
3 tbsp. commercial plain yoghurt with live culture

Method:

  1. Sterilise your jars in the steam oven by placing them upside down, with their lids in a perforated tray @ 100°C for 15 minutes.
  2. While you are doing this heat the milk on the stove until it reaches 82°C.  Fill the sink with 3cm of cold water and when the milk reaches temperature then remove the pot from the stove and sit it in the sink to cool.
  3. Lower the temperature of the milk to 46°C.
  4. Place the commercial yoghurt into a small mixing bowl.
  5. Remove one ladle of hot milk from the pot and add to the commercial yoghurt, stir to combine.
  6. Pour into the sterilised jars, cover and set in the steam oven @ 43°C for 5 hours.  Because the temperature is so low I didn’t even need to refill the water container.
  7. Set another timer to remind you to turn off the steam oven a few minutes before the end of cooking time.  This will stop it automatically reducing the steam and cooling the cavity down.

Don’t be tempted to open the door but leave the jars in the steam oven for another 2-3 hours minimum until cool then place in the refrigerator until required.

Easy and delicious served with your favourite fruit.  Try with my steamed rhubarb or Winter fruit salad.

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Steam Oven

Mexican beef short-ribs

July 6, 2015 1:54 pm / 3 Comments /

Mexican beef short-ribs

This is Neil Perry’s recipe which hit the top 2013 list here. The difference is that I have converted it to cook in the steam or combi oven.  Neil firstly boiled the short ribs for over an hour in a pot on the stove, changing the water twice then baked them in the oven for about an hour and a half so that the meat was falling off the bone. No need for all that messing around with a steam oven.  You can steam them instead of simmering (no need to bring to boil, replace water and wash up another pot) and then either cook them in the combi with extra moisture if you want a thinner sauce or if you only have a steam oven, bake them covered in a conventional oven.  Only one dish to wash up and preparation time is less.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

1 kg beef short ribs (ask the butcher for the thick, meaty end)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 long green chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
large pinch sea salt
freshly ground white pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground all-spice
400g tinned tomatoes, chopped
1-2 tbsp pickled jalapeño chillies, chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
350ml chicken stock (I have reduced it, use more for a thinner sauce)
juice of 1 fresh lime
1 bunch coriander, leaves picked

Method

  1. Start this preparation a day ahead if possible.
  2. Place the ribs in the solid steamer tray.  Steam @ 95°C for one hour.
  3. Drain and set aside to cool.
  4. While they are cooking make the sauce:
  5. Heat the olive oil in a deep frypan that will fit into your oven or combi.
  6. Add the green chilli, garlic and spices and saute for 1 minute until fragrant.
  7. Now add all the other ingredients except the lime and coriander.
  8. Return the cooled ribs to the sauce and marinade overnight if possible.  Neil didn’t do this but it’s bound to give the ribs more flavour 🙂
  9. Next day cook in the combi oven on Combination mode 160°C + 30% steam, uncovered for 2 hours.  Stir and turn occasionally.  If you don’t have a combi then cook, covered in a conventional oven at 150°C.   I wanted a thick sauce that stuck to the ribs so I cooked mine, covered in a conventional oven for 3 hours.  They were delicious and the meat was falling off the bone.
  10. To serve stir in the lime juice and sprinkle with fresh coriander.
Posted in: Combi Steamer, Main Courses, Mexican, Party Food, Steam Oven

Thai beef salad

June 19, 2015 12:43 pm / Leave a Comment /

 

Thai beef salad

Traditionally, the meat for a Thai beef salad is seared on the bar-b-que and cooked rare so the meat is tender and juicy.

Now, with a steam oven you have another great way to cook beef so that is will be the best, most tender steak you have ever eaten!  This recipe calls for the more expensive eye fillet steak but would also be fantastic with Sous vide steak here.

I have given you two options for the dressing.  One quick and one that I have been using for years from Charmaine Solomon’s Thai cookbook.  The lemongrass needs to be sliced paper-thin.  I think that the extra effort involved in using a traditional recipe such as this is worth it if you have the time.

Ingredients:  Serves 4-6

650g beef eye fillet
oil
200g baby green beans
2 spring onions, sliced finely
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 Lebanese cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups baby spinach leaves or spinach & rocket mix
½ cup coriander leaves
½ cup Thai basil leaves
½ cup mint leaves

Dressing 2, Quick option

1 birds eye chilli, finely chopped (leave the seeds in for a little heat)
1 clove garlic, crushed
2-4 kaffir lime leaves, very finely shredded into super thin strips
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. palm sugar, finely grated

Dressing 2, Traditional version

1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp. chopped coriander roots and stems
black pepper, ground
1 tbsp. palm sugar
2 tsp Golden Mountain Sauce (or Maggi ‘Seasoning’ sauce)
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tsp fish sauce
2 small purple shallots
1-2 red chillies seeds removed or to taste
1 stem lemongrass, sliced paper-thin

Method:

  1. For Traditional dressing:  Pound or crush the garlic, coriander roots, pepper and palm sugar.
  2. Stir in the sauces and juice.
  3. Slice the white part of the lemongrass, chillies and shallots very, very thinly.  Start with one chilli, you can always add more.
  4. For the Quick dressing:  Just mix all ingredients together in a jar.  Shake.
  5. For meat: Brush beef lightly with oil.  Sear in a hot pan until browned on all sides.
  6. Place beef in solid stainless steel tray.  Steam @ 100°C for 15 minutes.  If you have a smaller fillet, about 340g then 7 minutes was perfect.  Don’t overcook it, better to be under done than over.
  7. Place beans & snowpeas in perforated tray.  Steam @ 100°C for 2 minutes.  Refresh in cold, iced water.  Don’t steam with the beef on this occasion as your timing will be extended and the beef may overcook.
  8. Remove beef from steam oven and rest for 10 minutes.
  9. Just before serving, slice the beef.  Toss salad ingredients and dressing, leave a little to pour over the meat.

Serve with a small bowl of steamed rice here.

 

 

Posted in: Gluten free, Healthy eating, Salads, Steam Oven, Thai

Chinese steamed bao

May 6, 2015 12:22 pm / 3 Comments /

Chinese steamed bao

I have been dying to try these in the steam oven after reading Dan Lepard’s excellent article in Good Food here.  Actually I have been crazy about these new ‘fashionable’ type of steamed bao after eating them in a few restaurants recently.  There are a few recipes around but I thought I would convert Dan’s recipe as it sounds the most authentic and also cook a version of his pork filling in the combi oven here :).

I have taken the bao recipe straight from the article but changed the cooking method.  SO much easier than a bamboo basket over a wok.  To be honest it would be a nightmare to cook these at home without a steam oven.  Remember, cooking in a steam oven gives you accurate temperature control. The recipe made 16, slightly larger than usual bao.  You could seriously only fit 6 into a large bamboo steamer basket so that’s a lot of stacking, checking water levels and three woks; too hard!

The texture was so light and fluffy, better than the ones I have eaten in restaurants.  I used one large solid steamer tray and one small but probably two large would be ideal as they were touching slightly after the final rise.  If you have a narrow depth steam oven then use three trays.

A little bit of effort with the three resting times but worth it, they were absolutely delicious 🙂

Ingredients:

300ml warm water, about 25°C
20g castor sugar
50g rice or potato starch (available in Asian supermarkets)
one 7g sachet dry yeast
450g white bread flour
flour and oil to finish

Method:

  1. Put the warm water in a mixing bowl, whisk in the sugar, rice starch and yeast until dissolved then add the flour and mix to a dough. Cover and leave for 10 minutes then lightly knead the dough until smooth.
  2. Grease the bowl with a little oil so it will be easier to remove the dough each time.
  3. Repeat this cover-leave-and-knead routine twice more, then divide the dough into 16 small pieces. Roll these firmly into neat balls, cover and leave for 10 minutes.
  4. Roll each ball into a disc about 1cm thick with a little flour, brush the top of each disc with oil then fold in half. Cover two large solid trays with non-stick parchment and place them over the tray, spaced without touching.  Dust with flour, cover loosely and leave until doubled.  This took the longest time, about 30 minutes.  They need to be as thick as you want to serve them as they don’t puff up anymore in the cooking process.
  5. Place the risen bao in the steam oven and Steam @ 100°C for 12 minutes.  It is no problem if you have multiple trays, that is the beauty of a steam oven!  Either serve immediately, or cool, bag and freeze for later. To reheat, steam @ 100°C again for 1 minutes.  They were perfect, no problem to reheat which is what I will be doing when cooking them again for a party.

Serve with my version of the Chinese pulled pork here, hoi sin sauce, cucumber strips and spring onion.  Yum, yum & yum!

Steam oven Chinese bao

 

Posted in: Bread, Dumplings, Entrees, Main Courses, Party Food, Steam Oven

Spicy Sri Lankan fish

April 6, 2015 3:42 pm / Leave a Comment /

Spicy Sri Lankan fish

One of the great things about the steam oven is that you can very easily make delicious, spicy fish dishes like this with very little effort.  Have a look at some other fish recipes I have done in the ‘Fish category’. Some, like this and the Thai fish skewers here only take 5 minutes to cook plus the time to mix the marinade together.  Such impressive, easy dishes to cook and prepare.

This recipe is cooked in banana leaves or baking paper.  This way the spices will remain as a paste on the fish fillet without being diluted by the steam from the cooking process.  Plus you also get a delicious sauce!  You can also cook this in a conventional oven if you wish.  But, it is easier to steam it whilst you are cooking your rice and beans so the whole meal is cooked together.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

4 firm, white fish fillets of your choice eg Blue eye
pinch salt
juice half a lime or lemon
1 tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp ginger, sliced
¼ tsp each ground cinnamon & cloves
4 branches of fresh curry leaves
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground chilli powder
1 tbsp. oil
Banana leaves or baking paper to wrap

Method:

  1. Place all the ingredients except the fish, curry leaves and banana leaves into a food processor or mortar & pestle and grind to a smooth paste.
  2. Lay the fish onto individual banana leaves large enough to wrap each individually.  Season with a little salt and pepper.
  3. Spread the paste all over the fish with a little under as well, place a branch of curry leaves over the top and wrap securely into a little parcel.  Repeat for each fillet.
  4. Set aside in the fridge for at least 30 minutes for the flavours to infuse.  Don’t leave it longer, the fish will start to cook.
  5. Steam @ 100°C for 5-7 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish fillet.  It should be just cooked, moist and juicy.

Serve on the plate in the leaves for people to open themselves or remove, leaving the curry leaves on for a garnish.  Try to have the ‘parcels’ opening at the top if you wish to serve them like this.

Serve with plain steamed rice here and vegetables of your choice.

Posted in: Fish, Gluten free, Healthy eating, Steam Oven