Toothless Sunshine loves dragon fruit

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Ann Allchin

Our house is all about dragons right now.

The dragon connection started in an odd way. My jeans fell apart, because I’m cheap, and I don’t enjoy buying expensive jeans, but I enjoy wearing them (see frugal article here). So while my jeans had become unwearable due to air conditioning in the nether regions, I wasn’t able to let them go. So I made a pocket purse for my daughter.

In the name of fairness, I offered my son a homemade gift of his choice. His confident request – “A dragon.” I did myself some googling, and found this pattern for a dragon. I was disappointed that the creators of the pattern hadn’t managed to find the perfect dragon fabric that I did – green velour with green sequins – so I smugly walked away from Fabricland and made the very first object of my son’s affection, Toothless Sunshine.

Let me just take a time out to say that I’m a giant feminist, and that I proudly own my love for cooking, sewing, and parenting as a personal choice afforded to a liberated woman. Let’s move on.

Anyway, as we were in the spirit of dragons, I picked up this fruit

at our beloved No Frills grocery store and told my son it was a dragon fruit (pitaya). He begged to try it.

I searched for dragon fruit recipes in an attempt to make something interesting, but didn’t find much beyond sexy fruit plates. I was glad I hadn’t chosen those, because it turns out dragon fruit is quite bland. It looks very cool – fuschia with seedy pulp – but it’s less sweet and tart than a kiwi, which it’s often compared to due to its consistency, even though the dragon fruit is actually the fruit of a cactus.

I finally found a recipe for dragon fruit salsa over scallops, which I won’t even credit because their creation had so few ingredients it was basically dragon fruit and lemon juice (and we’ve already established that dragon fruit has a super boring flavour). I used their scallop/salsa idea, though, and created this:

Seared Scallops and Dragon Fruit Salsa (serves 2)

6 large scallops
A few Tbsp olive oil
1 ripe dragon fruit (gives slightly to touch, like a ripe mango or avocado), diced
1 small handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 small handful dried cranberries
Juice of 1 lime
One chopped chili if desired

Directions: Heat oil over med high heat, approx. 2 mins. Add scallops and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook 2-3mins per side, until white and firm on the exterior (scored and slightly darkened if barbequing, but it’s winter and I was cold, so I chose the pan). Meanwhile, combine salsa ingredients. Serve scallops topped with salsa.

Results: Nice! My husband said, “Let’s keep this in mind for when we’re entertaining.” (Or something like that, I wasn’t totally listening). I included the dried cranberries to add a touch of sweetness where the dragon fruit was lacking, and the onions and cilantro answered that salsa freshness expectation. The dragon fruit made the whole thing pretty, and added a cool, crisp texture. Exotic, fresh, and tasty. Rating: 3 Yums

Toothless Sunshine will serve this recipe to his fire breathing friends for sure.

Wine Pairing: Winealign.com suggests that scallops pair well with pinot gris, so I’ll suggest Bestheim Réserve Pinot Gris 2011, Alsace, selling for $15.95 in Ontario.

Pretty Pakoras

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Ann Allchin

I feel slightly embarrassed by the “new” ingredient I’ve chosen to showcase with this post. I always experiment with foods I’ve never prepared here, hoping that others will read about my concoctions and also become more experimental (or will at the very least laugh at my adventures). But last night I cooked with something new to me, but that might make the rest of the world turn away accusing me of being a lame loser of a chef. I used gram flour, which is made from chickpeas. I know what you’re thinking – before you know it I’ll be introducing you a new ingredient some people call “wheat.”

I had been sifting through recipes online to find an appetizer to bring to a Christmas party at my friend Jackie’s. At first I told her I would bring a veggie tray because she had been describing what last minute tedious tasks she still had to accomplish, and picking up veggies was one of them. But when she said, “Sure you can bring veg, but you’re capable of so much more,” I knew I had to live up to my culinary potential of weirdness. I have a reputation of oddity to live up to, after all.

So I was swiping my way through my iPhone drooling at food porn when I happened upon a potato latke topped with crème fraiche and caviar. Bingo. Except that despite being plugged into the rare food community I had no idea where to find crème fraiche in my neighborhood, and I thought that a latke might be kind of bland. So I switched it to a spicy pakora with sour cream, and bang – cool creation.

Funny how I wasn’t even going to write about this appetizer because I thought it was too boring, even though it includes both gram flour and caviar, neither of which I had ever used. I think camel meatballs and fish heads have made my standards of weirdness kind of high lately.

But back to the flour, which is also called garbanzo flour or besan. It’s high in carbohydrates, but also in protein, which is a bonus. It’s also gluten free. As I mentioned, most cultures other than mine eat it – it’s a staple in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but it’s also eaten in France, Spain, and Italy. I was shocked to have bought 3 cups worth and paid about $1. Loving it.

I also hadn’t considered the caviar very interesting, because everyone has heard of caviar. Especially after the movie Big.

But how much did I really know about the types of caviar? Nothing, truth be told. And I’m not so sure I would care about the difference in taste or price, since I even enjoy those crackly roe they put on top of sushi at the mall. I picked up this “caviar,”

from our local fishmonger for the bargain price of $10. And then I read this article about real caviar, now from farmed sturgeon rather than wild, ranging (in the article) between $75 and $275 for 30g. The wild stuff is rare because it was overfarmed and so is heavily regulated. It goes for $750. Mine came from smoked herring and mullet in Spain and I’m totally good with that.

Looked like the guests were good with that too, because the appys didn’t last long! They were a pakora-rific pleasure. Here’s the recipe – the straightforward pakora directions stolen from here:

Pakora with caviar (makes about 20 small pakoras)

2C Besan (chickpea flour, gram flour)
1Tbsp crushed red pepper
3/4tsp salt
1/2tsp baking powder
2 small red chiles, chopped (or other hot peppers. This amount gave low-medium heat)
1/2C cilantro leaves, chopped (plus more for garnishing)
1 onion, sliced thinly into half-moons
1C luke warm water
1/2C sour cream
30g container of caviar (only about three-quarters will be used)
Oil for frying (canola or other light-tasting oil)

Directions: Fill skillet half-way with oil. Heat to 360-375 degrees (med-high heat for about 6 minutes, will sizzle when dough is dropped in). In a large bowl, mix together the flour, chili flakes, salt, baking powder, chili pepper, cilantro and sliced onion. Slowly add in the water, mixing well. The batter should be thick but still mobile (would drip from a spoon) with air bubbles throughout. When oil has heated, carefully drop tablespoons of batter into the hot oil. Allow them to brown, flipping once (about one minute per side). Drain on a cooling rack or paper towels. Repeat with remainder of batter.

Top each with sour cream, a few cilantro sprigs, and a dollop of caviar. This can be done after pakoras have cooled. Enjoy!

Results: Delicious, with a tidy, pretty presentation. Four yums for this one. I’ll make them again!

Wine Pairing: Sparkling wine. A budget knock-off caviar deserves a budget knock-off Champagne! Winealign.com says the Kiwi Walk Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand is a good one priced at $17.95 in Ontario.

Swimming with the fishes

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Ann Allchin

Ever walk past a tank of swimming fish in a grocery store’s seafood department and think to yourself, “Who the heck actually buys one of those?” Well, this week, for the benefit of my gazillions of weird food fans, the answer was, “I do!”

There’s something about asking for live food that seems both indulgent and disgusting. As I pointed at the ugly grey fish making sweet little kissy faces and ordered the poor grocery guy to chase him with the big net, I felt a pang of guilt that I would be responsible for taking him/her from a swimming state to a dinner plate, but I had to tell those sucky inner voices of mine to shut up. I am a meat-eater after all, at almost every single meal, and it’s hypocritical if I get turned off just because I have to watch the inevitable dirty work go down in person. I just saw someone’s Twitter description say, “If slaughterhouses had clear walls everyone would be vegetarian,” and although I’m sure this wasn’t intended to encourage me to watch my food getting killed, it did make me try to own the fact that I eat meat. If I continue to do it. Maybe the conclusion to this blog will be that I eventually become veggie. But not just yet.

Because I am a food journalist, I’ll describe one more disturbing experience that I had in eating a live fish. If you’re vegetarian, please turn away and wait for my next post. Grocery guy took out my flopping fish…

…and put it on the back counter beside a big rubber mallet. I was horrified, worried that I was about to see the fish get a violent whack on the head, but then I didn’t see it. Grocery guy lopped off all the fins and gutted and scaled the fish with robot-like efficiency, handing it to me after only about fifteen seconds in a plastic bag with the head on and the rest of the body intact. So I’m still left wondering – did I just miss the death blow, or did it not happen? Closer and closer to veganism every day. But why does meat have to taste so good?

And my day just got better and better. Now I had to prepare a whole fish for dinner that day (to take advantage of the “fresh meat”) and I was having friends over in the afternoon followed by piano lessons for my daughter which meant I wouldn’t be able to prep everything until after seven. Let me tell you, I wouldn’t recommend lopping off a fish’s head…

…while entertaining three moms and their kids, and I didn’t – I hacked it off with a dull knife feeling like an axe murderer before they arrived, wrapping the rest in foil, stuffing it with garlic, and baking it incognito while we all sipped coffee (aka wine).

I chose a recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes because I was so pressed for time. Despite my adoration of Jamie Oliver, this cookbook kind of bugs me because the instructions are jumbled together to help home chefs with efficiency, popping out an entire meal at the end – I find this makes recipes difficult to modify and track at a glance. In this case, though, I needed Jamie’s help to throw a dinner together as quickly as possible, and I loved how it worked out. I’ll copy the entire recipe below so that you can see how the book works, and then I’ll describe how I modified it to prep as much as possible ahead, throwing the rest together post-piano. He includes a dessert and drink too, but I didn’t make those so I’ve omitted them.

Branzino (Recently Live Tilapia, for me) & Crispy Pancetta, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Asian Greens

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes
2 limes
A small bunch of cilantro
2Tbsp mango chutney
Soy sauce

Greens

1 fresh red chile
1 clove garlic
Soy sauce
1 lime
Sesame oil
1 bunch asparagus
1 head of broccoli

Branzino

8 slices pancetta
4 x 6-ounce branzino fillets, skin on, scaled and pin-boned (for me this was one tilapia fish plus a few supplemental fillets of whitefish)
1Tsp fennel seeds
1 lemon

Seasonings

Olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt & black pepper

To Start Get all your ingredients and equipment ready. Fill and boil the kettle. Put a large saucepan with a lid and a large frying pan on a medium heat.

Potatoes Wash the sweet potatoes, trim off any gnarly bits, then stab them a few times with a knife. Put in a large microwave-safe bowl, halve oneo f the limes and add to the bowl, then cover with a double layer of plastic wrap and microwave on full power for 12 minutes, or until cooked through.

Greens Seed and finely chop the chile, adding half to a large serving bowl and add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and ¼ to 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime and add a splash of sesame oil. Mix, taste, and adjust the soy sauce if needed. Trim the asparagus stalks. Quarter the head of the broccoli lengthways from the head to the base of the stalk.

Branzino Put the pancetta into the frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil. Keep an eye on it, turning when crispy. [When the pancetta has become golden] remove it to a plate, leaving the fat in the pan. Add the fish to the pan, skin side down. Shake the pan and use a spatula to press the fillets flat for a few seconds. Pound 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds in a pestle & mortar and scatter over the fish from a height with a pinch of salt & pepper. Finely grate over the zest of 1 lemon, then cut the lemon into quarters and set aside.

Potatoes Finely chop the cilantro on a large wooden cutting board, setting a few leaves aside for the garnish. Add the mango chutney, a good splash of soy sauce, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, the juice from ½ lime, and the reserved chopped chile. Chop and mix everything together on the board.

Greens Fill the large saucepan with boiling water and add a large pinch of salt. Add the broccoli and asparagus, making sure they are completely submerged. Put the lid on and turn the heat to high.

Branzino Check the fish – once the skin is golden and crispy, turn the heat down to low – but have confidence to let the skin become good and crispy before reducing the heat.

Potatoes Get the sweet potatoes out of the microwave and check they are cooked through, then use tongs to squeeze over the juice from the hot lime halves and discard them. Carefully tip the sweet potatoes on top of the mango chutney mixture and use a knife or masher to chop and mash everything together, including the skins. Season to taste, adding more fresh lime juice if needed.

Branzino Take the pan of fish off the heat and flip the fillets over so they gently finish cooking on the flesh side. Return the pancetta to the pan to warm through, then serve the fish and pancetta on top of the board of mashed potatoes. Pop the lemon sedges on the side for squeezing and sprinkle over the reserved cilantro. Take to the table.

Greens Drain the broccoli and asparagus in a colander, then tip into the serving bowl with the dressing, quickly toss, and take to the table.

Results: These were the best sweet potatoes I’ve had in my life! They were spicy, though, so if you don’t like spice maybe substitute a sweet red pepper – I can never find red and green chiles, so I substituted a scotch bonnet pepper, and my hands were still burning through the night. Also, I don’t like cooking in the microwave, especially with plastic wrap, so if you have enough time, be sure to boil or steam your potatoes instead. But I’m definitely going to make a version of these sweet potatoes for Christmas dinner. Delish.

But this post was about the fish. So what I did differently from Jamie… I wrapped my whole fish (bloody and slimy, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, stuffed with sliced garlic) in foil and baked it on a baking sheet at 400 for 35 minutes. Doing this made it easy to pick apart for meat, which I added to the pancetta fat in the pan…

…sprinkling with crushed fennel seeds and lemon zest as Jamie suggests. And this got me about 4 bites of meat! I think if you buy tilapia fillets they probably come from monsters, not grocery store fish like mine. I learned from this experience that swimming fish are mostly there for decoration. Sorry fishy. Anyway, I fried my pre-baked meat to crisp it up a little and followed the rest of the recipe, frying the pancetta and washing and cutting veg before my friends came, re-warming the pancetta and cooking everything else post-piano.

Phil loved it. Jamie Oliver never disappoints. But I can’t even tell you if there was a difference in taste due to fishy freshness because I had to mix it with more meat. I won’t ask for a live fish again, but it was definitely “an experience” to cook one. Rating: 5 Yums for Jamie’s recipe and cookbook, 2 Gags for cooking a live grocery store fish.

Wine Pairing

In honour of the NHL strike, I’ll choose one of winealign.com’s top chardonnay suggestions (which the site says pairs well with pan fried whitefish), Wayne Gretzky’s 2008 unoaked chardonnay, selling for $13.95 in Ontario.

Fish heads eat them up yum

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Ann Allchin

There’s a mysterious freezer section of my No Frills discount grocery store that I always rubber-neck. It’s the section that often has chicken feet, and usually has a generous assortment of animal guts. One time I saw beef face in there, but I haven’t seen it since, which might mean that it’s seasonal (smiles for spring?). Something that’s in there every time I visit though, are fish heads.

For some reason, since the day I first saw them, fish heads have always struck me as intriguing. Sometimes I stare at them for a while, wondering if I should bring them home and figure them out, but I can’t help but be suspicious of their arrow-shaped bony nature. My argument with myself goes a little like this, mouth moving silently through the words as my kids beg to keep rolling past the weirdness:

First me: There couldn’t be anything edible in there, right? And how do you get past the brains and the eyes?

The other me: But people obviously buy them for some reason. Their brains can’t be that big, they’re just fish. They could actually be good.

Maybe fish heads have always kept me mesmerized because of this awesome song. Please persevere through the insanely long preamble. I wish I was web-savvy enough to figure out how to play the song the entire time you’re reading this entry, but so it goes.

Fish heads song

Well, for some reason, today was the day. I even phoned ahead to my local fishmonger, asking if they had any before I showed up asking strange questions. They said they did – Grouper, which I soon learned is a huge fish. I took two, each one about the size and weight of a cabbage, which they gave me for free (is that a bad sign?). They were gigantic, big lipped, and googly-eyed.

The monger was thoroughly entertained. I was silently grateful that my husband was away (when I told him what I had done over the phone afterward, his predictable response was EWWWW).

When we got home I made my 5-year-old daughter hold one up with her skinny little arms covered in grocery bags while she whined about the smell for the express purpose of trying to capture this photo and caption. Grouper heads will serve as an example of my mothering skills for her therapist one day for sure, so be proud that you’re witnessing that moment in my daughter’s history.

Peek-a-boo

I let her off the fish holding hook and made her hold the beer while I made a long arm to get this shot, which did make it kind of blurry, sorry.

I procrastinated cooking the fishy noggins for the rest of the day (and tried to explain their presence in the sink to the afternoon babysitter nonchalantly) before I finally steeled myself by drinking that beer you saw before and threw them into a pot of boiling water according to these instructions. I tried to clip off the fins and gills as they suggest before I did this, but they were too strong even for my best kitchen snips, so I left them on, not being too worried because some people said they used the fins for stock.

I boiled them for about an hour, worrying the whole time that I might have to hack at the intact cooked heads with a melon baller or something to dig the meat out. It turned out that when they’re cooked, the heads fall apart and then you just have to pick through sorting bone from meat. Example: “Toothy jaw mandible – nope.”

I did have to avoid touching the eyes, but otherwise the sorting process was surprisingly guts-free. It reminded me of picking over a can of salmon to get rid of bones and dark meat bits, which brought me to the realization that fish heads is probably where a lot of that meat actually comes from.

I wasn’t into saving the boiling water for fish stock, because it smelled hugely fishy and..just ugh, so instead I just used the surprisingly large bowl of meat I had just collected…

…to make these (even had to double the recipe). Cooking trick – give a recipe a French name and it magically begins to look appetizing.

Fish (Head) Croquettes (makes 6-8 patties) with roasted garlic aioli

Based on this recipe

Aioli:

1 head garlic
1Tbsp olive oil
6Tbsp prepared mayonnaise

Croquettes:

1.5 cups fish, shredded with your fingers
2 green onions, chopped
1/2C red pepper, finely chopped
1/4C red onion, finely chopped
1Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped, more reserved for garnish
2 eggs, beaten
2tsp mustard
1tsp lemon juice
3/4C bread crumbs, divided
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Mixed greens

Directions: Aioli: Preheat oven to 400, covering garlic head with tin foil and olive oil. Roast garlic for 1 hour, and then after it has cooled, squeeze garlic into small dish. Combine 1Tbsp of it with mayo and set aside. Croquettes: Combine all in a bowl with wooden spoon, adding only 1/4C of the bread crumbs to the mix. Make patties and place on tray covered in parchment. Let stand 10 minutes. Heat generous glug of olive oil in pan until shimmering. Put remaining bread crumbs on a plate and coat each patty. Cook patties in oil 2-3 minutes per side until brown.

Serve patties over mixed greens with aioli and cilantro garnish.

Results: This was the first time in my life that I have felt like a true magician in the kitchen. I transformed two big ugly fish heads into a delicious meal that no one would ever be able to tell had come from such base beginnings, and now I’m pretty darn proud of myself for having done it. I wouldn’t say that fish heads will become part of my repertoire, though – too weird and smelly. But I do feel that I’ve acquired a valuable skill in case of a future food foraging Armageddon-type situation. Time well spent. And I’d make the croquettes again using fish filets without hesitation.

Rating: 3 gags for the fish heads, although I feel bad for judging them based solely on their gross appearance, because they tasted just fine and they were free, so what more do you want, really. 2 yums for the croquettes.

Red currantly gorgeous

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Ann Allchin

There are times in my life when I have to take a step back and say, “Wow, what did it take to make something that pretty happen through a random DNA combo?” Whether you’re the type of person who respects the coincidence that evolved those attractive little molecules together or whether you believe that a higher power had to be behind it (or a little of both) doesn’t matter that much to me – the bottom line is that it’s cool when it happens.

I was left with no choice but to respect nature this week when I came across these little beauties at a fruit stand at the end of my street:

You may be thinking that my photography is getting better, and yes, I did just buy myself a great book about food photography, but having hot subject matter sure does help.

Work it, currants, work it.

We had just gorged on meat at the cottage for a week which left me with a hankering for fish. When I googled “currants,” and “fish,” I found this website, which is what I based my recipe on, although I thought that a balsamic reduction would make things more interesting, so I combined the two and came up with this. I’ll describe what I did, but if you’re going to make it please keep reading for my recommendations at the end.

Red currant balsamic reduction over tilapia (makes enough sauce to serve 4)

1C+1 small handful red currants, picked from their little grape-like stems
1/2C water
1/2C honey
1/2C balsamic vinegar
2 filets tilapia
2Tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper
2 green onions, chopped

Directions: Preheat oven to 400. Prepare a baking sheet with foil. Brush both sides of the tilapia with olive oil and add salt & pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes, until fish is just opaque. Meanwhile combine 1C currants (reserving small handful), water and honey in medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, 10 minutes. Add vinegar and simmer a further 10 minutes over low heat. Strain through a cheesecloth. Add green onions and cook briefly. Pour over fish, sprinkle with reserved currants, and serve.

Results:

This recipe tasted delicious. The currant flavour was tart, almost like pomegranate, and it worked perfectly with the fish (I also poured it over a crab cake accompaniment that I bought from our new fish market). It was important to strain the seeds out because each little currant nugget contained a bunch and I think it might have soured the sauce if too many were added. The problem with this recipe was that my sauce was too runny. If making it again I would switch the honey for a few heaping tablespoons of brown sugar and reduce the water. I also might add fresh chopped rosemary when I added the green onions.

Rating: 3 Yums, with potential for 4 if you can thicken the sauce. Let me know if you succeed!

By the way, after I made this recipe I noticed that there were currants in my favourite art piece which hangs near our family room. Told you they were pretty! And now for a relationship tip: always buy art when your partner isn’t with you because then they’ll have no opportunity to disagree with your taste.

Tantalizing Tamarind

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Ann Allchin

As a rule, I have to say that I avoid Walmart’s food section, even though my husband has encouraged me to visit the market where the lowest price is the law. They do have fresh vegetables, and even meat now, but somehow I feel like the food products that are there must have some kind of seedy underbelly. Maybe the beef is actually horse. Maybe the chickens are actually sparrows on steroids. I wouldn’t put it past them.

But as I was walking through the “veggie” section (probably all genetically modified crabgrass) looking for the photoshop one day, I happened to pass a box of giant brown bean pods labelled “tamarind.” At first I didn’t even make the connection that they were the source of the “tamarind beef,” dish we order at least once a month from the Thai take-out restaurant around the corner, having picked them up purely for the challenge of learning how to prepare them. I soon learned that my culture might be one of the few in the world that doesn’t understand what to do with them, and that we’ve always been missing out on the fun of preparing them. Here is what they looked like in the box:

As I mentioned, I bought tamarind in the form of pods, but apparently many buy them in a pulpy block where the external pods have already been removed. This is a bit of a shame, because the pods feel kind of neat, but I guess if you’re used to them you’d rather have someone else get rid of them. They’re kind of like a cross between an egg and a peanut shell, so they’re easy to crack quickly, exposing the rich dark brown pulpy seeds inside. Here is a shot of the pods:

The seeds are contained by a fibrous set of strands that also must be removed. Here are what those look like:

The remaining innards need to be soaked in warm water for 15 or 20 minutes, whether you buy them in a block or in the pods, and then the fun begins. I drained about half of the water off (concerned that I might water down the goodness of it all) and then squashed the pulp away from the seeds with my fingers, throwing the seeds out. Welcome back to kindergarten and fingerpaints, grade two and mud pies. This process was somehow very therapeutic. I learned how to massage and manipulate my tamarind here.

By the time I was finished I had a lumpy, goopy mess of tamarind pulp which was to form the basis of all future tamarind recipes. I chose to try two – the first was for a “Gitatini,” which was a ginger tamarind martini, recipe here:

Gitatini (makes 6 drinks, I only made ¼ of it)

4 cups tamarind extract
12 cardamom pods (I didn’t have cardamom, but don’t think it would have brought this into the winner’s circle for us)
1/4 tsp dried ginger powder
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 cups vodka
Ice cubes

I thought it would be fun to see the look on my husband’s face when I greeted him with an experimental martini, but my efforts were completely wasted, although my husband wasn’t. He complained about having to drink hard alcohol on a weeknight (I’m sure one of my readers would be willing to volunteer?), and when I made him taste a sip, he said it was too strong and that the whole thing tasted disgusting anyway. I couldn’t disagree – I should have pureed the pulp first, even though I did try to strain it, and also I’m not a fan of vodka, only because I was a huge fan of it when I was younger, if you know what I mean. The Gitatini was quickly introduced to the sink and we each happily cracked open a beer.

Tamarind Martini Rating: Three gags

The second recipe I chose was a much bigger success. I made “Grilled Mahi Mahi with Tamarind Glaze,” although I used cod because it was available. This time I pureed everything together in my food processor. Here are the ingredients:

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Tamarind Glaze

1/2 cup tamarind pulp (from a pliable block)
1 cup boiling-hot water
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon packed palm or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
10 (1- to 1 1/2-inch-thick) pieces mahimahi fillet with skin (6 oz each) (I used cod)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt

It tasted delicious – it was extremely flavourful, blending sweet and tart flavours in a beautiful balance. It made plain whitefish much more interesting as well as adding significant health benefits (see nutritional info below). My husband didn’t openly compliment it at the time, since usually his highest praise goes something like, “yeah, it’s good,” but there were no complaints, and he also smeared the sauce all over the green beans I served with it. He bragged to his friend today (the following day) that we eat pretty healthy but that it’s tolerable because I use good recipes to dress up fish, and he mentioned the tamarind fish as an example. All very good signs.

Overall Impression of Tamarind: A great new addition to my cooking repertoire. It was fun to make, and could become very versatile. I feel out of the loop for not having prepared it before. An exceptional companion for grilled fish.

Nutritional Benefits: High in fibre assisting with digestive health. Helps bind to toxins in food protecting the colon mucus membrane from cancer causing chemicals. Rich in tartaric acid, which is a powerful antioxidant. Good source of minerals like copper, potassium, calcium, iron, selenium, zinc and magnesium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure. Iron is essential for red blood cell production. (Thanks to this website for ref)

Other Interesting Facts: Indigenous to Africa, but seems to grow everywhere warm. South Asia and Mexico are its largest consumers, but it’s eaten by many cultures around the world. If you don’t believe me, check out Wikipedia. There are a great number of medicinal uses for tamarind – again, check out Wikipedia.

Rating – Whitefish with tamarind glaze: 3 Yums. Will make it again as a quick way to dress up boring fish.

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