Pepper Crab

( Singapore )

A Singaporean dish that make the most of the rich flavour of crabmeat by coating it in the mixture of savoury and spicy seasonings, pepper crab has become particularly fashionable in Asian restaurant in North America.

The Recipe is generally prepared with hard shelled crab, but soft shell crabs favoured by Eastern cuisines work well too, and dont of course need shelling.

Garlic, ginger, and chillies are heated in buttered wok. Oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar are added, and then a large quantity of ground black pepper.

The trick to the dish is the dry frying of the black pepper before hand, which concentrates its fire and brings out all its assertive flavour.

The crab , which has been deep fried first, is the added to the pan and stirred vigorously to get it well coate with the spice mixture.

This dish is relatively new to Singapore itself, having become a staple of the street food stall only since 1980. The original recipe said to have been invented at a restaurant chain called Long Beach Seafood in the late 1950s. Some Places use white pepper instead of black, or perhaps a blend of the two.

and this is my FAV in dubai

Pepper Crab Grant Hyatt Dubai

 

Restaurant : Peppercrab

Recipe
Prawn Curry
Serves : 1

Preparation Time : 15 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Level (Easy, Medium, Advanced): Medium

INGREDIENTS 4 each Tiger prawn cleaned 2 pcs Chopped garlic 5 pcs Curry leaf 120 ml Chicken stock 80 ml Evaporated milk 50 ml coconut milk 100 gm Curry sauce Peppercrab Fish sauce to taste 2 tbs Cooking oil		STEPS Heat the oil in a pan then saut� garlic and curry leaf until fragrant. Add the curry sauce and the prawns, saut� for a while until the prawns are half cooked. Add chicken stock, evaporated milk and coconut milk. Bring to boil and simmer for about 3 minutes

( adopt from Grant Hyatt Dubai Website )

MORROCCAN FISH TAGINE

A tagine is the generic name for any of a range of aromatic stewed dishes in moroccan cuisine. They are often meat based , especially with lamb or chicken, but a fish version is quite common too. The tagine should ideally be cooked in a pot of the same name, which has a pointed lid, over a gentle charcoal fire. Long , slow cooking is essential to allow the main ingredient to cook tenderly, and for all the aromatic spices to impart their flavours.

Morocco produces a large range of Mediterranean fruits and vegetables and even some tropical ones. Common meats include beef, mutton and lamb, chicken, camel, rabbit and seafood, which serve as a base for the cuisine. Characteristic flavorings include lemon pickle, cold-pressed, unrefined olive oil and dried fruits. It is also known for being far more heavily spiced than Middle Eastern cuisine.
 (wikipedia ).

The main condiment in a tagine, as in a much of moroccan cooking, is harissa, a spice paste made from red chillies, garlic, coriander seeds, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon and lemon zest.

All pounded together in oil. In addition to he fish , which should be chunks of firm white fish such as hake, cod, or monkfish, the stew should contain tomatoes, black olive, peppers and another standby of the north african kitchen, preserved lemon chopped into a small pieces.

Traditionally , the dish is served directly from its cooking pot, accompanied by steamed couscous with sparkling of chopped coriander.

Condiment
1) Chermoula (Arabic: شرمولة:‎) or chrmla is a marinade used in Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian cooking. It is usually used to flavor fish or seafood, but it can be used on other meats or vegetables.
Chrmla is often made of a mixture of herbs, oil, lemon juice, pickled lemons, garlic, cumin, and salt. It may also include onion, fresh coriander, ground chili peppers, black pepper, or saffron.
There are many different recipes that use different spices, and the proportions vary widely. In most recipes, the first two ingredients are garlic and coriander.
A Moroccan version comprises dried parsley, cumin, paprika and salt and pepper. It is the original seasoning for grilling meat and fish in Moroccan cuisine.

2) Shakshouka (Arabic: شكشوكة‎; Hebrew: שקשוקה‎) (also shakshuka, shavfka^{[citation needed]}) is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, often spiced with cumin.^[1] It is believed to have a Tunisian origin.^[2]
Shakshouka is a kugel or fritata, that is found in several variations in Near Eastern Sephardic Jewish cooking. In Constantinople, it traditionally was served cold on Shabbat.^{[citation needed]} Claudia Roden "in Tunisia where the dish originated" a variety of vegetables "from potatoes and fava beans to artichoke hearts and zucchini" are used, but a version "with onions, peppers, and tomatoes" has become popular in Israel. ^[3] The dish is prepared by frying the vegetables, and then finishing with an egg broken on top of the fried mixture. ^[3] A Bulgarian version contains cheese as well. ^[3], According to Nathan and Goldman, the name is derived from the Hebrew word for "to shake" and "every cook from from North Africa has her own version of this egg and tomato dish" ^[4] Roden also reports a version made with merguez, a near Eastern lamb sausage. ^[5]

 3) Preserved lemon or lemon pickle is a condiment that is common in Indian and North African cuisine. It is also known as "country lemon" and leems. Diced, quartered, halved, or whole, lemons are pickled in a brine of water, lemon juice, and salt; occasionally spices are included as well.^[1] The pickle is allowed to ferment at room temperature for weeks or months before it is used. The pulp of the preserved lemon can be used in stews and sauces, but it is the peel (zest and pith together) that is most valued. The flavor is mildly tart but intensely lemony.

4) Matbucha (Hebrew: מטבוחה‎, from Arabic: مطبوخة‎ maṭbūkhah) is a cooked dish of tomatoes and roasted bell peppers seasoned with garlic and chili pepper.^[1] The name of the dish originates from Arabic and means "cooked [salad]". It is served as an appetizer, often as part of a meze. In Israel it is sometimes referred to as "Turkish salad" (Hebrew: סלט טורקי‎ salat turki).^[2] Matbucha is popular across the Maghreb. It was brought to Israel by new immigrants from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. ^[3]
It is not clear how old this dish is, since tomatoes were introduced to the east only close to the year 1800, and to Europe only after South America was discovered (circa 1492).
(wikipedia)

From Therry Durrack 1001 Food

You tube Recipe

Dover Sole the fashionable gastronomic dish

From EUROPE

Until it became an over exploited species, the Dover Sole was considered a prince among the flatfish. Oval in shape, it is brownish gray on its upper surface and white underneath.

It got its name from the fact that it was once plentiful in the English Channel , much of it being landed in the port town of Dover in Kent, but it is also native to the North Sea, The Baltic and the Atlantic.

Sole has delicate but much esteemed flavour, lending itself to the gentlest of treatments for white fish. Light poaching or steaming suit it best, and it is usual to serve it fairly plain, if the whole fish being offered, with nothing more that melted butter and squeeze lemon.

If a fillet or two is to be served as an intermediate fish course, they can be given a light, wine based cream sauce.

Sole is a very easy fish for dinner to fillet. The two fillets on each side are pushed gently away from the central dirsal bone without carrying smaller bones with them. Paupiettes of Sole were once a fashionable gastronomic dish and entailed rolling the fillets around some filling, often seasoned creamed mushroom .

Source Therry Durrack 1001 Foods.

MISO SOUP

It would be hard to imagine starting a japanese meal without miso soup. This light , simple sout takes the edge off while stimulating the appetite for the dishes to come.

Two basic component of miso soup are dashi and miso. Dashi is the all purpose broth made by boiling kombu ( kelp) and katsuobushi ( smoked dried tuna ) in water. Miso is salty fermented paste of soybeans plus rice or barley that is aged any where.

From three months to three years . It varies in colour from white to dark brown, though the lighter varieties are more commonly used for soup. Packed with protein and vitamins , miso seasons the dashi and impart a sweet fruity flavour. It also gives the soup a hit of umami, what japanese call the fifth savoury taste.

Garnishes reflect the seasons and are chosen to balance colour, texture and flavour. One combination might include cube of silky tofu, toothsome wakame (seaweed). and few sliver of shitake mushroom.

Traditionally served in lacquered bowls, the cloudy broth is sipped straight from the dish and the solids are eaten with chopsticks. Not only is miso soup tasty beginning, it is a breakfast staple eaten with rice.
 From Terry Durack 1001 Food

Recipe

Hitachio Miso          300gr
Water                       300 ML
Katsuobushi             1 handfull
Dark Shoyu              Little
Sake                         Little
Konbu                     2 Pcs

Put the water and hitachio miso and stirring well until dissolved, and put everything , ket it boil and strain it well. ready to served . Dont forget to put some tofu, wakame and thin slice of fresh spring onion.

Happy Cooking

You tube  reference

Escabeche

Country of Origin Spain

For escabeche, often the fish is first cooked, then marinated, contrary to the usual marinate-then-cook approach. The technique is Spanich in origin, very probably from the Moorish period, as a version appearsin certain North African cuisines as well, but it has also migrated into French Cooking (escabeche), and even turns up in English cookbooks (caveach) as far back as the 17 th century. Along with salting, smoking, and drying, it is a way preserving fish.

The fish is fried or broiled, then pickled in a vinegar based preserving liquid. Although the fish can be reheated, it is traditionally served cold as a first course or appetizer morsel. In centuries gone by, the serving style would combine sweet and sour element, including dried fruits, but in the modern kitchen , escabeche comes with not much more than a vinaigrette dressing and herbs.
 From Terry Durack 1001 Food

ESCABECHE OF TUNA
50 g/2 oz tuna steak, cut into 2.5-cm/1-in cubes
juice and zest of 2 limes
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 avocado ( cut in half lenghtwise )

Place the Tuna in a glass or ceramic dish. Pour over the lime juice and cover with the zest.  Finally , drizzle the olive oil over the tuna. To serve, remove the flesh from the avocado and fill the shell with marinated tuna , serve 1.

Video from you tube for others reference 

Vol-Au-Vent

Country Origin : French

Once the 'must have' at any party occasion with pretensions to sophistication, the vol-au-vent  is a puff pastry shell with a lid that is hollowed out after baking and filled with some sauce based savoury mixture, then baked again for few miniutes before serving . As its name indicates, it should be so light that it might fly away in the wind when removed from the oven.

Filling can be as daring or as mainstream as you like. In the 1970, nearly all were prawns or sliced mushroom in creamy sauces. In France, chefs who aimed higher produced versions based on spiced chicken, veal sweetbreads, foie gras, pureed meats or shellfish, salmon, lobster, and creamed black truffles.
 From Terry Durack 1001 Foods

TACOS

 Country origin : Mexico

 

The North American Fast Food taco chain version bears only a passing resemblance to the genuine Mexican taco ( the word mean 'plug' ). There, a soft corn tortilla is the base or holder for any one of a huge variety of meaty filling. Tacos in the US have crisp shells, which have been deep fried to form rigid container for the filling. There is some historical precedence for this version of the taco among the people who once inhabited Mexican California, but the taco in Mexico is definitely the soft and pliable type.

Roadside taco stand ( taquerias) in Mexico do a roaring trade, and the filling are more likely to be various part of cow head, including the brain , thin sliced pork steak, pig tripe (stomach lining), or the Mexican version of chorizo. Accompaniment are guacamole, whole salted red turnip, and sliced cucumber.

California or Texas innovations include the breakfast taco - containing sausage, bacon, and fried egg.

From Terry Durack 1001 Foods