Cheong Liew’s ‘Four Dances of the Sea’

 

Soused snook, octopus with aioli, raw cuttle-fish with black-ink noodles,

spiced prawn sushi

 

 

Soused Snook

 

2 Medium Size Fillet of Snook OR 300 gm (very fresh or sashimi quality)

1 tablespoon sea-salt

1 tablespoon sugar

100 ml Rice Vinegar (or Cherry Vinegar if available)

50 ml Rice Wine

50 ml Mirin

6 slices of Avocado

6 tablespoon Wasabi Mayonnaise

 

Method

 

·                    Clean and trim snook fillet removing any bones and if possible remove outer skin membrane from the skin

·                    Lay the fillet skin side down and sprinkle salt and sugar mixture evenly on both fillets for 2 hours

·                    Marinate cured snook fillet with Mirin, Rice Vinegar and Rice Wine for a further 1 hour or longer

·                    Slice fillet at an angle diagonally and serve 3 slices per person

·                    Serve on a bed of two quarter sliced avocado with a spoon of Wasabi Mayonnaise

 

Wasabi Mayonnaise

 

1 Egg Yolk

50 ml sugar syrup

1 teaspoon Green Wasabi

1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar

100 ml warm Peanut Oil

 

Method

 

·                    Whisk egg yolk in Wasabi Powder and Rice Vinegar together

·                    Pour in warm peanut oil and whisk until it thickens

·                    Add sugar syrup

 

Octopus with Aioli

 

2 kg Octopus Tentacles

40 gm Black Olives

4 cloves of garlic (crushed)

200 ml Olive Oil

¼ Bay Leaves

½ Red Chillies

½ Lemon

6 Parsley Stock

 

Method

 

·                    Peel skin off octopus but leave the suckers intact and dry in teatowel

·                    Bring 200ml of Olive Oil to a boil and add in crushed olives and fry until it’s smoked

·                    Gently gather the small ends of tentacles and gently lower the tentacles into the pot and seal the octopus very quickly and immediately bring the temperature down as low as possible

·                    Add in garlic, bay leaves, lemon and chillies and cover the pot and simmer for 35-40 minutes

·                    It should be as soft as lobster

 

Aioli

 

6 cloves of garlic

1 large red chilli

Juice of ½ lemon

5 gm sea-salt

100 ml Olive Oil

4 roots of Coriander

1 Egg Yolk

 

Method

 

·                    In a mortar and pestal, pound garlic, chilli, coriander roots into a fine smooth paste.  (How good the paste is depends on the patience of pounding!)

·                    In a mixing bowl, put in egg yolk and garlic mixture and whisk it with a fork and slowly add olive oil, whisk to a mayonnaise consistency, then add salt and lemon juice to taste

 

Composition

 

·                    Slice octopus into sucker intervals and arrange on the plate and spoon a little aioli on the top

 

Raw Cuttle-fish with Squid Ink Noodle

 

180 gm Sashimi quality Cuttle-fish

300 gm Squid Ink Taglarinni Pasta (cooked and chilled)

150 ml or 6 tablespoon Asian Dressing

 

Method

 

·                    Clean Cuttle-fish thoroughly and wipe off any ink that has smeared on the Cuttle-fish with a damp cloth and chill for 30 minutes

·                    Slice Cuttle-fish on inside of the fish, at a very low angle, and shave the Cuttle-fish very thinly and gather together to form a white rose – keep covered in refrigerator.

 

Asian Style Dressing

 

½ teaspoon Sesame Oil

½ tablespoon Oyster Sauce

1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

2 tablespoon Sunflower Seed Oil

1 tablespoon Soya Sauce

1 tablespoon Minim

Freshly Grown Pepper

 

Composition

 

·                    Toss chilled squid ink pasta with Asian Dressing

·                    Divide into small portions

·                    Place the Cuttle-fish on the top of the noodles

 

 

Spiced Prawn Sushi

 

6 large king prawns, shelled and deveined

50 ml Tamarind Juice

40 gm light palm sugar

40 ml coconut cream

60 ml peanut oil

Pinch of Salt

 

Rempah Mixture

 

20 gm fresh gallingal, finely grated

10 gm fresh turmeric, finely grated

6 whole candlenut, finely grated

1 whole red chilli, pound to a paste

6-10 shallots, finely chopped

3 cloves, finely chopped

15 gm fresh ginger, finely grated

15 gm blachan (lightly roasted) in alfoil

Method

 

·                    Cut prawns into halves length-wise, sprinkle with salt and sugar and finely grated lime zest – set aside

·                    Put all the rempah ingredients into a blender and blend to a smooth paste

·                    In a wok, heat up peanut oil, add in the rempah mixture and coconut cream and stir-fry the mixture on lower than medium heat, very slowly stirring constantly until half the oil starts to separate from the solid

·                    Add in prawns, tamarind juice and palm sugar and cook until the prawns are cooked

 

 

Banana Leaf, Gluttinous Rice Sushi

 

200 gm Gluttinous Rice, presoaked for 1 hour

10 gm sea-salt

80 ml coconut cream

1 large piece of fresh coconut leaf

20 ml peanut oil

 

Method

 

·                    Steam gluttonous rice with 20ml of oil and salt for 15-20 minutes

·                    Mix in coconut cream with the cooked rice until it’s nicely moist

·                    Toast banana leaf with a hot iron or a frying pan.  Trim off the hard stems and hard edges

·                    Put cooked rice on the banana leaf and roll it into a sushi log.  Approx. 3-4 cm in diameter.  Then wrap the whole rice sushi in alfoil and chargrill the sushi about 3-4 minutes to each side, cook for about 15 minutes

·                    When unwrapped, the edges of the rice sushi should be slightly brown toasted with astonishing fragrance of smoked banana leaf

 

To serve

 

Cut sushi into 4cm log and spoon spiced on top of the sushi

 

 

The Four Dances Compisition

 

Arrange a small bite size portion of each item on the plate and serve.  Keep in mind, the portion size and space on the plate to achieve a clean, smart presentation.