STEAMED AND SEARED HADDOCK - MEEN VEVICHATHU RECIPE

Steamed and seared haddock loin,

gingered vegetables, curried cauliflower emulsion, cardamom, and lime air.- meen vevicathu.

Serves: 2

Course: main

For fish

340 g haddock fillet

5 g garlic puree

2 g turmeric powder

2 g green chilli paste

10 mL oil

Salt to taste

 For cardamom and lime air

10 g cardamom powder

10 mL lime juice

5 g lecithin powder

100 mL thin coconut milk

For vegetables

70 g fine beans

30 g carrot

20 g peeled peas

2 g cumin seed

10 mL oil

1 g pepper

Salt to taste

For cauliflower emulsion

100 g cauliflower florets

20 g butter

2 g turmeric powder

20 g chopped shallots

30 mL thick coconut milk

30 mL water

1 g white pepper powder

Salt to taste

Cut fish to equally sized portions; marinate with mentioned ingredients for fish and set aside.

Blanch fine beans, cut in equal lengths, and split in half. Dice carrot to 0.5-cm cubes and blanch.

Heat a thick-bottomed saucepan with butter, shallots, and turmeric; sauté for 30 seconds.

Add sliced cauliflower and sauté for a minute; pour in water and coconut milk, and cook slowly until the cauliflower is tender. Check seasoning. Puree to a very fine emulsion using a commercial blender.

In a deep mixing bowl, mix lecithin powder, cardamom powder, and warm, thin coconut milk. Blend using a hand blender; stop when the foam starts coming up. Add lime juice; during plating, blend again until you get strong foam that stands when you take it in a spoon.

Heat oil in a small frying pan; add cumin seed and toss in all the vegetables you prepared before. Season and place on a kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

When time to serve, steam fish in a steamer or steamer basket, placing skin side on top.

Remove the fish when it’s 80 per cent done. Pan-fry the skin side using a non-stick pan or greaseproof paper. Start plating the vegetables as per the picture; when the fish gets golden in colour, place on top of the beans with skin side on top.

Heat and spoon the cauliflower emulsion as shown in the picture, and place a spoonful of cardamom air on top of fish.

Suggestions:

For steaming, consider using flat fish or flat cuts of fish, which helps in cooking evenly. Pan searing the skin after steaming provides a unique crispy texture to steamed fish.