good things - Liz Posmyk
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • My book
  • Writing & Media
  • FAQs

Wild Barramundi with Coconut Broth - The Red Spice Road Cookbook

19/6/2017

11 Comments

 
Wild Barramundi with Coconut Broth from The Red Spice Road Cookbook (New Holland)
Wild Barramundi with Coconut Broth from The Red Spice Road Cookbook (New Holland)
Chef and restaurateur, John Mcleay, of Melbourne's Red Spice Road, says that his love affair with Asian food started when he first set foot in Asia. He has fond memories of the sights, smells and sounds, which thrilled him; and he particularly enjoyed the sensory overload of the exotic foods sold at markets and street vendors.

In the introduction and welcome to his book, The Red Spice Cookbook, chef McLeay writes that he loves the vibrancy and balance of Asian food. The richness of pork belly with chilli caramel against the citrus tang and freshness of black vinegar and cabbage mint salad; or the marriage of the four components (hot, sour, salty and sweet) that form the balance of Thai cuisine.

His cookbook is a collection of popular recipes from the kitchen of his restaurant in Melbourne's CBD. In it, he offers instructions on how to make Asian stocks, pastes, sauces and garnishes; as well as accompaniments such as roasted rice, crispy fried shallots and chilli caramel. There are recipes for sumptuous snacks, including betel leaves with crab, kaffir lime and chilli; salads, such as the Laotian beef laap; a range of curries; as well as dishes based on seafood, meat and poultry. My favourites are the desserts and beverages. 

The recipe I am showcasing here is from the book and is a dish of wild barramundi with a spicy coconut broth. If barramundi is unavailable, the chef suggests using another thick, fleshy white fish.

WILD BARRAMUNDI WITH COCONUT BROTH
250ml coconut milk
250ml chicken stock
4cm stem lemongrass, white part only, finely sliced
3cm piece of galangal, grated
3 shallots, peeled and sliced
2 coriander (cilantro) roots, chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced finely
1 small red chilli, seeded and chopped
15ml fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
3 oyster mushrooms, sliced
50g enoki mushrooms, chopped
15ml lime juice
50ml vegetable oil
250g wild barramundi fillet
12 sugar snap peas, cleaned
1 handful coriander (cilantro) leaves (to garnish)
2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced finely (to garnish)
1/2 large red chilli, sliced

In a small saucepan, bring coconut milk and stock to the boil. Add lemongrass, galangal, shallots, coriander root, lime leaves, chilli, fish sauce and sugar. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes. Taste the mixture and add more fish sauce, chilli or sugar to suit your taste.

Blend the mixture using a stick blender or blender, then strain through a colander or sieve (back into the pan). Discard the pulp. Add the mushrooms and simmer for a further 2 minutes, then add the lime juice and set aside until required.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Heat a little oil in a heavy-based frypan, and when it starts to smoke, place the barramundi into the pan, skin-side down. Cook for approximately 30 seconds, then transfer the pan to the oven and cook until the fish is ready, approximately 6 minutes (times will vary depending on the thickness of the fish).

Transfer the fish to a serving bowl. Bring the broth back to a simmer, add the sugar snap peas and simmer for another minute, ladle the broth over the barramundi and garnish with coriander, kaffir limes leaves and chilli. Serves 4 as part of a shared meal.
Chef John McLeay Red Spice Road Cookbook
Chef John McLeay (image courtesy New Holland Publishers)
The Red Spice Cookbook by John McLeay - New Holland Publishers
The Red Spice Road Cookbook by John McLeay (New Holland Publishers)
The Red Spice Road Cookbook by John McLeay, $35.00, New Holland Publishers. Thank you kindly to Mr McLeay and the publicity team at New Holland for giving me the opportunity to showcase this title. Images and recipe appear courtesy of the publisher.

Tell me dear readers, do you enjoy south east Asian flavours? Have you ever eaten Barramundi?
11 Comments
Peter
19/6/2017 01:37:37 pm

This was really nice. Remember how we used to bring home slabs of frozen barra steaks from Darwin?!!

Reply
Beverly Jameson
19/6/2017 01:39:18 pm

Our local fisho sells marvellously fresh Barramundi steaks. I will try this one. Thank you Liz.

Reply
John / Kitchen Riffs link
19/6/2017 02:09:19 pm

What a neat way to cook fish! Barramundi is a lovely choice for this, too. Although that's one fish that I see much more in restaurants than at the fish mongers for some reason. Anyway, nice -- thanks.

Reply
Gary Lum link
19/6/2017 04:00:33 pm

Great recipe Liz. I think the best barra I've ever tasted was when I was on a fishing trip in the Top End with a guide. We'd caught enough to eat and take home, so in the early afternoon, the guide pulled out a portable gas burner, an old cast iron frying pan, some butter and lemon. He filleted the fish like a fish monger (he used to be a butcher) and we enjoyed the best barra ever. This fish had been alive minutes earlier. The skins were thrown in the air for the hawks to grab midair and enjoy.

Reply
Kyrstie link
19/6/2017 05:43:11 pm

I adore Asian flavours. This broth sounds divine. I'm yet to visit Red Spice Road but it is on my list of places I want to try

Reply
Eha
19/6/2017 08:33:12 pm

A recipe which will be followed to the letter and a book which deserves to be researched. Love the use of the coconut milk and the fine Asian mushrooms to showcase the flavour of the barra. I was incredibly lucky that in my early twenties and the beginning of my first marriage to a real foodie I was forever travelling to Asia on business: what a wonderful learning curve that was . . . . thanks for picking this . . .

Reply
Glamorous Glutton link
20/6/2017 07:36:47 am

It sounds so delicious. One to be on the list. We're planning a trip to Oz next year and looking for restaurants to visit. Off to check out the book. GG

Reply
David link
20/6/2017 02:14:59 pm

What a wonderful recipe, Liz! The flavor combination is amazing, and I look forward to making this... will need to find a substitute for the baramundi, but that should be easy!

Reply
Eva Taylor link
20/6/2017 03:21:03 pm

What a coincidence, I served haddock in a green curry sauce just last night. Because it was a quick dish, I used store-bought green curry paste that used to be excellent, but as usual, the flavours have waned and it's virtually tasteless. I will make my own batch of green curry paste and freeze it for these quick, weeknight meals. Yes, indeed, we adore Asian flavours, particularly the contrasts of sweet, salty, sour etc. And while I have not tried Barramundi, I am fairly sure I would love it, in this wonderfully flavourful recipe.

Reply
Sherry m link
21/6/2017 06:26:32 am

I love all these fab flavours. Sounds so fresh and tasty. And I love barramundi too. It's such a nice chunky fish.

Reply
Chris Riley link
26/6/2017 05:48:16 pm

Sounds delicious. Having recently caught my first barramundi (in fact two), I may try to adapt this recipe to suit my simple camping equipment with a couple of the remaining fillets. Will make a change from plain barbecued.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Welcome...

    Üdvözölöm
    Photo of Liz Posmyk, Food Writer, Cook and Traveller

    ​Cooking and writing have been a lifelong passion.
    ​
    Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes; postcards and morsels from my travels; conversations with cookery writers
    and chefs; and news on food, cookbooks
    ​and cooking.
    ​
    - Liz Posmyk

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    All
    Anzac
    Apple Growers
    Australia
    Australian Producers
    Autumn
    Baking
    Beverages
    Biscuits
    Book Reviews
    Bread
    Breakfast
    Butter
    Cakes & Slices
    Canberra
    Charmaine Solomon
    Cheese
    Chestnuts
    Christmas
    Cocktails
    Coffee
    Conversations
    Cookies
    Cookware
    Cuisine Companion
    Curries
    Dairy Products
    Desserts
    Diet
    Dough
    Drink Blog
    Easter
    Edible Gifts
    Eggs
    Egg Safety
    Essays
    Events
    Favourite Flavours
    Fish
    Food News
    Food TV
    Food Verse
    Fruit
    Giveaways
    Good Things Favourites
    Growers & Producers
    Guest Post
    Health
    Hummus
    Hungarian Recipe
    Ice Cream
    In My Kitchen
    Kids In The Kitchen
    Kitchen Garden
    Markets
    Meat
    Muffins
    Musings
    My Book
    My Family
    New Year
    Noodles
    Nuts
    Observations
    Olives
    Pancakes
    Pasta
    Pastry
    Pepe Saya
    Pink Martini
    Pizza
    Polenta
    Postcards And Morsels
    Poultry
    Preserves
    Prize Giveaways
    Prunes
    Reminiscences
    Retro
    Reviews
    Rice
    Ricotta
    Salad
    Salads
    Sandwiches
    Sauce
    Seafood
    Slow Cooking
    Snacks
    Soups
    Stop Hunger Start Cooking
    Sydney
    Tefal
    Thanksgiving
    Thank You
    The Barber From Budapest
    Tofu
    Travel
    Truffles
    Tweatup510064f8ec
    Tzatziki
    Valentines Day
    Vegetables
    Vinnies Christmas Appeal


    NB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes. 

    Picture
    Winner ABC's 2015 Australia Cooks competition, ACT (mains category)
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Meet the Chefs - recipes featured on Australian Asparagus Council website

Good Things is written and published by Liz Posmyk © 2011-2020.   All rights reserved.
Excerpts may be used provided that full and clear credit is given. Thank you.


Photos used under Creative Commons from alantankenghoe, riptheskull, David Jackmanson, Amani Hasan, SuntanMidori, oropeza, Annie Mole, Vegan Feast Catering, avlxyz, jeffreyw, mockstar, jenly, Syeefa Jay, pizzodisevo (therapy - terapia - Therapie), ginnerobot, cliff1066™, Jim, the Photographer
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • My book
  • Writing & Media
  • FAQs