Peter Gordon: Raw fish on twice cooked sesame kumara

Peter Gordon is the pioneer of fusion food and for 40 years he's gathered ingredients, textures and techniques from the kitchens of the world.

He's owned award-winning restaurants from Wellington to London, New York and Auckland and we are thrilled he's including Summer Weekends in his summer plans this month.

This morning chef or "coach" Peter Gordon takes us through his recipe of raw fish on twice cooked sesame kūmara, salted cucumber, taro chilli crisps, lime chilli dressing. 

Raw fish on twice cooked sesame kūmara, salted cucumber, taro chilli crisps, lime chilli dressing

I like to serve this as an individually plated starter as you can portion control it, make it look great and it won’t topple down when you move it to your plate. But you can also increase the quantities and make it part of a shared main course served on a large platter, and let people help themselves as best they can. As a dish, it’s also a little unusual in that it’s both hot and cold because you serve the kūmara hot from the oven and lay the cold sliced fish and cucumber on top, then drizzle on the sauce and scatter on the taro crisps

Ideally use the cute baby kūmara that are sometimes less expensive than medium to large ones – I guess they’re not so popular. Re what fish you use, the main thing is that it needs to be fresh – tuna, kahawai, kingfish, trevally and salmon fillets are all good. The lightly pickled cucumber adds a fresh textural crispness. It won’t always be easy to find fresh taro, but frozen peeled taro is more widely available and works well – just defrost it 24 hours in the fridge if you have the time rather than under a running tap. It’s a slimy root vegetable which is why you’ll need to rinse the julienne well before deep-frying. If you can’t find taro then make this using a potato like Agria and failing that crush some shop bought potato crisps on top – it’s the crunch you’re after. The dressing is the important contrast to the sweet kūmara – sweet and sour from the palm sugar and lime and spicy from the chilli.

 

Twice-cooked sesame kūmara

Kūmara come in many shapes and sizes but if you can find ones 12 - 14cm long then they’re ideal – you’ll need just one each. If they’re shorter or very thin then use 1 ½ - 2 per person. And if you can only get regular-sized kūmara then cut them lengthways and cook as described allowing 120 – 150g kūmara per person. You know how hungry your whānau are so cook as much as you need …

 

• 700-900g baby kūmara, washed and skins scrubbed but don’t peel
• 50g butter
• 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds, white or black or a mixture of both
• 1 heaped teaspoon flaky sea salt

 

1. Oven 190*C Fan. Line a roasting dish with baking paper (it makes cleaning easier)

2. Steam the kūmara until you can just poke a knife through the centre, a baby kūmara will take about 15 minutes. Transfer to a board and when cool enough to handle (5 minutes) flatten slightly with a spatula and place in the roasting dish – you want to ‘burst some of the kūmara skin

3. Cook the butter to a light nut-brown colour then drizzle over the kūmara, and sprinkle on the sesame seeds and salt

4. Roast till golden, around 20-25 minutes. You can cook these the day before and just reheat at 180*C for around 12 minutes

 

Taro chilli crisps

This will make more crisps than you need but keep them stored in an airtight container for up to a week. You can make these without the smoked paprika if you prefer, and if you don’t have any you can use smallish chilli flakes, cayenne pepper or regular chilli powder. I’ve given the quantity as one taro and I know their size can vary but it’ll work out.

 

• 1 taro, peeled (see notes in introduction, it can be fresh or frozen)
• ½ - 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Sea salt, flaky or fine, to taste

 

1. Set up a deep fryer with at least 6cm vegetable oil, temperature at 170*C. Have a tray ready with three layers of absorbent kitchen paper for cooling the cooked taro on, and a large bowl for tossing the taro in the spice

2. The crisps can be shaped into either matchsticks (julienne in French cooking) using a knife or mandolin, or made very thin like a potato chip using a potato peeler, knife or mandolin

3. If using a knife to cut your matchstick, cut the taro into quarters, then slice each quarter into thin slices between 2 - 3mm thick. Lay the slices on top of each other, 10-12 at a time, and slice lengthways again 2mm thick.

4. Whether you’re making matchsticks or peels, put the prepped taro in a large bowl and cover with enough tepid water (body temperature) to cover by at least 5cm. Slosh the taro around with your fingers, then drain. Do this three to five times until the water coming off the taro is less cloudy and slimy. Drain well in a sieve or colander for two minutes. Lay the taro on a clean tea towel or kitchen paper and spread the pieces out. Lay another tea towel on top and gently press – you want them as dry as possible

5. Test your oil - add a few pieces to the deep fryer and cook till the sizzling dies down and the taro is crisp, gently moving it about in the hot oil using a metal spoon, fork or tongs. Remove from the oil and leave to cool for a minute then check it’s nice and crisp and not burnt. If it seems good then carry on and cook the taro

6. Cook the taro in 6 – 10 batches depending how large your fryer is – the main thing is not to cook too much at one time as they will not cook evenly. As they cook gently stir from time to time with a metal spoon, fork or tongs to make sure they cook evenly. Once crisp and golden, remove with the fryer basket, metal sieve or what is known as a spider – a large sieve found in Chinese kitchen stores and commercial suppliers. Once you’ve cooked and drained two batches tip the cooked crisps into your bowl and sprinkle on ¼ of the salt and ¼ of the smoked paprika and toss it all together then tip into an airtight container

7. Meanwhile, fry and coat a third and fourth batch as above until you’ve cooked all the taro. Once it’s all done, return to the bowl, gently toss it all together then store in an airtight container.

 

Lime chilli dressing

This is based on the Thai dipping sauce called nam jim. It needs to be punchy in flavour with a noticeable heat from the chilli, and sweet and sour characters. If you have coriander that has the root attached then rinse 2 – 3 roots of any soil, bash with a rolling pin, finely chop and add to the dressing. You can also put everything in a small blender / bullet and whizz it all together

 

• 2 limes, the finely grated zest of ½ and the juice of both, 2 or more tablespoons (or use the zest from ½ lemon and 2 ½ tablespoons lemon juice)
• 1 teaspoon nam pla / Thai fish sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoons finely grated palm sugar / brown sugar / maple syrup or honey
• 1 small red or green chilli, finely chopped including the seeds (more or less to taste)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 2 coriander root, pounded, finely chopped (optional, see above)
• ¼ cup lightly packed coriander, coarsely shredded

 

1. Put the lime zest and juice, fish sauce and sugar in a small jar and shake until the sugar has dissolved (or whiz in a small blender)

2. Add everything else except the coriander leaves, put the lid on and shake for 10 seconds. Leave to mature for 30 minutes minimum then taste

3. You want it to be punchy with a pronounced sweet and sour balance. If not, add more sugar, lime or fish sauce as needed. It will keep four days in the fridge

4. Just before serving add the chopped coriander and shake it all up

 

Salted cucumber

If you can find baby cucumber then use two of those instead of the segment of a regular telegraph cucumber

 

• 1/3 telegraph cucumber, peeled, sliced into rounds 3 – 5mm thick
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar / cider vinegar

 

1. Toss the cucumber slices with the salt and leave in a bowl in the fridge for an hour, tossing one more time

2. Drain well in a sieve and pat dry with kitchen paper

3. Return to the cleaned bowl with the sugar and vinegar and mix everything together. Cover and return to the fridge for at least an hour and up to 48 hours to cure

 

Tuna (or Kahawai, Salmon, Trevally, Kingfish etc)

As I’ve written in the introduction what’s important here is that the fish is super fresh. Oily fish just don’t taste great if too long from the sea. Allow around 80 – 100g per person for a starter

• 500 – 600g fish fillet, skinned and boned, bloodline removed if any

1. Lay the fillet on your board, skin side facing down (the side the skin would have been on)

2. Using a sharp knife, slice the fish straight up and down into slices around ½ cm thick. You don’t need to measure them but just make sure neither too thick nor too thin. Divide the fish into six equal amounts then lay on a large plate or baking parchment lined tray in six flat piles where one slice overlaps the next like a concertina. Doing this now saves time plating up. Cover with plastic film until needed

 

Plating Up

1. Lay the kūmara hot from the oven on your plate/plates, scoop up any wayward sesame seeds and lay back on the kūmara

2. Lay the chilled sliced fish across it

3. Lay 2 – 3 slices of the cucumber on the fish

4. Give the dressing a good shake making sure you add the shredded coriander leaves and spoon it over the cucumber and fish, using all of it

5. Use your hand to pile on the taro crisps, some will fall onto the plate, and it’s ready to eat