Wednesday 8 June 2011

Get on an Island with Rice Pinapple Salsa and Seared Fish

This is a variation of a recipe I have made before, but on request I’ve jazzed it up to have more sweet savoury element contrast for the “island” feel. You can have the rice and salsa on its own and enjoy it as a vegetarian meal, or a side dish. I topped it with some fish fillets that I had around and it made a great full meal. So I hope you enjoy it. This feeds 2-4 depending on how hungry you are, and like I always say, I try to write the big part of the dish for more than two people but the protein like steak or fish would be your discretion. And basically we’re making rice the normal way we’re just substituting different liquids to make up that proportion of 2:1, so think of it that way if it gets confusing!



Ingredients for Rice:
1 cup Basmati rice (185g)
½ medium onion diced
2 cloves garlic diced
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
¼ c white wine (I use sauvignon blanc, viognier etc.. something you want to drink)
¾ c canned coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock (you can definitely substitute vegetable stock or whatever)
2-3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro (coriander)
1can black eyed peas
1tbsp oil

Ingredients Pineapple Salsa:

1 small can (200g) of pineapple chunks or slices (doesn’t matter you will chop it up anyway)
10 cherry tomatoes quartered
½ a green chilli, like jalapeno
2 cloves of finely finely chopped garlic
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
Juice from the pineapple
Salt + pepper

Fish:
Use enough fillets for your family, I suggest Sea Bass, Plaice..etc, something with light flavour.
Salt and pepper them and grill them in a pan and voila. Obviously this is a perfectly acceptable dish without the fish for a vegetarian option.

To Cook Rice:
Chop onions, garlic, cilantro.
Heat oil in a medium size sauce pan, when the oil is hot add the onion, garlic, and rice. Brown slightly until everything becomes fragrant. About 5 minutes.
Add the wine; quickly stir into the rice cook for 2 minutes be careful not to burn all the liquid out.
Next add the coconut milk and stir, and follow with the stock.
Stir around and put on a very low simmer, cover and cook for about 15-20 minutes, check near 15 minutes and give a stir, add a little extra stock if necessary.
Next add the can of black beans and chopped cilantro, mix and take off heat and let sit while you finish dinner.

The Salsa:
Basically chop everything up to as chunky or as fine as you’d like, I suggest the chilli and the garlic extremely fine, pour in a little pineapple juice and let simmer.

To assemble your plate, start with the rice, add the cooked fish on top and top with the salsa, and you have Island rice with pineapple salsa and grilled fish. It will be like you’re in the Caribbean.

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