Sarahs Kitchen Travels

Tag: timur

  • Mustang Cured Fish

    Serves 4 as a starter
    Highly flavourful and slightly spicy Timur cured white fish

    The citrusy heat of Nepalese timur with the sweetness of cold water fish is the perfect pairing.

    A quick caveat, this is supposed to serve 4 as a starter but the first time I made it I managed to ‘taste test’ my way to finishing it all.

    Ingredients

    • 1 medium fillet firm *white fish (roughly 300 grams | 10 oz)
    • 50 grams | 2 oz salt
    • 50 grams | 2 oz sugar
    • Grated zest ½ orange
    • 1 teaspoon ground timur or Sichuan pepper
    • 1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
    • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

    Method

    In a bowl mix together salt, sugar, orange zest, timur, black pepper, and cinnamon.
    Rinse the fish fillet and dry thoroughly with kitchen paper.
    Rub the fish skin side with ⅓ of the curing salt and place skin side down in a dish big enough to lie the fish flat. Cover the fish with the remaining salt mixture and pat down well, loosely cover with cling film.  Place a second, slightly smaller, flat bottomed dish on top of the fish and leave to cure in the fridge 2 to 4 hours or overnight depending on how salty you like your cure.

    Once the fish has cured take it from the fridge and wash any remaining salt off before drying it thoroughly with kitchen paper. Store the fish in the fridge wrapped in baking parchment until you need it.

    *I’ve made this with whiting, pollock, and mackerel and it’s been delicious every time, it’s always best to go for the freshest fish rather than being set on the type of fish.

    Serving suggestion
    Slice thinly on the diagonal as you would slice smoked salmon. Serve with sour cream, pickled carrot and ginger, and crackers.

  • Sichuan spiced potato salad

    Serves 6-8 as a side dish
    All the flavours of Sichuan in China in a salad

    After travelling round Sichuan I came back with a craving for the unmistakable flavours of the hundreds of varieties of crispy chilli you get there. I know mayonnaise and yoghurt is about as far away from Sichuan cooking as it gets but hay it works.

    Ingredients

    • 500 grams | 1 lb cooked salad potatoes
    • 50 ml | ¼ cup mayonnaise
    • 50 ml | ¼ cup set plain yoghurt
    • 1 teaspoon crispy chilli in oil*
    • ¼ teaspoon ground timur **
    • Juice of half a lime
    • Salt to taste

    Method

    Mix the mayonnaise, yoghurt, chilli, timur, and lime juice together in a bowl. Cut the potatoes into bite-size pieces and add them to the mayonnaise dressing stir well, taste and add salt to taste. Serve immediately this salad is best fresh but it will keep for a day or 2 in the fridge, you may need to add a little bit more mayonnaise and yoghurt to refresh the salad before serving.

    *Crispy chilli in oil is a Chinese condiment if you don’t have any then, for this recipe, you can make a quick version.  Place 1 teaspoon dried crushed chillies, 1 star anise, and ½ a thinly sliced clove of garlic in a heat proof dish.  Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to medium hot, once the oil is medium hot pour it over the chillies. When the oil and chilli stops sizzling remove the star anise and add 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce and stir well, allow the chilli oil to cool before you use it.

    **If you don’t have timur you can use Sichuan or black pepper.

  • Tibetan Beef and celery stir-fry

    Serves 4 as part of a multi dish sharing meal
    Tibetan style stir fry of beef and celery

    I had a dish similar to this made with Yak meat and Tibetan celery in a teashop close to the Tibetan boarder. Tibetan celery is more like mild lovage than the celery we get, the dish was so good I had to grow some lovage. Go sparing on western lovage though, after a shocking attempt I discovered its best just to use a few leaves instead of the celery leaves.

    Ingredients

    Marinade

    • 450 grams | 1 lb very thinly sliced steak 
    • 1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
    • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce.
    • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
    • ½ teaspoon ground timur or Sichuan pepper
    • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
    • ½ teaspoon rice or cider vinegar

    For cooking

    • 4 spring onions
    • 100 grams | 3 ½ oz celery sticks, sliced into bite sized pieces 
    • 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
    • 1 inch ginger (approximately 10 grams), sliced and then cut the slices into small matchsticks
    • 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced
    • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
    • 240 ml | 1 cup water
    • 1 teaspoon cornflower
    • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
    • celery or lovage leaves, finely shredded

    Method

    Cover the steak slices with the bicarbonate of soda and massage to cover all the beef, leave the soda to do its job for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes rinse the beef well and dry on some paper towel. Place steak with the light and dark soy sauce timur, brown sugar and vinegar into a bowl and mix well so the steak is covered with all the ingredients set aside to marinade for 20 minutes.

    Heat the oil to very hot sear the steak slices so they are just cooked through and caramelising in places. Remove them from the oil and set them aside for later, this is best done in 3 to 4 small batches, so you don’t overcrowd the pan. Once the steak has all been seared, add the celery garlic and ginger to the pan with 100 mil of the water and cook on high until the celery just loses its rawness, turn the heat down slightly. Add 2 tablespoons soy sauce with the chilli and sliced spring onions, stir briefly. Mix the cornflower with the remaining If you have a lot of liquid at this stage add a little of the cornflower water mixture to thicken the sauce if you feel you need more sauce add the rest of the water with more of the cornflower mixture. Return the beef to the pan with the celery leaves and stir well so the beef is well heated through and covered in the sauce check for seasoning the dishes ready to serve straight away.

    Best served with plain boiled rice, if this is part of a multi dish meal for 4 I suggest 2-3 dishes and the rice.

  • Nepalese sausage rolls

    makes approximately 8
    Sausage rolls with an added bit of Nepalses spice

    When we first came back to the UK Sera hated British food, every time we were faced with a buffet I was left with a grumpy hangry man so I set about spicing up everyday foods. This recipe stuck with us and has found a place beyond our own table.

    Ingredients

    • 1 500 gram | 1 lb block ready-made puff pastry
    • 450 grams | 15 oz pork mince
    • 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
    • ½ teaspoon of Yak Yeti Yak masala or garam masala
    • ¼ teaspoon turmeric
    • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (approximately 20 grams)
    • ½ teaspoon chilli flakes or to taste
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • One egg for glazing (optional)
    • sesame seeds for sprinkling (optional)

    Method

    In a large mixing bowl mix the pork mince, ginger, masala, turmeric, coriander, and salt together until everything is evenly combined. Set the pork mixture aside while you roll out the pastry to roughly 50cm | 20 inches long by 16cm | 6 ½ inches wide. Place the pork mixture in an even sausage shape on top of the pastry, close to the edge of the long side. Carefully roll the pastry tightly around the pork and seal the edges well with a little water. Wisk the egg and brush it all over the top of the pastry, sprinkle with sesame seeds then cut into 8 equal sized rolls.  Place the rolls on a lined baking tray and bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until the pastry is a rich golden brown.  Allow the pastries to cool a little before serving.