FUN, VIBRANT & FLAVOURFUL
Here’s some tasty ideas for tapas-style sharing meals
BELINDA MACDONALD LOVES CREATING super-fast modern keto dishes with clever twists to make you smile. Her passion is for fun, vibrant and flavourful food. During Covid lockdown she created a new website called Flavourbomb to help people with kitchen confidence and clever ingredient swaps to make dishes keto, and which took off like a rocket.
Her new book, of the same name, has a wonderful selection of main meals . . . and all with an amazing flavour explosion!
KARAAGE CAULIFLOWER
This recipe can also be used for chicken thighs, but I love the cauli-power plantbased version. It’s deep with aromatic Japanese flavours, crispy, and savoury — simply delicious nibbles to have with friends.
Ingredients
1 cauliflower, cut into florets
1/4 cup coconut aminos
2 Tbsp tamari
2 Tbsp coconut cider vinegar
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 cloves garlic
5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 cup tapioca flour or blanched almond meal coconut oil, for frying
To serve:
Japanese kewpie mayo and sriracha sprouts, to garnish
Method
Place the cauliflower florets in a shallow dish. Combine the coconut aminos, tamari, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and ginger in a bowl and drizzle and massage it all over the cauliflower. Cover and set aside for at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge, to let the flavours infuse.
Place the tapioca flour or almond meal in a small bowl.
Heat up enough oil that it’s roughly 2cm deep in a large saucepan or wok. While the oil is heating up, dip the cauliflower into the flour, turning to coat. Shake off any excess.
Once the oil is hot enough that a small piece of cauliflower sizzles immediately when dropped in, you can start to batchfry the cauliflower florets for about three to four minutes each batch, until golden brown and gorgeous. Transfer to a paper towel to drain. Keep warm in an oven at 100C, or serve straight away to guests with a dollop of kewpie mayo, sriracha and some sprouts for good measure! —
Serves 5–6 as part of a tapas-style sharing meal
COCONUT LIME CRUSTED PRAWN WRAPS with CHERRY & JALAPEN˜ O SALSA
Throw another prawn on the barbie! Great for summer — keeping things delicious, simple and fun.
Ingredients Cherry & Jalapen˜ o Salsa:
200g fresh cherries, pitted
1 fresh jalapen˜ o, thinly sliced or deseeded and chopped juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp avocado oil infused with lime handful of fresh herbs, such as basil, dill, mint and parsley, roughly chopped salt and pepper, to taste
Prawns:
1/2 cup shredded dried coconut
2–4 makrut lime leaves, thinly sliced about 1/2 cup coconut milk (or 1 freerange egg mixed with 1⁄4 cup coconut milk)
16 prawns, peeled and deveined (keep the tails intact if you like) salt and pepper, to taste coconut oil, for frying
To serve
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut yoghurt squeeze of lime juice chilli sauce or mayo, to taste any leafy wraps you like (I used Chinese cabbage boats)
Method
For the salsa, place your pitted cherries in a bowl and gently fold together with the other ingredients to create a fresh, vibrant salsa. Keep in the fridge until required.
For the prawns, place the coconut and lime leaves in a food processor and briefly whiz to make it more ‘crumby’.
Transfer to a shallow bowl. Place the coconut milk (or egg mixture) in another bowl. Now simply dip your prawns into the liquid, then into your crumb mixture to coat. Season with salt and pepper, then gently pan-fry them in medium to hot coconut oil, turning once, until golden and crispy edged. Season again before serving.
To serve, combine the yoghurt and lime juice in a small bowl and mix well. Add a splash of chilli sauce or mayo, then stir again to combine. Store the yoghurt mix in the fridge if not using straight away.
To make it easy, take everything to the table and people can assemble their own! Or you can make them up so they are ready to serve, if you prefer. Place a dollop of chillilime coconut yoghurt in each wrap, top with crispy prawns and scatter over the salsa . . . now that is a wrap! —
Serves 4–6 as part of a tapas-style sharing meal