FINDING NORI WITH CHEF JP
- O&A Team
- September 1, 2022
- Food
- Chef JP le Roux, cooking with seaweed, featured, nori
- 0 Comments
Today we are venturing into the depths of the seven seas with seven sultry, yet salty, dishes.
As we are entering a new season and spring is always associated with growth and goodness, I have decided to make this the month to share some healthy meals. It is also the month when everything is suddenly green again – hence my quest to find the inimitable nori.
As an aside, for so many of us, eating healthy is a priority – but, with soaring food prices globally, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
In fact, the only good that will come of this and the gargantuan hikes in the price of sunflower seed oil thanks to the war in the Ukraine might be that we have to do more grilling than frying which will win the battle for both waistlines and our clogged arteries! (Okay, there’s a bit of frying down below but for all the right reasons …)
Seriously, though, eating heathy has always been one of those resolutions that goes nowhere – much like suddenly deciding to go the gym on the second of January. Alas, it seems that both our minds and bodies are quickly converted back to processed and fast foods by ad campaigns, colourful
packaging and weird promises on behalf of food processors. Sometimes I’d even go as far as saying it is better to chew on the cardboard box than to even attempt to find any goodness inside.
The trick is not to go for bland, tape measure friendly ingredients, but to make good food flavoursome – enjoy being healthy!
If you haven’t worked it out yet – nori is actually seaweed and a staple in the diet of the Japanese who are known to be some of the healthiest eaters on the planet. No wonder the average mortality rate in this culture is 87…
I know that seaweed doesn’t exactly strike one as the most appetising option and, until the advent of sushi in the West, most of us wouldn’t dream of imbibing slimy green tendrils!
But, relax, nori usually comes in the form of dried cold pressed sheets of natural goodness which can be eaten as part of sushi – see the yummy hand rolls below – or in soups and salads. In fact, this hidden goodness can also be grilled and flaked into almost any dish.
Just in case you’re not yet convinced, join me in my cookery quest to find nori …
These facts will change your view on these green sheets:
Nori has up to 100 times more Vitamin A, B1 and B6 than your average vegetable. Consuming only 2 sheets provides more nutrients than any other citrus fruit and some green veggies. It contains no cholesterol, and only 2% sodium and 65% of your daily vitamin C requirement which is equivalent to more than a large orange!
MA THOGO BEER BATTERED HAKE WITH A NORI TWIST
This dish is a tribute to maThogo, who I had the honour to have as part of my chef’s team in my previous restaurant. She certainly taught me a few tricks of the trade – and convinced me that beer battered hake is probably one of the best (and best known) ways of preparing fish.
My chief lesson was that there are two main elements that lead to perfection – the freshness of the skinless hake and, then, the beer. The rule back then and still to this day is to only use Hansa beer…
Whilst preparing this blog, I created a tad of a twist of the proverbial beer cap. I added some crushed dried nori to provide some colour and flavour to my batter. I admit that I’ve never done this before, but the outcome was a great success.
FROM YOUR BEER BATTERED PANTRY:
1 cup of self-raising flour
1 330ml can HANSA beer
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 sheet seaweed
Canola oil for frying
Combine the ingredients, crushing the nori into the mixture. Whisk the mix until velvety smooth and you achieve that foamy broth from the yeast.
Heat your Canola oil to 170 degrees, dunk that beer battered hake in the oil and fry for 3 ½ minutes each side. Cheers to a perfect beer battered nori infused hake. Serve with a tartare dip and some fresh lemon wedges.
BRIEKWABAARS
(Otherwise known as grilled sea bass).
This time, I decided it was time to return to the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean. Sea bass is a more tropical fish, otherwise known as Rockcod or, in Afrikaans, as Briekwabaars.
After preparing each tasty grilled portion, I plated this dish with a bit of my own finesse, adding miso paste, tofu, chives, ginger, lemongrass and, of course, a delicate nori strap.
DRESSED FOR SUCCESS
Interestingly, most people don’t know that a certain species of the sole family, the larva flounder, seems to have only one eye. It might be born with one eye on each side of its head but, as the fish grows, one of these eyes actually migrates to the other side of the body. As a result, both eyes are then on the side which faces up!
What does that have to do with nori – well, not much. But it’s a bit of interesting info for you to chew on while you turn out what must be one of the tastiest fish and a firm favourite of mine.
Sole is perfect for diners who don’t like bones in their meat (who does – tell that to the guy making the snoek on the braai!)
In our salt waters, we get the deep water Atlantic sole that is quite a big catch. If you compare it to the East Coast soles in the warmer water, they taste completely different and have a variable texture. No offence to the East coasters but, for me, Atlantic sole is just the ultimate taste sensation!
I dressed my sole – as they would verbally articulate it at your fishmonger – in a sexy Nori outfit, mostly for presentation. But the seaweed adds a touch of the deep blue…
A quick 180 degree preheat for the oven and some seasoning – breadcrumbs. parsley, fish spice and some unsalted butter – and you are dressed for the occasion in just 12 minutes.
Serve with some more fresh parsley and a zest of some lemons.
As a topping. I deep fried some oysters to add a sultry touch.
SEAWEED ON THE SIDE
As we are now in day two of spring, I decided some health side dishes could be the way to go and the perfect means of including my nori.
SEAWEED AND CUCUMBER SALAD
This is, indeed, a new age fresh approach to a crispy salad. I started by using my cucumber in every way imaginable – I grated some, sliced some and cored some with an apple corer. Then I served this with Canola mayo, kefir leaves and some hand crushed seaweed, a touch of lemon seasoning – a salad fit to make any soccer mom turn her head.
NORI HANDROLL
This is my tribute to tradition – the infamous Japanese style hand roll. To create my editor’s favourite (yes, she is my favourite editor), I started with some grilled calamari, fresh julienne style carrots, sliced cucumber, dried tofu, pickled ginger, fresh herbs and wrapped everything up in a cone shaped sheet of nori.
MUSHROOM GRILLED HALLOUMI AND SEAWEED
Because we are on a health spree, I grilled a black mushroom and some halloumi cheese, then added some nori. There you have it – your vegetarian take on a dish from the ocean.
SMOKED EEL WITH BLACKBEAN AND NORI
When you think eel, you think eek…
Well, take it from me, when it comes to this traditional Japanese delicacy, eel is definitely not what you expect it to be. Soaked eel in black bean sauce is pretty much your hedonistic foodie way of saying ‘I don’t eat Lucky Star sardines n Sunday morning on toast!’
Bought from SUN SUN, this will truly evoke a massive celebration from your taste buds… come on, I dare you!!!!
I served mine on a sheet on nori and then up scaled it with some chilli oil, pickled cocktail onion and some fresh fennel.
QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS
As we have now definitely found Nori, here is a last taste sensation to make your mouth water… literally.
Serve up two grilled Cajun style queen prawns – a New Orleans staple food – with some hand crushed seaweed to give that salty crack of the ocean – plus a touch of Chef JP’s flair and flamboyance.
When you want to feed your soul with some goodness, go back to basics and enhance your eating habits from a true source – the ocean. With seaweed, it is all goodness and no chemical additives, no MSG and no excuse to stray into the world of manmade flavours and texture. Just the way Mother Nature – or is that Mother Ocean – intended.
I guess that’s the real reason that it is so important to keep finding nori…
