Breath of the Wild #21: Crab Stir-Fry

 Ingredients: Any Crab, Goron Spice

Description: "The Goron spice used in preparing this crab pairs perfectly with the flavor of its meat."

Yoo I went to the asian supermarket and they had the crab bits! This is the closest I can get to affordable whole crab I think.

It comes fast frozen in a big ol' block, so ill let it defrost for most of the day. I just put it on a plastic steamer tray in my sink.

You don't wanna re-freeze or wait too long with the defrosted meat, so im gonna gonna boil almost all of them (except a later grilled crab recipe). I noticed a lot of threads in with the crabs that I took out, maybe they were bits of plastic fishing net? So to be safe im not going to reuse the water i boiled them in for seafood stock.

Alright, heres the rest of the set up! I guess this isnt exactly a stir fry, but I thought for the goron spiced crab it would be cool to make it a whole laksa curry and pop the crab on top! So i've got the laksa curry paste and coconut milk, and to fill it out (since its gonna make a big batch!) ive got udon noodles, beansprouts, a few lotus roots, lots of "crab" sticks (surimi), spring onions, chillies, coriander and the tiniest bit of mint (its not growing so well outside in the middle of winter!)

Wow this packet starts with 1.5l of water before I even add other ingredients... i should have used my even bigger pot... Also this smells like itll be plenty spicy so ive decided to forget about adding extra chillies.

I guess i should put the frozen lotus roots in early, and then I guess i can put in the crab and surimi sticks to flavour it..? Most of these ingredients wont need long to cook at all, the udon is part-cooked and beansprouts only need a few minutes (i learned this today lol, turns out i was always overcooking them)

Oh i should add the coconut milk next...

Argh disaster!! the coconut milk had separated so when i tipped it in liquid behind the the solid chunk just blasted my damn hob! Well... while we're making a mess we might as well admit that we need to separate this curry into 2 pots if we're gonna fit the noodles in...

There we go, the noodles and beansprouts can heat up, and I added the coriander and mint as well... I also scrounged a bit of lime and a basil leaf to garnish it with.

****

The laksa curry broth is soooooooo good!!! It's a great curry flavour to pair with seafood, tofu and white meats. It's so perfectly warming, spicy and fruity. Eating crab this way is a pain though, i ended up taking it out and scraping out all the meat with my hands and dropping it back in the noodle soup. It didn't have to be this way.

Breath of the Wild #20: Gourmet Spiced Meat Skewer

Ingredients: Raw Gourmet Meat, Goron Spice

Description: "The rich aroma and juicy texture of this high-quality meat puts it in a league of its own."

So, we have to somehow out-do steak with something that would be good for a curry skewer...? Well! a roasting lamb leg is quite fancy right...? I wanted to make sure I had enough for 3 skewers so maybe I went a bit overboard.

To distinguish it from the previous recipe, i've also chosen to add some more fresh ingredients. I've got a bit of choppes chillies, and grated ginger and garlic.

I've also got some tomato puree, thats a classic curry base after all. Then similar to last time we've got yogurt, pepper, coriander seed, garam masala, curry powder, cumin seed, turmeric and salt. Since theres chillies and tomatoes, im leaving out the cayenne pepper and lemon this time to be a bit different.

Mixing it all up, its a bit thicker than last time. Is thicker better? I really don't know.

Since theres a big bone in this joint, ill cut a good amount of lean meat off it into cubes(ish). The rest can be used for a nice slow cooked roast in the oven later.

This time I can let it sit for a little while in the sauce. Well ok i took longer than i expected, so like 30minutes. I got plans!

Managed to cut off plenty of meat, enough for 4 skewers instead of 3! That's lunch tomorrow sorted.

****

It's certainly super tender and spicy! A bit too spicy, I maybe went overboard with the chillies and garlic now I cant taste the meat as much. I still nailed it and didnt overcook the meat. But... was the steak one just that tiny bit better and more balanced? ah maybe...

Breath of the Wild #19: Prime Spiced Meat Skewer

Ingredients: Raw Prime Meat, Goron Spice

Description: "The simple preparation of this steak dish belies its complex taste profile.."

So, I was originally going to pick some sort of "intermediate" quality meat for this "prime" quality recipe and use steak for the "gourmet" quality... but then I noticed the description, it clearly says "this steak dish."! Fine, steak it is! I dunno what i'll do for next recipe, lamb i guess?

Last time the spice mix was a bit dry and earthy, so this time i'm tweaking it up for something fancier! I got some plain yogurt, lemon juice, curry powder, cayenne pepper, garam masala, black pepper & coriander seed, cumin seed, and salt.

Mix it all up and itll coat the meat nice and easily! It was looking a little pale so i added an extra pinch of turmeric too actually.

I picked a rump steak because I hoped it would be nice and tender but still meaty.

I think I will have just enough for 2 skewers. Not bad for that price actually!

Yep plenty on there, ready to go in and grill. Let's hope I don't overcook it for once, but at least its fresh beef!

*****

Have I finally done a perfect meat skewer!? after... how many recipes?? I managed to get the meat medium-well I think, keeping it properly grilled but still tender and juicy. The sour yogurt and lemon juice is just what the earthy curry spice needed to give it a more complex flavour. We've set the bar a bit high now, it might be downhill for the gourmet meat. Still, this is the one to do again. And maybe that satay one, that was pretty good.

Breath of the Wild #18: Spiced Meat Skewer

Ingredients: Raw Meat, Goron Spice

Description: "A special Goron spice covers up the scent of the meat, allowing its flavor to shine."

This recipe has 3 different versions, for different quality tiers of meat! So I guess I have to come up with 3 "tiers" of meat. For this one... how about some cheap pork sausages?

And for the goron spice, i'm gonna mix up a custom blend of curry spices. I've ground up some cloves, fennel and cumin, and added some powdered garam masala, chilli, coriander and turmeric.

Next i'll slice up a few of the sausages into skewer-friendly chunks. These will so easy to skewer!

And then I just toss them in the dry spice mix.

Done! I also decided to roast some potato discs as a side, and ill grill the sausages on top so any extra pork fat can drip on the potato. Resourceful! Maybe I should have made the skewers shorter though... oh well.

Almost a complete meal!

***

I was worried about undercooking the sausage, since its hard to judge it by colour like this... but instead I overcooked it. Skewers sure cook a lot faster than roasts! It wasnt quite burned but the combination of its dryness with the spices made it... somehow not that flavourful, in spite of being loaded with spices? It was alright though, and its very easy to make. Does kinda look like poop from a butt tho.

Breath of the Wild #17: Copious Mushroom Skewer

Ingredients: Any four different Mushrooms

Description: "Fans of fungal cuisine can't resist this simple mushroom-skewer dish. Very filling."

Back when i did the original mushroom skewer I went on a mission to my favourite chinese grocery, as well as big tesco, and got a mountain of different mushrooms. For this recipe im picking out a couple king oyster mushrooms, some oyster mushrooms, some lions mane mushrooms, any leftover shiitake (from the first recipe), and uh... whatever this other long one is. I don't even know. That's at least 4 types!

They're sharing the marinade with the original recipe too. Which was like soy sauce, chilli, garlic, etc.

Assembled and ready! 

Here they are getting grilled.

***

Sorry shiitake, but oyster mushroom is actually the superior grilling shroom. It's not as easy to get on the stick, but it crisps up real nice and picks up tons of flavour, is less earthy. The lion's mane was weirdly sour, almost lemony. the king oyster mushroom is gently mallowy. overall, they're still all largely mushroom flavoured. I think i already get tired of eating just mushrooms after one skewer, the variety doesn't make up for that. If you want to impress a vegan, give them one skewer with a nice bowl of rice or some flatbread.

Breath of the Wild #16: Copious Fried Wild Greens

Ingredients: Any four different Vegetables, Flowers, or Herbs

Description: "A healthy dish made by cooking mixed greens over a strong flame."

Four different vegetables, we have! Spring onion, sugar snap peas, baby corn and courgette.

I'll cut the ones that need to be cut, but these can afford to be fairly big and chunky I suppose.

Like with the fried broccoli, I'll add a nice bit of butter for flavour and to help it cook.

And we can toss it in the nice big pan! Well, half of what I showed at the start, I can save the other half for salt-grilled greens later.

Oh why not add just a bit of seasoning? I have this paprika salt and lemon handy.

*****

Cool! I think I did a good job. Frying with the butter really brings out the sweetness in the vegetables. Crisp and hydrating with a nice variety. It really feels like more of a snack though. A visually pleasing healthy side. 

Breath of the Wild #15: Fried Wild Greens

Ingredients: Any Vegetable, Flower, or Herb

Description: "A basic vegetable dish made by sauteing fresh wild plants."

Since there's a second version of this with a variety of vegetables, I'll do just one! Broccoli is a perfect standalone vegetable that tastes pretty good all on its own, and its a real vegetable-type vegetable, you know? Green. Stems. Sort of Leafy. Crunchy. It's got it all.

First we give it a quick rinse.

I'm going to cook it in some butter, so itll get just that little bit of flavour and salt, and then thats it, no other seasonings!

And then i'll cook it until its soft and take it off before the little tippy bits start to burn.

****

Ah, why is plain ol' broccoli this good? It's so simple and crunchy and filling. Why are we putting so much effort in with all these other recipes...