Editor's January Pick #5: Italian/Malaysian Fusion?

Editor's note: My first introduction to arancini was from MiamMiam, and having recently sampled an amazing curry from the very same source, never was my gob so smacked to rediscover this posting from way back in 2016 that marries the two together! It feels underwhelming to palm a reader off with 'just look at the photo!', but it does a dash decent job of showing off the combination of the crispness of the coated and fried rice and the perfection that is the Rendang curry. So, have a go!

Fancy …

… Italian/Malaysian fusion?

Another suggestion for serving the arancini. If you think about it you generally eat rice with a curry … why not in a ball with a crispy shell?

Why not serve the rice ball with a rendang curry? You can cheat if you like a buy a ready-made paste and add it to coconut milk or, a sort of half way house, make your own but speedily.

Rendang Sauce

100 ml coconut cream

50ml water

3 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp curry powder

(I used mild)

1 tbsp kecap manis

(also known as sweet soy sauce)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat and

serve. Can be made ahead and re-heated.

There's nothing wrong with a short cut or two – it may not appeal to the purists out there – some of us haven't got time!

The world is definitely your lobster – you can add prawns or chicken, whatever you fancy. Just in case you think I'm making this stuff up – here's what it looks like, with prawns in the rendang sauce :

Happy New Year!

The back catalogue

I took my own advice and had a look through the back catalogue – a voyage of discovery!

Hoping that we'll be able to be more sociable and get together with our family and friends, here are some ideas from the back catalogue of dishes that can be what you want them to be – portable for a picnic – al fresco in your garden or even indoors at the dining table.

You can cheat if you want and buy some of the elements, it's entirely up to you – where there's a recipe I'll give you an alternative or as near to, that you can buy.

These ideas are based on a Mezze … or is it Thali, Tapas or Cicchetti - a selection of dishes suitable for all of the above venues.

It'll be fun to mix it up - Middle Eastern, Indian, Spanish and Italian, whatever takes your fancy.

Everything changes when you're sat round a table, inside or out - you are much more likely to try dishes you've not tasted before or even to re-visit a dish you've previously disliked. It's like the salad bar principle, because you can serve yourself and there's no pressure - if a dish looks colourful and tempting you give it a go and who knows – you might like it!

There's something really decadent about picking and choosing from a table laden with different tempting dishes. Another essential must be delicious bread.

Speaking of delicious bread – you can buy great varieties, sourdough, focaccia stuffed with olives or not, wraps, the list is endless. Most supermarkets have a good selection of freshly baked artisan breads or you may be lucky and have an artisan bakery on your doorstep. One of my favourites is “Pide” (pronounced pee-day) - a Turkish bread that uses semolina – a perfect addition to a mezze style of eating.

There are so many mezze dishes to choose from – there are the usual suspects that we're all familiar with and that are available ready-made - hummus made with chickpeas, tarama (which is known as taramasalata in Greece) made with smoked cod's roe and baba ganoush (ghanouj) made with aubergine, to name but three.

Whichever cuisine takes your fancy the end result is the same – who doesn't like tearing and sharing bread and dipping in.

You can make your own pide if you fancy having a go …

Just in case you hadn't noticed …

… it's a tad warm out there! We're not used to it in the UK and one of the problems is that it's really difficult to know what to eat.

Everything is a massive effort and the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven. It's just about possible to use a pan on the hob.

We have friends coming to supper and I want to serve something nice and, as importantly, I don't want to spend time in a hot kitchen.

I like variations on a theme - fancy chefs call it fusion.

I think it will be a smidgeon of Spanish, add a dash of Italian and complete with a drop or two of the Middle East with the dressing.

So far I've decided on Stromboli which is basically a rolled up pizza that you slice, which will contain – apart from the standard ingredients like tomato paste and mozzarella – finely sliced chestnut mushrooms, baby spinach and black olives.

My smidgeon of Spanish will be diced chorizo, fried so that it releases its delicious oil. Set aside and when ready to serve, stir fry with finely sliced sweet peppers, blanched asparagus tips and halved baby tomatoes.

My pomegranate molasses dressing will be served with king prawns.

I'm not sure this is the end of my supper menu – just the story so far.

What can I serve to mop up the oil and dressings – piada – small Italian flatbreads. What I love about these is that they are small, manageable and perfect either to mop or to create a small wrap, best of all you don't finish up with food all over yourself as with the larger versions and wreck that beautiful new top you love so much!

More about piada coming next …