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Ocean Made Chef: June

Chemen-cured Kingfish, preserved lemon & Pul Biber

Shane Delia, Chef and owner, Maha and Biggie Smalls, Melbourne

Serves 10

This is one Maha’s signature dishes and Shane says, “This dish sums up the cooking at Maha. I think this pairing of the spice, dressing and the Kewpie mayonnaise with the fish is a knock-out.” He adds the fact the Kingfish stays moist through the curing process and is not over-cured maintains the integrity of the fish, “sometimes, you can taste the spice too much and you don’t get the characteristics of the fish,” he say, “but not with this recipe.”

Ingredients

750 gm Hiramasa Kingfish fillets – skin removed (ask your Ocean Made fishmonger to prepare this for you).

Chemen Cure
300 gm paprika
200 gm fenugreek
75 gm coriander seed
75 gm cumin
400 gm salt
400 gm white sugar

Black Aleppo dressing
50 gm black Pul Biber (Aleppo pepper)
150 ml olive oil
5 shallots, finely diced
1 whole preserved lemon, finely diced

Garnish
Half a bunch of kale leaves, chopped
Oil for frying (use a good vegetable oil)

Method

Chemen Cure
Mix all the spices together. Place the fillets in a deep dish and cover them with the spice blend. Place in the fridge for 24 hours.

Take the fillets out of the blend and pat dry with a paper towel.
When ready to serve, slice the fish into 3 cm slices (75 gm per serve).

Black Aleppo dressing
Combine ingredients raw and drizzle over fish when plated.

The Garnish
Deep-fry (or shallow fry) in hot oil until crisp and drain on a paper towel.
Put to one side until you’re ready to dress the Kingfish.

To Serve
Place the pieces of cured Kingfish on a plate, dress with the Black Aleppo dressing, garnish with pieces of fried kale and serve.

About Chef

Shane Delia
Chef and owner, Maha and Biggie Smalls, Melbourne

Much-loved and highly respected Melbourne chef, Shane Delia, is the chef and owner of award-winning Middle Eastern restaurant Maha in the CBD and Biggie Smalls, Collingwood. Shane also works as a presenter on Channel 9 Postcards, hosts his own TV show, Shane Delia’s Spice Journey and has authored two books, Maha Middle Eastern Home Cooking & Spice Journey – Adventures in Middle Eastern Cooking.

Shane opened Maha in 2008 and has been consistently awarded one hat in The Age Good Food Guide every year since 2009. One of the ways he maintains this high standard is in his relationships with great suppliers, like Ocean Made Seafood.

“I’ve been using Ocean Made for 20 years, long before I opened Maha, and George and John have become friends,” he says. “Going to Ocean Made is like going directly to the fisherman, the boys know what I want and what I might be interested in and the standard of produce is always very good.”

https://maharestaurant.com.au
http://biggiesmalls.com.au

Why this recipe?

He also loves the versatility of the cured fish, “you don’t have to serve it like this, you can cut it into a dice and serve as a canapé, or toss the cured fish through a salad. It’s very versatile.”

The kale in the recipe is deep-fried – as it’s quick – but, for the homecook, Shane suggests shallow frying is just as effective.

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