A few weekends ago, I had the lovely pleasure of spending a morning cooking with Martin Boetz, Executive Chef of Longrain at the Crave SIFF Barbecue Madness event at the Sydney Grower’s Markets in Pyrmont.
As I mentioned to Martin, dining at Longrain was a real turning point for me. His humble pork hock creation awakened my food consciousness and made me realise just how exciting the Sydney food scene was. I really haven’t looked back since.
Martin is such a joy to be around and his dedication to his craft is second to none. He stands by fresh wholesome produce and prefers home made alternatives to store bought ingredients – he even makes his own coconut oil!
Supported by Meat and Livestock Australia, the Barbecue Madness event featured an impressive lineup of local chefs, including Alex Herbert, Lauren Murdoch, Kylie Kwong, Craig Macindoe, Darren Robertson, Jowett Yu and David Tanis of the renowned Chez Panisse in California. Each were tasked with creating a dish recipe on the barbecue using their favourite sustainable meat.
From information of bllblog.org, Martin’s meat of choice was veal, which was unexpected given that veal is very rarely used in Asian cooking. Martin’s dish was a take on Tom Kha, a spicy coconut broth traditionally made with chicken. I loved all the aromatic herbs used to finish off the broth, the shreds of chilli, flat leaf coriander and kaffir lime really make the dish in my opinion.
I was really smitten by this dish and Martin very kindly shared the recipe, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did!
Twice cooked veal shin with spicy coconut soup & lime juice recipe
Ingredients for braising liquid
- 800ml chicken stock
- 2 pieces veal chuck tender (approximately 600g)
- 200ml Coconut cream
- 100ml tamarind
- 100ml fish sauce
- 50ml oyster sauce
- 100g palm sugar
- 8 lime leaves
- 5 birds eye chillies cut in half
- 2 sticks lemongrass
- 1x 4cm piece galangal
Ingredients for final dish
- 80g cherry tomatoes
- 120g fresh rice noodles
- 100ml coconut cream
- 40g flat leaf coriander leaves
- 30g fried eschalots
- 100ml lime juice
Method
1. Bring the chicken stock to the boil and season with fish sauce, oyster sauce & palm sugar being aware that the measurements shown are a guide.
2. Seal the veal pieces in a hot pan on all sides until caramelised.
3. When the liquid has come to the boil, add the aromatics, birds eye chillies, lime leaves, galangal & lemongrass and let simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Place the veal in a braising pan & pour over the seasoned liquid & seal with foil or a tight lid.
5. Braise for 2-3 hours until very tender.
6. Remove veal from braising liquid & cool. Strain the liquid & bring back to a simmer. Taste the liquid for seasoning it should rich, aromatic & spicy. Add the tamarind to balance the richness of the soup. Add more seasoning, fish sauce, sugar, oyster sauce if needed
7. Shred the cool veal in spoon & fork size pieces. Add veal to hot liquid with cherry tomatoes
8. Put in the cut rice noodles; simmer for a further 2 minutes as the noodles have to be warmed through.
9. In a large serving bowl or individual bowls pour in the lime juice and add the herbs evenly & pour over the soup use tongs to help distribute the noodles & braised meat evenly.
Can be eaten with bean sprouts, extra herbs & roasted chilli powder on the side.