Mai Kauwa (Cliff Food)
Crayfish fried in sea parsley and garlic butter sauce garnished with mayo and dried seaweed on a bed of samphire, seablite and karkalla on a whole wheat johnnycake.
Recipe
Serves two people
Ingredients
• Crayfish 1 small tail
• Dried seaweed sea lettuce 4 tsp
• Sea parley 1tsp
• Garlic 1 clover
• Karkalla 1 cup
• Seablite 1 cup
• Samphire 1/2 cup
• Bowers spinach 1/2 cup
• Desert lime Qty 2
• Finger lime Qty 2
• Eggmayo 4 Tbs
• Sea salt 1/2 tsp
• River mint 2 leaves
• Butter 1 Tbs
• Mara Murdumurdu Flatbread Qty 4
Equipment
• Kampa kuru Saucepan • Kuru Bowl
• Tadli tadli frying pan
• Pakipakiti Knife
• Tarralyi Chopping board
• Karnkarnkati Spoon
• Pardupamamati Folk or strainer
Prepration
Cooking
Serves two people
Ingredients
• Crayfish 1 small tail
• Dried seaweed sea lettuce 4 tsp
• Sea parley 1tsp
• Garlic 1 clover
• Karkalla 1 cup
• Seablite 1 cup
• Samphire 1/2 cup
• Bowers spinach 1/2 cup
• Desert lime Qty 2
• Finger lime Qty 2
• Eggmayo 4 Tbs
• Sea salt 1/2 tsp
• River mint 2 leaves
• Butter 1 Tbs
• Mara Murdumurdu Flatbread Qty 4
Equipment
• Kampa kuru Saucepan • Kuru Bowl
• Tadli tadli frying pan
• Pakipakiti Knife
• Tarralyi Chopping board
• Karnkarnkati Spoon
• Pardupamamati Folk or strainer
Prepration
- Pre-make the Mara Murdumurdu Flatbread before making the filling. You can make the Mara Murdumurdu Flatbread 1 or 2 days before but it is always nicer fresh and warm.
- If the crayfish is uncooked take them and place them in a sauce pan of boiling water. Cook the prawns in the boiling water until they turn orange. Remove the cooked crayfish from the boiling water and allow to cool down. Once the crayfish is cool enough to handle. De-shell the tail of the crayfish and remove the entrails of from the tail. Now the crayfish tail is ready.
- Pre-make the mayonnaise dressing. In a bowl mix 4tbs of whole egg mayonnaise, 2 diced river mint leaves, 1 tbs of dice seablite, the pulp of 2 finger limes and the juice of 1 desert lime. Mix the contents together well. Add extra lime or mint to taste. The desert lime can be substituted with any Australian lime, Blood lime, non indigenous lime or lemon juice.
Cooking
- Prepare the coastal vegetables by picking the soft leaves and remove the hard woody stems from the karkalla, seablite, samphire, bowers spinach.
- Take the soft coastal vegetable leaves and blanch them in boiling hot water for 20 to 30 seconds. Remove the coastal vegetable leaves from the boiling water with a strainer or a fork and place in ice cold water for 1 to 2 minutes. Blanching the vegetable will make them turn bright green and it will remove a slight irritant from the bower spinach and the karkalla. It is okay to under blanch the vegetables but don’t over blanch them because they become soft and soggy.
- Drain the coastal vegetable leaves to remove the water.
- Dice the fresh sea parsley and garlic finely.
- Heat the butter in a frying pan on a low heat. Place the diced sea parsley and garlic with the butter in the frying pan. Once the butter has melted and the parsley and garlic is mixed together well but make sure not to burn the butter or the garlic. Added the crayfish and a pinch of sea salt into the hot butter and fry until the crayfish is golden brown. Once the crayfish is golden brown and cooked remove from the heat.
- Finally to serve. Take the warm Mara Murdumurdu Flatbread and fill them with the blanched coastal vegetables and the crayfish. Top the prawns with the mayonnaise and garnish with dried seaweed. Add some lime juice or some salt to taste. Enjoy!