Serves 4

400g Fish Fillets, such as sand whiting, john dory, gurnard or snapper, taken from a medium-sized fish

250g Prepared Medium Sized Squid (pouches about 18cm long).

12 Large Raw Peeled Prawns

Freshly Ground White Pepper

1 tbsp Lime Juice

200g (8 heaped teaspoons) Balinese Spice Paste

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

4 Kaffir Lime Leaves, torn into small pieces

2 fat Lemongrass Stalks, halved and bruised

120ml Asian Chicken Stock

250ml Coconut Milk

Method

Cut the fish into 3-4 cm chunks. Slit the body pouches of the squid along one side, open them out flat and score the inside into a fine diamond patterns with the tip of a small, sharp knife. Cut the squid pouches lengthways into 4 wide strips, and then each strip into 3 pieces. This helps the pieces curl attractively during cooking. Score the fins in the same way and cut each one in half. Separate the tentacles into pairs.

Put the fish and squid into a shallow bowl with the peeled prawns and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt, some pepper and the lime juice. Mix well together. Then add half the spice paste and rub it well all over the pieces of seafood.

Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat. Add the remaining spice paste and fry genteelly for 2-3 minutes until it starts to smell fragrant. Add kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and stock and simmer for 1 minute.

Add the fish (not the squid or the prawns) to the pan and leave to cook for 1 minute then turn them over and cook for a further minute. Add the coconut milk to the pan, together with the squid and prawns, and simmer for 2 minutes until all the seafood is just cooked. Season to taste with a little more salt and lime juice to taste if you wish and serve.

Serves 4

1 large abalone or 8 small farmed abalone
The green part of 4 spring onions thinly sliced (save the white parts for the master stock)
8 medium Shiitake mushrooms sliced
100g cooked vermicelli noodles
3 tablespoons chopped coriander

For the Dressing
150ml oyster sauce
50ml soy sauce
50ml sesame oil
7g ginger
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp mirin

Master Stock
175ml shaoxing wine
175ml dark soy
600ml fish stock
100g yellow rock sugar
4 spring onions whites only
2 star anise
2 cloves garlic
15g ginger chopped
3 pieces mandarin peel, can use orange peel
2 cassia bark or half a stick of cinnamon   

Begin by making the masterstock; Add all ingredients for the stock into a pan and start to heat. Once the liquid starts to boil remove from the heat immediately and leave to cool and infuse.

Meanwhile prepare the abalone;

First you need to release the meat from the shell, Lay the abalone upside down and with a small filleting knife cut between the shell and meat using a quick scraping motion. Reserve and clean the shells for later.

Now you need to remove the stomach and internal organs these are the brown and green coloured flesh parts of the abalone, once these have been removed you should end up with just the white meat.

Next tenderise the meat so it is not tough after cooking. You can use a tenderising mallet to do this or even a rolling pin will be fine. Wrap the Abalone meat in a tea towel ensuring you have folded the towel over the meat 2 or 3 times to protect it, then with your mallet or rolling pin, strike the abalone firmly but not with enough force to smash it to pieces! It should be more of a heavy tap. Unfold the tea towel and check the meat, it should feel soft and tender. If it is still hard repeat the process until the meat has softened.

Once the masterstock has cooled down add the abalone and return to the heat until it begins to boil, remove immediately and place in the fridge to cool.

Now make the dressing by adding all the ingredients together and mixing well.

Once the abalone has cooled enough to handle remove from the masterstock, (you can use the masterstock again but only once more) using a sharp knife slice the abalone into very thin slices.

Once you have finished slicing place into a bowl and add the coriander, mushrooms and the remainder of the spring onions and dress slightly with a little of the dressing.  In a separate bowl also dress the noodles lightly with the dressing.

Place the noodles in the bottom of the cleaned abalone shells from earlier. Carefully place the abalone mix on top of the noodles and steam for 2 to 3 minutes in a pan with boiling water or a steamer for 2 minutes.

Then serve.