Here’s what we put on our seafood platter, a staple on Christmas Day for the RecipeTin Family! Our top tips for what to get, where best to spend your money and where not to, and our favourite seafood sauces. Plus, a video at the Sydney Fish Markets – watch me choose the seafood!

A lifetime of eating seafood!

In today’s recipe, I’m sharing all the items we put on our seafood platter – a staple on Christmas Day! We love the ease (mostly no-cook, just assembling) and because it’s a treat reserved for special occasions. Australian seafood is incredible, but good quality seafood is not cheap!

This is why we are pretty meticulous with research and taste-testing our seafood – we even write nerdy notes to ourselves as reminders, to refine our purchases for the next shop. Because there’s nothing more disappointing than spending hard-earned money on expensive crab only to find it tastes completely bland.

So this post today is essentially our shopping list of what we include on our seafood platter. Learn from all the tips we have picked up over a lifetime of seafood eating, and watch me buy the seafood at the Sydney Fish Markets to put the seafood platter together in today’s video!

SUMMARY – What we put on our seafood platter

Here is a summary list of what goes on our seafood platter. Please see below sections on the why, why not, and extra tips. Note: I’m in Sydney, Australia.

1. pre-cooked seafood, served cold

This is the seafood we get that we purchased pre-cooked, or seafood that is served raw. Everything we get is Australian – we specifically ensure it is because we know it will be better.

1. Prawns (pre-cooked) – Tiger, king or banana prawns.

2. Oysters – Pacific or Sydney Rock (Tasmanian and Merimbula oysters are my favourites)

3. Morton Bay Bugs (over Balmain Bugs) – Pre-cooked.

4. Blue swimmer crabs (best over 350g) – Pre-cooked. Alternatively: Spanner crabs, but read crab section below (including king crab & mud crab advice).

5. Sashimi – Kingfish, tuna, salmon are most common

6. Smoked salmon – Sold in packets, I only get Huon (Tasmanian).

7. Dipping sauces – Our Family Favourite Seafood Sauce, and Tartare or Marie Rose sauce (recipes here)

TIPS: Seafood quality is better at fish mongers and the fish markets, one reason being they look after it better than large chain grocery stores. For all the above, we only get Australian, and seafood that’s undergone as little freezing as possible. The freshest seafood has never been frozen: caught and sold ideally on the same day. However the reality is some seafood has to be snap frozen at sea before reaching market and is sold thawed. This includes even cooked prawns at the fish markets during Christmas time. Done properly, excellent seafood quality is still maintained.

But the point is, the less freezing-thawing cycles, the better. The worst is: Caught > frozen > thawed > cooked > frozen > thawed (like cheap lobster at grocery stores likely is). Quality degrades with each step!

2. luxury seafoods – ONLY BUY if you can afford quality

Here are the top-ticket seafood platter signatures that we strongly recommend only buying if you can afford good quality. And by no means will your platter be any less delicious without them! These are not regulars on our seafood platter.

1. Lobster (crayfish) – Not worth it unless you can afford $100+/kg for high quality lobster. The cheap grocery store lobsters are rubbish (sorry, but they are). Lobster serving recipes here.

2. King crab (~$90/kg) – Everybody loves the big meaty crab legs! While they are sold pre-cooked for convenience, we find the pre-cooked product very hit and miss. King crab is imported which can also play a part in the variability of quality. So we stopped buying pre-cooked king crab after too many disappointments for such an expensive food. Want king crab? Best buy raw legs and cook it yourself.

3. Mud crab (~$90/kg) – Buy it live and cook it yourself (here’s how to prepare mud crab). You don’t see often see frozen or cooked mud crab. If buying cooked mud crab, check with the seller how fresh it is and when it was alive (we are suspicious by nature and assume it was half dead so they cooked it).

3. SEAFOOD WE COOK (SOMETIMES)

While our seafood platter is mostly comprised of cold pre-cooked seafood, if we do have cooked seafood, these are the dishes we most commonly include.

1. Baby octopus – Purchased in bags frozen or raw, marinated then BBQ’d until the legs are charred and crispy! Rare seafood item that freezes well.

2. Mussels – Cooked ahead and served at room temperature (it’s so great!). Mussels are a rare seafood item that vac packs well. Our favourite brand are Kinkawooka blue mussels (best quality, juiciest!) – look for the purple bag, sold even at regular grocery stores.

3. Salt and pepper squid – 3 years in the making, we finally cracked the perfect salt and pepper squid! This is on the RecipeTin Family Christmas menu for this year. Recipe coming before Christmas…

4. STANDARD SIDES

Here are the standard sides we serve alongside a seafood platter:

• Good bread (I love using my Crusty Artisan Bread recipe) with good butter or good extra virgin olive oil – Always!

• Potato salad or macaroni salad – … sometimes

• A Show-Off Salad like this festive Apple Salad with Candied Walnuts and Cranberries or Pomegranate Salad (more Show-Off Salads here)

And honestly, that’s all we do. We keep it simple to let the seafood shine! Also, because Christmas should be about be relaxing not slaving in the kitchen, is our motto.

5. GOING THE EXTRA MILE

If we’re feeling particularly inspired or have VIP guests, we will go the extra mile and add “special” extra dishes. Things we reach for include:

• Christmas Baked Salmon – A big statement side of salmon that’s made for Christmas festivities!

• Crispy Beer Battered Fish – and I exaggerate not when I say they are crispy and stay crispy!

• Crispy Homemade Fries – they’re crispy even long after they cool

• Store bought potato gems (tater tots) – I’m not even going to pretend we attempt to make these. We buy frozen, we love ’em, and I’m not ashamed to tell the world! For special occasions, we even deep fry them instead of baking (OMG I know, you’re horrified).

• Chinese Honey Prawns – OMG YES!!! Crunchier than you’ve ever had at any Chinese restaurant, these will blow your mind!

• Singapore Chilli Crab – A big, giant, statement main.

• Whole Baked Fish – The dill butter sauce is everything….

• Any other seafood or fish recipe – here’s the full collection.

Perfect Crispy French fries

Christmas Baked Salmon: Easy & Make-ahead

Crispy Beer Battered Fish

Singapore Chilli Crab

Whole Baked Fish – Snapper with Garlic & Dill Butter Sauce

Honey Prawns – stays crispy!

Fish recipes

5. seafood sauces

With the above fresh seafood, we simply serve with fresh lemon wedges and two sauces (recipes here):

1. Family Favourite Seafood Sauce – A family staple. Everybody who’s tried this sauce loves it! It’s essentially a mash up of Marie Rose Sauce and Tartare sauce with the added freshness from dill. It’s a bit special, and always a hit.

2. Marie Rose / Thousand Island – The classic pink sauce.

3. Cocktail Seafood Sauce – A piquant red sauce that goes heavier on the tomato sauce (ketchup).

4. Tartare Sauce – It’s amazing how much better homemade tastes, even using jar mayo. Yet so simple!

5. Thai Chilli Lime Sauce – Tangy with lime and hit of sweet chilli, for a lovely no-mayo fresh sauce alternative.

Our standard choice is the Family Favourite Seafood Sauce plus either Marie Rose or Tartare.

Find all the Seafood Dipping Sauces here.

More about each seafood item

I warned you I have a lot to say about seafood!! 😂 So in this section, I’m delving into more details about each.

Prawns

Prawns are a dependable favourite in Australia, and we are blessed with an abundance of excellent quality prawns! The 3 most common varieties are:

1. Tiger prawns – More salty and savoury.

2. King prawns – More of a sweet flavour. (You’d expect them to be larger, but they aren’t always!).

3. Banana prawns – Sweet, mild flavour, and often more economical

We love them all, and will happily eat any of them.

TIPS

• We buy them pre-cooked – Most Australian prawns are cooked soon after being caught, which locks in freshness and flavour. As long as they are fresh, the quality is excellent. You could also buy them raw and boil yourself.

• Be sure to get Australian prawns because the flavour is superior, the flesh is sweeter, and to support the Australian fishing industry! While most tiger and king prawns are locally sourced, imported banana prawns are more common. Just take note of the display label.

• Avoid pre-packaged prawns. They can be less fresh and stinky, beware! If that’s all you can get, take them out well before serving, give them a good rinse then leave to air dry.

• TOP TIP: Ask for a taste test before you buy!

Moreton Bay bugs – the better value lobster

This is one of our gold nugget tips! 🥰

We prefer to eat Moreton Bay bugs instead of lobster. They taste similar to lobster yet are about 70% cheaper at ~$40/kg. In fact, Moreton Bay bugs (and Balmain bugs) are a slipper lobster and are closely related to rock lobsters, so the flavour similarity is not surprising!

Moreton Bay bugs also have a higher meat-to-shell ratio (30-40% yield) than lobster and are easier to cut. They are more compact in shape, so easier to store too. They are caught on the northern part of Australia’s coast, mostly off the coast of Queensland.

We buy them pre-cooked (orange-coloured) which is the most common way they are sold, though you can get them raw (aka “green”, on the right below) and cook yourself (just boil them).

Balmain bugs vs Moreton Bay bugs – Balmain Bugs are the other species of slipper lobsters sold in Australia. We usually buy Moreton Bay over Balmain bugs, as we prefer the milder flavour, find the quality usually more reliable, and they’re also generally larger. Also, just FYI, despite the name, Balmain bugs aren’t actually caught in the Balmain area of Sydney! They are caught across the southern coastline of Australia, though mainly in NSW. But if you can’t find Moreton Bay bugs, Balmain bugs is a solid alternative.

Oysters

Here in Australia, we have two varieties of oysters: Pacific oysters and Sydney Rock oysters. Pacific oysters tend to be larger, with a fleshy, creamy texture. The flavour is clean and mild. Sydney Rock Oysters tend to be smaller, sometimes with yellow-tinged flesh and have a meatier mouthfeel. The flavour is stronger and more complex than Pacific oysters.

I love both of them!

Both these oysters are grown in various areas across Australia, and the region in which they are grown affects quality and flavour. I am particularly fond of Tasmanian-grown oysters (clean flavour without a bitter finish, and some are gigantic!). Merimbula is a Sydney fine-dining favourite source as are Port Stephens and Batemans Bay. Boomer Bay is a recent one I tried that I enjoyed as well.

Buy them already shucked (ie. opened) and serve with lemon wedges, that’s all you need. Though, if you’d like to try a sauce, 3 of our favourites are coming before Christmas!

Crab

I have a bizarre amount of information to share about crab! Possibly because I love crab but it’s expensive – and it’s a pain to pick out the meat especially if you buy certain types. 😂

So here’s my thoughts on crab:

• Blue swimmer crab (~$35/kg) – This Australian favourite is our preference for value, flavour and quality as long as they are on the large size (350g/ 12 oz+). Anything smaller and the ratio of meat-to-shell is too low, and it’s a pain to pick the meat out of tiny legs. Buy it cooked, or buy raw and cook yourself (just boil).

• Spanner crab (~$35/kg) is also good value but the crab’s anatomy is very different to blue swimmer crabs. The meat is mostly in the body, which is proportionally large while the claws are small and flat. The crab flesh is deliciously sweet. However it is quite fine and more crumbly than other crabs. Buy it cooked. You don’t often see it raw.

• King crab – People love king crab because of the extremely meaty legs and claws, and the firm, sweet flesh. But it’s expensive! We recommend giving frozen cooked king crab a miss. Over the years, we’ve found it hit and miss, as it’s sometimes disappointingly flavourless – such a waste of money 😭. If you want king crab, buy the uncooked legs and cook yourself. Note that king crab is mostly imported and as a general rule, this can affect reliability of quality. Excess freezing really seems to degrade the quality of crab.

• Mud crab – The king of all Aussie crabs! We love it (especially Singapore Chilli Crab), but as it is sold live it is quite expensive and you have to cook it yourself. You rarely see it frozen or pre-cooked. When we do, we are suspicious as it’s hard to know how fresh the crab was prior to cooking.

Cutting crab for serving – directions in the recipe card! There’s even a video.

Sashimi (raw fish)

Yes, we do! Totally at home on a seafood platter 🙂

There’s no need to get loads, just a little bit, for extra variety in the platter amongst all that shellfish. We just go to the sashimi bar at the Sydney Fish Markets and get what looks good or what we feel like. Kingfish, tuna and salmon are favourites, but we love to mix it up if there are other interesting fish varieties on offer.

Smoked salmon

A nice easy one to include on the seafood platter. Everybody loves it, and again, it adds to variety and abundance!

The only smoked salmon I get is Huon Salmon. I know there’s a lot of debate about the sustainability of salmon farming here in Australia. However based on my research (and also a visit to their farms in Tasmania), I believe Huon’s farming practices to be more sustainable than the other major brand here in Australia and imported economical brands, and kinder to local wildlife.

Cooked mussels

A recent addition to our cold seafood platter: cooked mussels served at room temperature. It’s so good! They present nicely if you dice up the vegetables really small so you can scatter them on the mussels for presentation purposes. Serve them in the half shell, spooning some mussel cooking liquor sauce into the shells to keep them moist and add some lovely extra flavour.

The mussels pictured above were cooked using this cookbook recipe but this recipe will also work (similar). Just remember to dice up the vegetables extra small for an elegant look, like pictured above.

Our favourite brand of mussels is Kinkawooka which are available at grocery stores as well as fish mongers. Compared to other brands, the mussels are considerably heavier which means they are meatier and juicier.

Lobster (actually, crayfish)

So, here’s the thing with lobster. It is not a regular on our seafood platters. As noted above, we usually get Moreton Bay bugs instead because it’s so similar but far better value and logistically easier to cut, store etc.

However, I do have knowledge to impart about lobster because I have a friend who catches local lobsters and shares them with me. Also, there was that time during the pandemic when our lobster export industry came to a standstill due to trade tensions with China, so there was an abundance of lobsters usually sold upwards of $100 at fish mongers going for $20 at regular grocery stores.

So I’ve actually developed a fair amount of experience cooking with lobster without shelling out an extortionate amount to buy them!

Buying lobster

If you want lobster on your seafood platter, just to reiterate what I’ve said multiple times earlier, be prepared to pay top dollar for it – $100/kg+. There is honestly no point buying the cheap ones (~$10 tails) at grocery stores, they taste like nothing! You are better off using that budget for more prawns.

Choose Australian lobster – cooked is great (it’s boiled freshly caught at sea). Then head over to my lobster recipes to choose one! There are 6 lobster recipes, all of which are suited for inclusion in a seafood platter, along with how to cut and prepare lobster.

PS It’s crayfish, not lobster

And just for a bit of food trivia: What most people call “lobster” here in Australia technically are not lobsters, they are crayfish. They are almost the same in appearance, but they don’t have the giant pincers that lobsters have in the US and Europe. We don’t have true lobsters here in Australia. 😊

Why we buy pre-cooked seafood

Our seafood platter is predominantly cold seafood that we purchased already cooked. The reason for this is simple – the quality of pre-cooked seafood here in Australia is excellent (if you know what to buy) and it’s convenient.

If you’re thinking – surely raw seafood I cook myself is going to be better – it can be true, but it’s often pricier and extra work to prepare!

Actually, pre-cooked seafood can be some of the best tasting seafood you buy because it’s boiled at sea as soon as it is caught, locking in fresh flavour when it is at its prime. Prawns are a great example of this, with most prawns sold at fish mongers here in Australia sold pre-cooked.

Pre-cooking also deals with the logistical challenge associated with how highly perishable seafood is because it extends the shelf life, as well as making the seafood more affordable for consumers.

Where I buy seafood

For special occasions, I go to the Sydney Fish Markets where you get better selection and more consistently higher quality. But on a day to day basis, I just go to my local fish monger.

I generally do not buy seafood from the grocery store, just because I find the quality is not that great and is not always handled with the care it should be.

I do think though that here in Australia, we are very lucky to have an abundance of good quality seafood, so even seafood from grocery stores is actually not that bad. I’m just a bit fussy – I’d rather indulge in seafood less often and spend a little more to get good quality seafood when I do. That’s just the way I roll.

How we put together the seafood platter

And with all that information and opinions shared, we finally arrive at the serving and eating part!

For the RecipeTin Family, one of the things that appeals to us about a seafood platter is that it’s essentially no-cook, and it’s a cold main which is ideal for hot summer Aussie Christmases. So you literally pull it out of the fridge, pile it up onto platters then serve!

OK, OK. I can give a little more guidance here, in case you’re interested. Here we go:

1. Ice bed – If we have ice, we will spread that onto a big serving platter, tray or multiple plates. This not only keeps the seafood cold, but also provides a nice non-slip bed to put the seafood on.

2. Assembling – Pile the seafood on the ice, randomly scatter lemon wedges around then nestle in bowls of sauces. A few sprigs of parsley might also make it onto the platter – but that’s really going above and beyond. 😂

Laying out the seafood

There’s no rules for the way I lay out the seafood, except logistical considerations:

• Oysters laid out mostly in a single layer or carefully shingled to avoid the oyster juices from spilling

• Mussels laid out the same as oysters so the sauce stays in without spilling

• Prawns, Moreton Bay bugs and crab – piled high (reserve the crab carapace (top shell) for decoration)

• Sashimi – fanned out

• Smoked salmon – randomly draped around

Matters of serving (tip: finger bowls!)

To serve, we put the platters out along with plenty of napkins, bowls for discarded shells and finger bowls of water with lemon slices for people to dip their hands in for a brief clean before diving back in for more seafood.

How else can I help you?

And with that, I think I am done! Or – am I? Are there any critical things I’ve missed? Is there other seafood you’d like to know about? Such as, let’s say, abalone. A highly prized delicacy here in Australia – why doesn’t it make our cut, you may be wondering??

This and any other questions you have, please leave them below and we will do our best to address them and update this post with extra information. I can’t promise I will continue to do this beyond Christmas 2023, but I can promise that we will monitor questions and update this post leading up to Christmas Day. Because the whole purpose of doing today’s post is to help readers who want to put together an amazing seafood platter!

I hope you find this useful and enjoy the little video of my shopping trip to the Sydney Fish Markets to choose and purchase seafood for the seafood platter featured in this post. – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Video of me choosing seafood at the Sydney Fish Markets and putting a seafood platter together:

Also, a little tutorial on how to cut and prepare Moreton Bay Bugs and Balmain Bugs for your seafood platter:

Print

Seafood Platter

Video above! This is what we put on our seafood platter. Our preference is to buy most seafood pre-cooked (boiled at sea) and serve it cold. See the post above for why we choose these items – it's all about best quality and best value for money! Varieties of seafood specified are for Australia.

Top tips: Buy Australian (or locally caught, wherever you are in this world) and where possible buy fresh rather than thawed/frozen (most seafood loses quality when frozen). Don't buy cheap lobster, it's a total waste of money. Get Moreton Bay bugs instead (it's so similar, but cheaper) or more prawns instead. Avoid buying pre-packaged if you can, it's fresher from open displays!

Course Main

Cuisine Australian, Western

Keyword seafood platter

Servings 8

Author Nagi

Ingredients

• 2 kg / 3 lb whole prawns , pre-cooked, shell on (Tiger, King or Banana prawns)
• 24 oysters – Sydney Rock or Pacific , love both (Tasmanian, Merimbula and Port Stephens are favourites)
• 4 blue swimmer crabs (400g/14oz+) (not smaller), pre-cooked in shell, whole
• 8 Moreton Bay bugs , pre-cooked in shell, whole (fallback – Balmain Bugs)
• 200g / 7 oz smoked salmon (Huon is the only Australian one I get)
• 250g / 8 oz sashimi , pre-sliced (tuna, kingfish or salmon)
• 1 kg / 2 lb mussels – cooked, served at room temp (Note 5)

Seafood Sauces (choose 2) – all recipes here:

• Cocktail Seafood Sauce
• Tartare Sauce
• Marie Rose / Thousand Island (top pick)
• Thai Chilli Lime Sauce
• RecipeTin Family Favourite Seafood Sauce (top pick)

Other sauces:

• Sauces for oysters (selection coming next week)
• Soy sauce and wasabi , for sashimi

Serving:

• Ice , optional (crushed if you can, else normal)
• Lemon wedges (lots!)
• Parsley sprigs (for decorating, if you're feeling fancy)
• Bowls , to discard shells
• Finger bowls , filled with water and lemon slices
• Napkins (lots!)

Our standard side dishes

• Good bread with good butter or good extra virgin olive oil (Try this easy Crusty Artisan Bread)
• Perky green salad or vegetable sticks (crudites), see in post for suggestions
• Lots of cold beer, wine and champagne!

Extra dishes pictured in post and the video

• Marinated crispy baby octoptus
• The crispiest salt and pepper squid (recipe coming soon!)
• Cheese and crackers (because I just have to!)
• More extras – see notes

Instructions

• Purchase all seafood as close as possible to the serving date. We often do the 5AM shop at the Sydney Fish Markets on Christmas Eve, because we are slightly crazy! We don't order online (we like to choose our own).
• Storage – Cooked seafood will easily keep 2 days, fresh raw for cooking will too if you take it out of the plastic bags, put in a colander or similar and very loosely cover with cling wrap (breathing = less stinky).
• Crab – To cut the crab, follow directions in How to Cut a Whole Crab except DO NOT cut off the claws if you are using a Blue Swimmer Crab. (See note)
• Moreton Bay bug – To cut the bug, flip it on to its back. Cut down through the middle (the shell is not too hard). Clean out the yellow and brown matter in the head, then it's ready to serve. Recipe video above.
• Sauce – Make your sauces of choice. They will be used for dipping prawns, Moreton Bay bugs and crab (I also use for vegetable sticks and bread!). Refrigerate until required (2 days+).
• Mussels – Make mussels, if using. Great served at room temperature on a cold seafood platter.

Assembling:

• Ice (optional) – Cover a large platter with ice. This keeps the seafood cold as well as providing a non-slip bed.
• Pile the prawns, crab and bugs on to the platter. Drape smoked salmon randomly around. Fan out the sushi.
• Oysters – Place them level to avoid the juices in the shells spilling out (what a waste!).
• Mussels – Break off one shell, and serve in the remaining shell. Then place the mussels in a single layer, or shingled (stacked but level). Spoon on a little of the diced vegetables and some reserved mussel cooking liquor.
• Sauce and lemon – Nestle bowls filled with sauces amongst the seafood and scatter over lemon wedges. Serve alongside finger bowls for cleaning and bowls to discard shells, and lots of napkins. Fill glasses with wine, cheers to Christmas! Now dive in!

Notes

Extra suggestions to add on the side: Christmas Baked Salmon, Crispy Beer Battered Fish, Homemade Fries, frozen store bought potato gems (tater tots), Chinese Honey Prawns, Singapore Chilli Crab, Whole Baked Fish any other seafood or fish recipe – here’s the full collection.

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See in post for more tips and thoughts on each item listed. Summary points below!

1. Prawns – Tiger, king and banana prawns in Australia are all great, though if I had to pick one I’d choose tiger prawns (I love the salty slightly more intense flavour). Watch out for imported – Australian prawns are superior in flavour.
2. Oyster – Both Sydney Rock (smaller, stronger flavour) and Pacific (fleshier, cleaner flavour) oysters are great. These are the two varieties here in Australia. The quality and flavour comes down to where and how they are grown.
3. Moreton Bay bugs – The “better value lobster”!. At ~$40/kg, they’re easier to cut, to eat and have a higher meat-to-shell ratio. There’s really no point getting cheap lobster, tastes of nothing. If you get lobster, you need to spend $100/kg+. Don’t bother with cheap lobster!
4. Crab – Blue swimmer crabs for the best for flavour (in our view) and value, but don’t get small ones <350g/12oz, it’s a pain to get the meat out. Spanner crab is also great but all the meat is in the shell (cut per same directions). Mud crab and king crab – please read in post for our view on these (buy raw, make sure it’s Australian, and cook yourself), they are expensive so get it right!
5. Mussels – cooked using this cookbook recipe or this recipe,  but dice the vegetables very small (to use as garnish on mussels). Cool to room temperature then serve on platter.

Life of Dozer

One of my favourite photos of Dozer in the cookbook. Buried smack bang in the middle of the book, it must be quite a shock for people who don’t know me to be flicking through tasty food photos then suddenly come across this!! 😂 (Page 174, Restaurant Worthy Prawn Linguine).

The post What we put on our seafood platter appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

This is a fish pasta in a richly flavoured fish ragu pasta sauce. It’s a great recipe to stretch fish further and cook it in a unique way that’s outrageously delicious with big, bold Italian Calabrian spices!

Calabrian Fish Ragu Pasta

I feel like the name of today’s recipe requires explanation.

I’m calling this a ragu because it’s stewy and braisy and has beautiful depth of flavour even though it hasn’t been slow cooked for hours like my Shredded Beef Ragu. Because, NEWSFLASH, it doesn’t have to be slow cooked for hours to be called a ragu!

As for the Calabrian part of the name? It’s because the seasoning is inspired by the flavours of Calabria: chillies and particularly nduja, the intensely-flavoured salami paste from the region that’s rising in popularity in the foodie world. Stuffed in focaccias, dolloped on pizzas, mixed into pasta sauces, this fiery spread has big, bold flavours and a little bit goes a long way.

So, as you might have guessed, this is a fish pasta that is big on flavour. I love that it tastes exotic and restaurant-y but it’s economical and easy!

Ingredients in this Fish Ragu Pasta

Here’s what you need to make this.

1. The fish

Key to this pasta is the spice mix for the fish. As mentioned earlier, the flavours in this fish pasta are based on the seasoning on nduja which is a type of salami. So, think – fennel and paprika with a hit of spiciness. Bold is the word that comes to mind!

Best fish for this pasta

Any firm white fish fillets (skinless and boneless) can be used in this recipe. Here are some suggestions: snapper, John or Silver dory, barramundi, bream, tilapia, pollock, cod, flathead, perch, ling, bass, basa, hake, hoki, monkfish (pricey here, so I reserve for other uses like this recipe). If using frozen, thaw thoroughly and pat dry before using.

I recommend avoiding:

• Fish that dry out easily when cooked – Like swordfish, tuna, bonito, kingfish, marlin.

• Delicate and thin-filleted fish – Like flounder, sole, plaice, turbot, whiting. The texture of the flesh is a bit too delicate for this type of cooking.

• Oily fish – Like sardines or mackerel. A bit too overwhelming, flavours don’t quite match.

The Calabrian spices

• Whole fennel and black peppercorns – These are toasted then ground, for maximum flavour impact. I would not ask you to make the effort to toast and grind if I really didn’t believe it was worth it. It is! However, I have substitutions in the recipe notes for ground fennel and pepper, if that’s all you have.

• More spices – Nutmeg, paprika, chilli flakes (red pepper flakes). Feel free to dial back the chilli if you’re concerned about spicineess.

2. In the pasta and the sauce

• Pasta – Any long strand thinnish pasta is ideal here. I use fettuccine.

• Tomato passata – This is pureed, strained pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of Mutti tomato passata sold at Walmart). It’s readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces. It costs around the same as canned tomato.

  Passata is excellent for making thick, smooth sauces and soups without a long simmer time like required to break down crushed tomato. A regular in my recipes! More on tomato passata here.

• Tomato paste – A boost of tomatoey flavour and to help thicken the sauce.

• Garlic – Because, garlic. Rarely do savoury recipes happen around here without garlic!

• Parsley and parmesan – garnishes. I know parmesan isn’t strictly traditional in Italian fish and seafood pastas. But, it works. We’re not after loads of parmesan cheesiness. It just adds saltiness.

3. pangrattato

Pangrattato is an Italian chunky breadcrumb topping that adds an addictive crunch and flavor to pasta dishes and salads. I particularly like it with this fish ragu as it adds great texture and is a terrific contrast to the soft fish.

• Bread – Use a denser bread like sourdough, ciabatta etc which have structure and go really crunchy when toasted. Lightweight sandwich bread is a little too delicate and kind of just dissolves into powder, bypassing the crunch completely. BUT – if sandwich bread is all you have, I’d still go ahead! Or, substitute with panko breadcrumbs.

• Oil and salt – To make it crunchy and salty.

How to make fish ragu

As mentioned earlier, this is a ragu but it doesn’t have to be slow cooked for hours! In fact, if you can multi-task, you’ll get this on the table in just over 20 minutes.

1. pangrattato first

Get the pangrattato in the oven first. Toss the bread in olive oil and salt, then bake in a 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan-forced) oven for 10 minutes until crisp all the way through.

2. CALABRIAN SPICED FISH NEXT

Next up, toast the spices and coat the fish in the tasty flavours.

1. Toast the fennel and black peppercorns for a couple of minutes until it smells fragrant and you can see the fennel is lightly browned. Use a large deep skillet or pot, something large enough to toss the pasta with the sauce later. No oil required at this stage.

2. Grind the spices using a mortar and pestle, or a grinder.

3. Coat the fish with the ground fennel and peppercorns, nutmeg, chilli flakes, sugar, salt, olive oil plus the tomato paste.

4. Once coated, set aside while you prep the other ingredients. No need to marinate.

3. MAKING THE PASTA

The pasta sauce takes around the same time to cook as the pasta so you can make both at the same time.

1. Boil pasta for the time per the packet directions minus 1 minute. It should be al dente – cooked through but still a slight firm but. It will soften more as it cooks through more when tossed with the pasta sauce.

   Scoop out about 1 1/2 cups of pasta cooking water. We will need this for the pasta tossing at the end.

2. Cook fish – Sauté the garlic until golden, then add the fish (scrape out every bit of the paste!) and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add the tomato passata and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. The fish ragu sauce – This is what it looks like before the tossing process starts. Notice how the fish pieces are still whole at this stage. Some of the pieces will flake and break when we toss with the pasta, some will stay mostly whole. I find that texture the most appealing for me.

   What we don’t want is for all the fish to disintegrate. It’s so much nicer to have fish chunks so you know you’re eating fish rather than unidentifiable mush!

5. Add reserved pasta cooking water and simmer for a further 2 minutes. The pasta cooking water has starch in it which makes the sauce thicken so it clings to the pasta strand. You will see in the next step!

6. Toss with pasta – Then add the pasta and most of the parlsey. Toss, still on the stove, for 1 minute or until the pasta strands are stained red and all the fish ragu is clinging to the pasta strands rather than pooled in the pan.

   If the pasta gets too thick (excessively enthusiastic tossing, heat too high are typical causes), just add a splash of extra pasta cooking water to thin it out and give it another good toss!

Now, it’s ready for serving. Twirl into bowls and cover liberally with a shower of the crunchy pangrattato and finish with parmesan!

Matters of serving fish ragu

As with any pasta, this fish ragu is best served and eaten piping hot and fresh, straight out of the pan while the pasta is sticky and slippery and saucy. As it sits around, the pasta continues to absorb the liquid, drying it out so it’s thick and stodgy.

So, whenever you are making any pasta, be sure to have the hungry hoards at the table, ready to twirl and slurp the moment you bring the pasta bowls to the table, for maximum enjoyment!

Really hope you love this as much as I do. The fish ragu is divine as it is. But with that crunchy pangrattato? It’s sheer perfection. Enjoy! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Calabrian Fish Ragu

Recipe video above. This is a fish pasta in a richly spiced fish ragu pasta sauce. The spice mix is based on njuda, the bold flavoured spreadable Calabrian salami paste that's rising in popularity in the restaurant scene! It's a great way to make fish stretch further, cooked in a unique way that's outrageously delicious with big, bold Southern Italian flavours.

No stale bread? Use panko instead. See notes. 3 servings? I know it's a little odd, but the spice mix didn't scale down neatly to make pasta for 2! (3/8 tsp nutmeg?!). Leftovers are always delicious.

Course Mains

Cuisine Italian-esque

Keyword fish pasta, fish ragu

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Calories 714cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

Calabrian spiced fish:

• 250g/ 8 oz firm white fish fillets , skinless, boneless, cut into 2 cm / 0.8″ cubes (barramundi, snapper, cod – Note 1)
• 3/4 tsp black peppercorns (Note 2 for ground option)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds (Note 2 for ground option)
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika (sub ordinary paprika)
• 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes (red pepper flakes), feel free to reduce/omit
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 1/2 tsp caster / superfine sugar
• 3/4 tsp cooking / kosher salt
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste

Pasta:

• 250g/8 oz linguine pasta (or fettuccine, spaghetti)
• 1 tbsp cooking / kosher salt , for pasta water
• 1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves , finely minced
• 3/4 cup tomato passata (US: tomato puree, Note 3)

Garnish:

• 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• Parmesan cheese , finely grated, for serving

Pangrattato

• 1 cup stale bread like sourdough, ciabatta , crusts removed, torn/chopped into irregular 1cm/0.4" pieces (Note 4)
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pinch cooking / kosher salt

Cups – Metric

Instructions

• Toast & grind – Preheat a large deep skillet or pot over medium heat (Note 5), no oil. Toast black peppercorn and fennel for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes until it smells fragrant and the fennel is lightly browned. Transfer to a mortar and use a pestle and grind to a powder while still hot.
• Coat fish – Transfer to a medium bowl with remaining Calabrian spiced fish ingredients. Stir well with a spatula until combined. Set aside.
• Cook pasta – Boil 3 litres of water with the cooking salt. Cook pasta per packet directions minus 1 minute. Just before draining, scoop out 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking water. Then drain in a colander and leave until ready to use.
• Calabrian fish ragu – While the pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in the same skillet you used to toast the fennel on medium high. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the fish. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Add tomato passata. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Toss pasta – Add pasta and 3/4 of the parsley. Toss for 1 minute to coat the pasta with the sauce. Most of the fish will break up into flakes but some will remain in larger chunks – this is good! We don't want disintegrated mush, nor giant chunks. Once the pasta turns red and the sauce and fish bits are clinging to the pasta straws, remove from heat and divide between bowls immediately.
• Serve – Sprinkle with pasta, pangrattato and parmesan. Eat immediately!

Pangrattato:

• Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan-forced).
• Toss bread, oil and salt in a small bowl. Spread on a tray and bake for 10 minutes, tossing at the 5 minute mark, or until light golden and fully crisp.

Notes

1. Firm white fish fillets – Works best with fairly firm white fish fillets that are not too thick. Some suggestions: snapper, John or Silver dory, barramundi, bream, tilapia, pollock, cod, flathead, perch, ling, bass, basa, hake, hoki. If using frozen, thaw thoroughly and pat dry before using.

I recommend avoiding:

• Fish that dry out easily when cooked – Like swordfish, tuna, bonito, kingfish, marlin.
• Delicate and thin-filleted fish – Like flounder, sole, plaice, turbot, whiting. The texture of the flesh is a bit too delicate for this type of cooking.
• Oily fish – Like sardines or mackerel. A bit too overwhelming, flavours don’t quite match.

2. Grinding whole spices will give the best flavour in this recipe, it really makes a difference here. I only emphasise this when it matters, I will use pre-ground whenever I can! But you can use pre-ground if that’s all you’ve got. 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper and 1/2 tsp fennel powder. No toasting, just mix in with other spices.

3. Tomato passata – Pureed, strained pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of Mutti tomato passata sold at Walmart). Readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces. Excellent for making thick, smooth sauces. More on tomato passata here.

4. Back up – use 1/2 cup panko instead, toast for shorter time. If the bread isn’t stale that’s fine too, it’ll take a little longer to go crunchy and is a little harder to cut into small pieces.

5. Cooking vessel needs to be large enough to toss the sauce with the pasta.

6. Recipe reference – inspired by this recipe torn out from the Delicious magazine during a flight. Though, my resulting recipe is very different. Much saucier (good thing), faster (also a good thing) with bolder flavours (that’s just how I roll!).

7. Leftovers will keep for 3 days in the fridge. Warm in microwave with a splash of water and toss well. Store pangrattato in the pantry.

Nutrition per serving assuming 3 servings.

Nutrition

Calories: 714cal | Carbohydrates: 86g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 18g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 3264mg | Potassium: 844mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 1661IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 5mg

More things to make with fish!

Chilli Lime Fish

Fish Tacos

Sizzling Ginger Steamed Fish

Goan Fish Curry (Indian)

Fish Seasoning (great all-rounder)

Thai Fish Cakes

Homemade Filet-O-Fish (BAKED!!)

Fish Cakes

Fish Fingers recipe

Fish recipes

Life of Dozer

My house needed a major air-out over the weekend after a particularly intense week of spice-heavy cooking, so I left all the doors open all day to create a nice breezeway.

Dozer was put on front door guard duty. I felt totally safe.

The post Calabrian Fish Ragu Pasta appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Sizzling Ginger Steamed Fish – named as such because the ginger and green onion topping sizzles dramatically when you pour hot oil over oven steamed fish! An incredibly simple way to make a healthy fish recipe a whole lot more exciting with fresh Asian flavours.

Sizzling Ginger Steamed Fish

Does anybody jump up and down with excitement at the thought of steamed fish for dinner? Healthy , yes. But also….kinda bland….

I know, I know, I really need to grow up. I can already see my mother rolling her eyes when she reads this. 😂

However, today’s Sizzling Ginger Fish is a steamed fish recipe I DO get excited about!

It’s a simpler version of a Cantonese dish where a whole fish is steamed, drizzled with soy sauce then hot oil is poured over a green onion and ginger topping which makes it sizzle dramatically. If you’re a whole fish kind of person (and every chef will tell you it’s the best way to cook fish) here’s my recipe, pictured below.

Traditional Cantonese whole Sizzling Ginger Fish which today’s recipe is based

Today, I’m sharing an easier version. Same flavours and the same dramatic sizzling (I was never going to give that up!). Except we’re using fish fillets and steaming them in the oven inside foil packets. Which means – less washing up. Excellent!

That dramatic hot oil sizzle!

The key step in this recipe is the hot oil drizzle. Just 1 tablespoon per fillet, and 3 important things happen:

1. the hot oil semi-cooks the green onion and ginger which also flavours the oil itself;

2. it gently sears the surface of the fish; and

3. the oil runs off the fish into the foil boat to mingle with the soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking sake and fish juices to create an extraordinarily tasty sauce.

Excessive squidging of every bite of fish in that tasty sauce is not only strongly encouraged, it’s an essential part of the eating experience!

Ingredients in Sizzling Ginger Steamed Fish

Here’s what you need to make this.

Best fish

Fish type and shape – More delicate white fish fillets, skinless. Thin fillets recommended, around 1.5cm / 2/3″ thick (at the thickest point), for better sizzling surface area to fish ratio. The recipe does work fine with thicker fillets but the bake time will be longer than the 12 minutes per the recipe.

Great fish for this recipe – barramundi, snapper, basa, jewfish, blue eye cod (trevalla), tilapia, cod, halibut, pollock, hake, John Dory, silver dory, gummy shark (flake). I think salmon and trout are a little too strong flavoured – though the recipe will work fine.

Meatier, firmer fish like ling and monkfish work fine but personally for this dish, I think it’s better with slightly softer white fish fillets (better sauce dispersion throughout flakes).

Remember, the shape of fish means that you get thick cuts from the main body as well as thin cuts from towards the tail. Opt for the thinner cuts!

Frozen fish works just fine, thaw then pat dry well before using.

Fish to avoid

I recommend avoiding:

• Fish that dry out easily when cooked – Like swordfish, tuna, bonito, kingfish, marlin, mackerel. Unless you’re extremely careful they can become dry inside so are very prone to overcooking in the oven. I feel these fish are (mostly) better in raw/rare form such as Ceviche, Poke Bowls, Tartare (also see Tuna Steak);

• Oily, “fishy” fish – Like mullet and sardines (try this recipe for sardines!).

The sizzling sauce & toppings

The sesame oil, soy and cooking sake are the seasonings. The ginger and green onion are the fresh aromatics, the red chilli is for colour and a hint of warmth (entirely optional). The oil creates the sizzle – when poured over the ginger and green onion!

• Cooking sake – This is Japanese sake intended for cooking purposes (not pleasant to drink). Like Chinese cooking wine, white and red wine used in Western cooking, it adds a touch of depth of flavour that you can really only get from alcohol.

  Find it in the Asian aisle of large grocery stores, and Asian stores. If you can’t consume alcohol, just leave it out.

• Soy sauce – Use light or all-purpose soy sauce. Do not use dark soy sauce, too intense!

• Sesame oil (toasted) – Use toasted sesame oil which is brown and has more flavour than untoasted (which is yellow). Default sesame oil sold in Australia is toasted, untoasted is harder to find.

• Peanut oil – Or any other neutral flavoured oil.

• Ginger – Fresh ginger, julienned finely (ie very fine batons) so they partially cook when the hot oil is poured over!

• Green onion – The green part only, finely sliced on the diagonal. We only use the green part because it’s more delicate so it too partially cooks when the hot oil is poured over.

• Red chilli is for visual purposes mainly and a touch of warm spice (large chillies are not that spicy). Feel free to omit.

How to make Sizzling Ginger Fish

Foil packets serve a double purpose – all the moisture is locked inside as the fish steams gently, plus minimal washing up!

1. Season fish – Place a ~25cm/10″ sheet of foil on a work surface and top with a piece of paper that is slightly smaller, as pictured. Put the fish on the paper, sprinkle each side with a pinch of salt and pepper then drizzle the top only with the cooking sake.

2. Paper packet – Wrap the fish up in the paper first, folding the seams to seal. No need to be a present-wrapping master here, just as long as it’s mostly sealed to keep in the steam!

3. Foil packet – Then wrap the paper packet up with the foil.

4. Bake – Place the foil packets on a tray and bake for 12 minutes at 200°C/400°F (180°C fan) or until the internal temperature is 55°C/130°F. I pierce thermometer through foil. If you don’t have a thermometer, just open the packet and ensure the fish flesh flakes.

   12 minutes?! Is that long enough? Yes it is, if you have a fairly thin fillet around 1.7cm / 2/3″ thick that weighs 180g/6 oz. Thin fish cooks fast when enclosed!

5. Rest 3 minutes – Remove fish from the tray and put on dinner plates. Open the packets – careful of hot steam! Scrunch/fold down the sides to form a sauce-catching moat around the fish. Leave to rest for 3 minutes while you heat the oil.

6. Heat oil – Put the oil in a small saucepan or skillet on medium high. Heat the oil up – it will take less than a minute. You don’t need it so hot the oil is smoking. Just hold your hand above the oil and you will feel the heat. Also, oil gets thinner when hot.

7. Fish toppings – Pile the green onion, ginger and chilli (if using) on each fish. Drizzle over the soy and sesame oil.

8. Sizzle! Pour the hot oil over the toppings. True to it’s name, it will bubble and sizzle dramatically! As described earlier, the oil cooks / is flavoured by the green onion and ginger and it gently sears the surface of the fish. Then when it settles in the foil boat it mixes up with the soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking sake and fish juices to form part of a tasty sauce that you squidge every bite of fish in.

   Now – time to dig in!

Matters of eating Sizzling Ginger Fish

Sizzling Ginger Fish is designed to be eaten out of the foil boat. The idea is that the foil boat holds all the sauce in, and as you break off the tender flakes of fish, you swish it around in the sauce before eating it.

Plus, if you’ve used a good juicy piece of fish, you should actually have plenty of sauce to use for dressing up a bowl of rice on the side to fill out your meal. Add a bowl of instant miso soup (THERE IS NO SHAME) and you’ve got a brilliantly effortless, healthy dinner that’s something a little bit different to the usual.

And look at that! Hardly any dishes to wash up. You kitchen goddess, you. (Or god) – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Sizzling ginger steamed fish

Recipe video above. Named as such because the ginger and green onion topping sizzles dramatically when you pour hot oil over oven steamed fish! An incredibly simple way to make a healthy steamed fish recipe a whole lot more exciting with fresh Asian flavours.

Squidge every bite of fish very well in the sauce before eating. The sauce is really tasty – it will surprise you.

Course Light mains, Main

Cuisine Asian

Keyword ginger fish, ginger shallot fish, steamed fish

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Calories 343cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

• 2 x 180g/ 6 oz thinnish white fish fillet , skinless (~1.5 cm/ 2/3" thick) (Note 1)
• 1 tsp cooking sake (sub mirin, Chinese cooking wine, dry sherry) (Note 2)
• Small pinch salt
• Small pinch white pepper (sub black)

TOPPING (divide between 2 fish):

• 1/2 cup green onion , green part only, finely sliced on diagonal (Note 3)
• 2 tbsp ginger , finely julienned (Note 3)
• 1 tbsp large red chilli , deseeded finely julienned on diagonal, optional (Note 4)

SAUCE (divide between 2 fish):

• 2 tsp light soy sauce , or all-purpose soy (Note 5)
• 2 tsp sesame oil , toasted
• 2 tbsp peanut oil (or veg, canola, grapeseed)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F (180°C fan).
• Prepare parcel – Place a 2 x 25cm / 10" piece of foil on a work surface. Top with a piece of parchment/baking paper slightly smaller. Place fish on paper.
• Season fish & wrap – Sprinkle each side of the fish with a SMALL pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle the top of each fish with 1/2 tsp sake. Form a parcel – make a parcel with the paper first, then the foil. (See video or step photos).
• Bake – Place parcels on a tray. Bake for 12 minutes or until the internal temperature is 55°C/130°F (I pierce thermometer through foil) or the fish flesh flakes (open to check). Thin fish cooks fast when enclosed!
• Rest 3 min – Put each parcel on a plate and unwrap, folding down the sides to create a “boat” that will catch the sauce that you can squidge the fish in. Rest for 3 minutes – heat the oil while it rests.
• Heat oil until hot in a tiny saucepan or small pan over medium heat.
• Sizzle! Top the fish with green onion, ginger and chilli. Drizzle with soy and sesame oil. Pour oil all over the green onion and ginger – it will sizzle dramatically!
• Serve immediately. Eat fish out of foil, squidging the flaky pieces well in the sauce before eating. See post for what I served it with!

Notes

1. Fish – Try to use a thinnish piece of fish for a better ratio of sizzling surface area to flesh. Recipe works just fine for thick fillets too (longer bake time) but I really prefer thinner fillets.

Great fish for this recipe: barramundi, snapper, basa, jewfish, blue eye cod (trevalla), tilapia, cod, halibut, pollock, hake, John Dory, silver dory, gummy shark (flake). Think salmon and trout flavours are a little too strong – though the recipe will work fine. See Ingredients section in post for more information on fish types / what to avoid.

Remember, the shape of fish means that you get thick cuts from the main body as well as thin cuts from towards the tail. Opt for the thinner cuts!

Frozen fish works just fine, thaw then pat dry well before using.

2. Cooking sake – Get this in the Asia aisle of large grocery stores, and Asian stores. Adds a touch of extra flavour you can really only get from cooking alcohol. If you can’t consume alcohol, just leave it out.

3. Measuring – I know it’s hard to measure these by cups, they are approximations only. Better to go over rather than under – especially the ginger. Go by eye!

4. Red chilli is for visual purposes mainly and a touch of warm spice (large chillies are not that spicy). Feel free to omit.

5. Soy sauce – Do not use dark soy sauce, too intense!

Nutrition

Calories: 343cal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 568mg | Potassium: 625mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 249IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 2mg

Life of Dozer

Dozer had a very special guest over on the weekend to make lunch for him – Andy Hearnden (“Andy Cooks”), a professional chef turned social media “mega-star” who has lots and lots of followers on social media (as in, 12 million or so across various platforms!)

I don’t ordinarily connect or network with “big” social media influencers because I’m so focussed on sharing recipes here on my website rather than worrying about social media. Can’t do it all! Andy is the first such-person whose message I have responded to. Because despite the insane social media following he has, he’s so normal, humble, down to earth and we have very similar taste in food.

We had a fun day sharing war stories of making a living in the online world, the experience of making a cookbook (he just launched his debut cookbook!) and we also filmed a video together that Dozer stars in! I look forward to sharing it with you.

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This Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice recipe is a shameless copycat of a signature appetiser at the trendy Nobu restaurant. Bite size crispy rice is served with tuna in a creamy spicy dressing. I love it. It’s expensive. So I copied it. And added a canned tuna option too.

Nobu copycat: Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice

There’s no feel-good story behind today’s recipe. It’s just a blatant fact that I really love the Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice at Nobu* which is a signature starter of this globally renowned restaurant. But you pay through the nose for it – $30 for a very small serving. Here it is at Melbourne Nobu – top quality phone snaps! 😂

* In case you’re not familiar with Nobu, it’s a trendy modern Japanese restaurant founded by world-famous chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa that is now global with a presence in major cities like New York, Tokyo, London, Dubai, Sydney. Won’t lie – I’ve had hits and misses in various cities. But overall, it’s very reliable. Firm favourite with celebrities.

Price aside, I don’t want to go to Nobu every time I want to have it. So I decided to copy it. It seemed like a simple enough recipe – and it is! Crispy rice topped with raw finely chopped tuna mixed with a creamy spicy dressing.

Nobu vs my version

At Nobu, the rice is served in small cube form which you stab with (fancy) toothpicks then dip into the tuna which is so finely minced it is like a spread. Based on the perfect golden colour on each side of the rice cubes, I suspect they are deep fried.

I’ve made my rice cakes flatter so they can be pan fried instead of deep fried, and pre-assembled with the toppings. I also do not have a dipping sauce because I’ve incorporated seasonings in the tuna toppings.

Plus, I’ve made a canned tuna version as well, as an option you make right now instead of going out to find sashimi-grade tuna! Think – canned tuna fillings in sushi rolls. It’s really tasty! This is the canned tuna version:

What you need

Here’s what you need to make this Nobu copycat Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice.

1. Sashimi tuna or salmon – OR canned!

As mentioned above, the base recipe is a copy-cat of the Nobu version which is made with raw sashimi-grade tuna, Plus, I’ve created a canned tuna version too as an easier make it now version / those who can’t get or don’t like raw tuna. It’s like the canned tuna filling you get in sushi rolls – it’s really tasty!

Sashimi grade tuna – To make the raw tuna version, you will need to get sashimi grade tuna. This is tuna that is fresh enough, handled and stored in a manner suitable for eating raw. It is more expensive than tuna intended for cooking.

Common sashimi tuna types

• Bluefin tuna – the frontrunner, most premium type. For flavour, colour and texture.

• Yellowfin and bigeye tuna (ahi ahi) – The more common type that is more economical. It is softer, not as red.

Canned tuna – Tuna in oil is best. If using tuna in spring water, the mixture is a little drier so perhaps add extra mayo.

2. Spicy creamy dressing & assembling

Here’s what you need to make the creamy dressing and for assembling. The same ingredients are used for both, it’s just that you need more for the canned tuna (lots of little tuna bits = more surface area = more dressing required).

• Kewpie mayonnaise is a Japanese mayonnaise that has a smoother flavour than Western ones. Substitute with whole egg mayonnaise. Normal mayonnaise (ie not labelled “whole-egg”) is tangier / sweeter which will dominate the raw tuna version too much but ok for the canned tuna version.

• Sriracha is a red Asian spicy sauce that has other flavours in it in addition to chilli, such as vinegar and garlic. Substitute with other spicy sauce of choice, but adjust quantity based on spiciness.

  Non spicy option – Ketchup!

• Green onion – For nice green specks and a bit of freshness.

• Sesame oil & seeds – For toasty sesame flavour!

• Lemon – For the canned tuna version, I found a hint of extra tang was desirable. For the raw tuna version, fresh lemon juice made the dressing a little too loose so I stick with using the tang in sriracha.

• Avocado – Optional (and not in Nobu’s version), but I really like how it adds an extra creamy element. If avocado is not in season or pricey, I’d skip it.

Crispy rice

All you really need for the crispy rice is sushi rice, oil for cooking and salt for seasoning. But it makes it extra tasty to flavour the rice with sushi rice seasoning – just rice vinegar and sugar.

See the separate crispy rice recipe for commentary on the ingredients.

How to make Nobu’s crispy rice with spicy tuna

The crispy rice cakes has been published as a separate recipe – because it’s deemed worthy as such! It’s really easy – cook rice, press in pan, chill to set, cut, pan fry.

So the steps below are for the topping and assembling.

1. Nobu spicy tuna topping

Tip: Raw fish is hard to finely dice because it is so soft. To make it (much!) easier, partially freeze the fish first to make it firmer. Just 30 minutes in the freezer.

1. Partially freeze the raw tuna (or salmon) in the freezer for 30 minutes. This will make it much easier to cut.

2. Cut into small 0.5cm / 1/5″ dice. To do this, I slice 0.5cm / 1/5″ thick pieces, then 0.5cm / 1/5″ strips, then dice.

3. De-chill the fish for 20 minutes or so, so it’s not ice-cold. Sushi tastes best when at room temperature which is around 18C/65F. Small diced tuna will de-chill fairly quickly.

4. Mix – Add the mayonnaise, sriracha, green onion, sesame oil, sesame seeds and salt. Mix gently to combine. Then refrigerate until required. But remember to aim for the room temperature for serving! Warm crispy rice cakes with ice-cold tuna isn’t ideal.

Creamy canned tuna topping

1. Mash the drained canned tuna with a fork until it’s really fine. The finer the better.

2. Add everything else and mix!

3. Assembling the crispy rice cakes

Nobu serves this as a DIY set up with cubes of rice that is speared with fancy toothpicks then dunked into the spicy tuna which is almost in paste-like form. I like to assemble for an easy finger food option.

Also, cubes of rice either need to be turned 6 times in a pan (what a pain!) or deep fried (what a pain!). Pan frying 2 sides of a flatter pieces is so much less effort!

1. Cook the rice cakes after you’ve mixed the toppings. See directions in the crispy rice cakes recipe.

2. Avocado – Place on a serving platter and top with avocado slices. You can either use 1 large, or fan out smaller pieces as I have done. You could also pipe on avocado sauce – a good option for speedy assembling if making big batches.

3. Shape – Use 2 teaspoons to shape a mound of the topping into a “football” shape so it sticks together.

4. Assemble – Place tuna on avocado. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, top with jalapeño. Repeat with remaining rice cakes. EAT!

I see you making this for friends who come round for Saturday night drinks. Impressing the pants off your friends at book club. For your mum’s birthday lunch.

And just generally because you want to eat Nobu in the comfort of your own home, in trackies and your favourite slouchy t-shirt, and feel smug that it cost you around…oh I don’t know. About 80% less? At least!! – Smug Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Crispy rice with spicy tuna (Nobu copycat)

Recipe video above. A shameless copycat of a signature Nobu restaurant appetiser – crispy rice cakes with tuna or salmon in a creamy spicy dressing. Easy to make at a fraction of the cost – they charge $30 for a minuscule serving! Serve as a canapé, starter for dinner or as a main with an Asian side salad or smashed cucumbers.

The original uses raw tuna but I've also created a canned tuna version – think, sushi roll filling.

Course Appetizer, canape, Finger Food

Cuisine Asian, Modern Asian

Keyword crispy rice cakes, crispy rice finger food, nobu recipe, tuna canape

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Rice chilling (minimum time) 4 hours hours

Servings 15 pieces

Calories 119cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

• 1 batch crispy rice cakes (15 pieces)
• ONE topping of choice (below) – Nobu sashimi tuna or canned tuna
• 1 avocado , cut into small thin slices (or make avocado sauce)
• 15 jalapeño slices , thin, optional garnish
• 1/2 tsp black sesame seeds , for garnish

Nobu spicy tuna (raw):

• 225g / 7oz sashimi grade tuna , or salmon (Note 1)
• 1 tbsp sriracha , adjust spiciness to taste (Note 2)
• 4 tsp kewpie mayonnaise (Note 3)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp cooking salt
• 2 tbsp finely chopped green onion
• 1 tsp white sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp black sesame seeds , divided

Creamy spicy canned tuna topping:

• 360g/12oz canned tuna in oil , drained (Note 4)
• 3 tbsp sriracha (Note 2)
• 4 tbsp kewpie mayonnaise (Note 3)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice (sub rice vinegar)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp cooking/kosher salt
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
• 2 tsp white sesame seeds , optional
• 1 1/2 tsp black sesame seeds , divided

Instructions

• Start the rice the day before or first thing in the morning – it needs minimum 4 hours to chill.
• Make the toppings first, then refrigerate while you cook the crispy rice cakes.
• Cook the crispy rice cakes and sprinkle with salt per the recipe.
• Assemble – Place rice cakes on a serving platter. Pile on toppings – I use teaspoons to make football shapes then slide on. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds, top with jalapeño. Eat!

Nobu spicy tuna topping:

• Freeze to firm – Place tuna in the freezer for 30 minutes to partially freeze – it's much easier to finely chop when slightly firm.
• Cut into 0.5cm / 1/2" cubes – the smaller the better! Place into a bowl and let it de-chill for 20 minutes (not as nice ice-cold).
• Mix – Add everything into the tuna and mix until combined.

Creamy canned tuna (sushi-roll filling style):

• Place tuna in a bowl and use a fork to mash it up really finely. Add everything else and mix well.

Notes

Makes 15 pieces 4 x 6.5cm/ 1.5 x 2.5″ (crispy rice dimensions).

1. Tuna or salmon – As the fish is served raw, please ensure you get sashimi grade tuna which is extra fresh, handled and stored in a manner suitable for eating raw. It will be labelled as such at the shops. You can also get frozen sashimi grade fish these days. It’s snap deep-frozen at -60C and suitable for eating raw. I’ve gotten it from Japanese supermarkets in Sydney (Tokyo-mart, Northbridge).

2. Sriracha is a red Asian spicy sauce that has other flavours in it in addition to chilli, such as vinegar and garlic. If you’re worried about spiciness, start with less (top up with more mayo) then add add more later if you’re brave! Non spicy option – Ketchup!

Substitute with other spicy sauce of choice, but adjust quantity based on spiciness.

3. Kewpie mayonnaise is a Japanese mayonnaise that has a smoother flavour than Western ones. Substitute with whole egg mayonnaise. 

4. Canned tuna – in oil is best. Springwater tends to be a little dry.

5. Leftovers – Once assembled, rice cakes will soften within an hour. The raw tuna topping should be eaten within an hour once out of the fridge, though will keep in the fridge for the day. Canned tuna topping mixture will keep for several days. Makes a little more than you need – eat leftover as dip or on sandwiches!

Nutrition per rice cake (15 pieces)

Nutrition

Calories: 119cal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 161mg | Potassium: 109mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.4g | Vitamin A: 357IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.3mg

Life of Dozer

Crispy rice cake size context.

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