Spring onion Kimchi

Well I had plans to make another batch of kimchi, the last lot of the fiery fermented cabbage has all but disappeared from our fridge, but wanting to keep the peace and not wanting to devote as much of our tiny fridge space to three very large jars of cabbage, nor the week of wondrous aroma that fermenting cabbage and shrimp paste adds to the general smells of the house, I opted for a much smaller batch, a one litre jars worth, and instead of having spring onion as the background vegetable it would be replacing the cabbage entirely.

Spring onions, enough to tightly pack your chosen jar
½ cup garlic
Thumb of ginger
½ cup fish sauce
1 cup hot chilli flakes
½ cup glutinous rice flour (also called sweet rice flour)
3 cups water
¼ cup sugar
1 tbsp belacan (a shrimp paste)
3 g Bonito flakes (optional)


The night before, trim the spring onions so they are about a centimetre or two shorter than the height of the jar, reserve the green parts as they will be puréed later. Fill a large bowl with water and add enough salt to make a 5% brine (50 grams per litre), submerge the trimmed spring onions and weigh down with a plate or two, leave overnight.


The next day, pour the 3 cups of water, rice flour and sugar into a pot and bring to the boil, this will thicken up pretty quick, keep stirring until it forms a thick smooth paste. Tip out into a bowl and leave to cool.


While the the rice glop cools, in a blender combine the garlic, ginger, greens of spring onion, fish sauce, and belacan, whiz until it forms a smoothish purée. Mix into the now cool glop along with the bonito and chilli flakes.

Now is the time that if you don’t have some gloves you’ll wish you did, drain the spring onions and dump into the fiery red fishy gloppy paste and make sure they all get a good coating, transfer them to a sterile jar, then top up with the paste leaving a little head room in the jar but making sure that the spring onions are covered, place on the lid loosely and move to somewhere cool and dark for 3–6 days so the fermentation can begin. After about 6 days tighten the lid and transfer to the fridge.


I’m not sure exactly how long it will last in the fridge ‘until it’s gone’ is my best answer, and I do prefer it to age a little before I crack the jar and start eating, so up to you whether or not you plough into the fiery spring onions straight away or not.

Shrimp tortillas

I have posted this recipe before, but after making it again recently, I thought it deserved another outing, and with pictures this time. It is really simple to throw together as a last minute meal, well throw together if you happen to have some frozen prawns, otherwise you may need to plan the fish ahead. Apart from the fish, you’ll need to have some Gram (chickpea) flour, which should be a staple in the pantry, it’s inexpensive, and you can’t make onion bhaji without it.

I used prawns again, but don’t feel constrained to only use prawns/shrimp, any sort of fish would work, or even a mixture, just take into account that the tortilla will cook on a medium heat for about 3 minutes aside, so use appropriate sized pieces of fish, you don’t want to overcook it. The batter can be personalised as well, add a little heat with cayenne, or load it up with herbs, just keep in mind how all the flavours will work together.

The below quantities are enough to make two 21 cm tortillas.

1 cup water
1/2 cup chickpea flour (besan/gram flour)
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sliced shallots/spring onions
2 doz prawns
3 tbsp chopped coriander (or other leafy green herb)
1/2 tsp baking powder
Olive Oil

Mix the dry ingredients together, add the water to make a thick batter (like double cream), and stir through the shallots and coriander.


Place a 21 cm frying pan over a medium-high heat, pour in about a tablespoon of oil, ladle in half the batter. Push half of the prawns into the batter, haphazardly or with OCD precision, up to you.

Cook for 3 minutes, then flip, using a chopping board or plate makes this a bit easier, cook for a further 3 minutes.

Serve hot, with a wedge of lemon, and top with a sprinkle of slice coriander and chilli.

Tortillas (pancakes/omlette) with shrimp

OK, well pics may come later, and this recipe comes from Mark Bittman, his blog/show is a guilty pleasure, I can't stand his personality, but he comes up with some great things to cook.

1 cup water
1/2 cup chickpea flour (besan/gram flour)
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup shallots/spring onions
1/2 cup shrimp
3 tbspn coriander (or other leafy green herb)
1/2 tsp baking powder
Enough Olive Oil to cook with...

1. Mix dry and then add liquid to make a thick batter (like double cream).

2. Heat oil in a hot pan then cook on a med-high heat 3min 1st side, 3 min 2nd side, 30 sec 1st side,