DonkeyFodder.Com

Sometime when I’m walking around the supermarkets I yearn to see some fish from home, cod, haddock, trout, lemon sole etc. But then I remind myself that I should make the most of fish in Dubai because I won’t be here for ever and may never come across them again. When I go to Carrefours in the Mall Of the Emirates, the fish counter is extensive and it’s always very busy and I don’t have the patience to queue, so I go to the pre-packed section and see what they have and try to choose something different. This time I chose a white fish called Cream Dori. It reminded me of home, as I thought it was part of the Dory family and I like John Dory, so snapped it up.

When I got back to the apartment I looked up saw that the word dori was part of the dory family, but then as I kept ready I saw cream dori – talk about false advertising. Cream dori is actually a S.E. Asian fish cat fish called Pangasiu and with its rather pungent odour I was really irritated as I was looking forward to just grilling it with some minted butter.

As I mentioned it didn’t smell to pleasant, and even after washing and cleaning it still had a lingering smell, but I could tell it wasn’t off. The flesh is not dense like other white fish and came come away in my fingers quiet easily and wondered how I could cook this. As I was still a little concerned that the smell would come through in it’s taste I decided to make a kind of light curry stew with it, to hopefully mask the aroma and it worked. After cooking the smell was gone and the taste was really lovely and is a perfect light fish for a stew.

• 100g dried canneilli beans, prepare as on packaging(or 200g canned beans)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 small cauliflower
• 500ml – 1ltr of water – depending on how much liquid you want
• 400g cream dori (you could use any light white fish)
•  (serves 4)

Make sure you soak and cook the dried beans based on the packaging.

Put the oil in a pan and gently heat. Add the onions and garlic cook until they are soft.

Once cooked add the cumin, coriander and turmeric and mix into the onions and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the cauliflower and beans and mix into the spiced onions and garlic

Add the water and stir until the water turns a light yellow

Gently place in the fish and cook until the cauliflower is tender.

I served this with couscous, but you could easily serve with rice, quinoa or potatoes

If you read my blog you’ll see that I have been very slack of late with only five entries this year – but now my marathon training has finished and I’m back in Dubai I can concentrate on my favourite hobby – no not running – cooking and eating it ……..

What might seem odd is I am now going to try and lose some weight – you would think with all the running and training I did I would not need to lose any. But in fact I was eating like a whale to help gain strength to run the 26 miles. But now it’s time to take it off.

When I was training my personal trainer showed me an eating plan to help with my running. You could tell it was written by a dietician and not a foodie as it’s SO boring and bland I just laughed at it. Of course grilled chicken breast, with tomato salad with five new potatoes is nice and healthy – but hello…..flavour where are you. In my eating plan I am going to try and get as much flavour and textures in there as I can and fennel is a great start in both camps. Fennel is one of my favourites as I love the slight liquorice/anise flavour and according to some it has some very good medicinal properties.

I was using fennel in my last entry and wondered if I could actually do another recipe so soon, even if I did write it up more than a month ago, what the hell, I enjoy fennel, and this recipe is simple, low in fat, high in omega 3 and the salad leaves and fennel can be used as part of your five a day

• splash of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 fennel bulb – washed and sliced (keep the leaves and put to one side)
• 100g dry couscous
• boiling water to cover the couscous or vegetable stock (optional)
• 2 pieces of salmon fillet
• salt and pepper to season
• lots of mixed salad leaves (my favourite is baby spinach, watercress and rocket) but any is fine.
• (serves 2)

Heat the oven to 180 and put the sliced fennel on the tray and rub in a splash of olive oil.

Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the fennel has started to brown not too much though.

After about 10 minutes, make up your couscous, depending on the pack instructions. I normally just add the couscous to a bowl, pour over the stock ( I use a stock to add a bit more flavour) and then pour over the boiling water so it covers the couscous. I then place tin foil or plastic covering and put to one side for 5-10 minutes.

Place the seasoned salmon under the grill and cook until pink. I actually like my salmon cooked rare, but you can cook it as long as you prefer.

Once the fennel is cooked, roughly chop it up and stir it into the couscous.

Place the mixed salad leaves on plate put the grilled salmon on top and place the fennel couscous around the side and enjoy