How to Cook Stingray Curry and Stuffed Eggplant

Before this “high priestess of Malaysian cuisine” gig, I was a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Cisco Certified Network Administrator and a Certified Novell (“que?” – ask the millennials) Administrator.

So far, the cause of the mid-stream dropout during my last broadcast could be any one of the following – faulty modem, faulty sim card, or general Telstra outage. I decided to switch the sim card out of the new Netgear Nighthawk M1 and place it in an older modem. I ran this episode of my Live Asian Kitchen while connected to this older modem – no dropouts.

This means the sim card works fine. So either the modem is faulty, or that previous broadcast was caused by a now-fixed Telstra outage.

I wanted to test out the Optimum Induction Pressure-Cook Pro and the HealthyFry air fryer, but these recipes can be replicated using more traditional cooking appliances; just adapt as appropriate.

Also, in all honesty I think I overcooked the stingray in the pressure-cooker; were I to do it again I would cook it for no longer than 15 minutes.

Stingray (Fish) Curry

INGREDIENTS:

• 700g fish (I used stingray)
• 2 cups eggplant, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 2 tomatoes, quartered
• 2 Tbsps fish curry powder
• 2 Tbsps minced garlic
• 1 ½ onions, minced
• 1 lemongrass, bruised
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 2 cups water or stock
• 1 ½ Tbsps chicken powder
• ¼ cup tamarind concentrate
• 2 tsps sugar
• Dash of fish sauce
• Sprig of curry leaves (optional)
• 3 Tbsps oil

METHOD:

1. Brush eggplant with oil, then fry in air fryer for 10 minutes at 180°C.
2. Mix curry powder with garlic and onion.
3. Heat oil, then add curry powder/onion/garlic mix. Saute for 5-10 minutes or until onion is browned and oil separates.
4. Add fish and all other ingredients; simmer until cooked through. If using Optimum pressure-cook pro, cook on medium pressure for 15-20 minutes.
5. If using a more delicate fish, you can brush it with oil and fry it in the air-fryer, then add to the curry sauce towards the end of the cooking process.
6. Toss in eggplant pieces, adjust seasoning, remove from heat and serve.

How to Make Stuffed Eggplant

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large eggplants, cut into 2-inch thick slices, with slits cut along the sides
• 500g defrosted basa fish fillets, cut into 3-inch pieces
• 1 heaped Tbsp tapioca starch
• 1 Tbsp chicken powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp pepper
• Oil for pan-frying

METHOD:

1. Combine fish fillets, tapioca starch, chicken powder, sugar and pepper in food processor.
2. Blend until smooth (no more than 10 seconds at a time).
3. Transfer fish paste into bowl.
4. Using a butter knife, stuff eggplant with fish paste to about a 2cm thickness.
5. Repeat until all eggplant/fish paste is used up.
6. Heat oil, then pan-fry for 3 minutes (both sides). Ideally, remove and finish off in air-fryer at 180°C for 10-15 minutes to achieve a less oily product.
7. Alternatively pan-fry until done, or skip Step 6 and just deep-fry at 180°C for 10 minutes.

*** I used an Optimum HealthyFry for the Stingray Curry & Stuffed Eggplant recipe in this post. More details on this appliance can be found at Prestige Home Appliances.