Melissa Morrow opts for grilled scallops. Photo / Doug Sherring
Melissa Morrow opts for grilled scallops. Photo / Doug Sherring
Serves 4
• 12 large diver-caught scallops, trimmed • Sesame oil • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper • Watercress leaves • ½ cup creme fraiche • Sweet chilli sauce • 10 cloves garlic, peeled • 4 large red chillies, stems removed • 3 thumbs fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped • 1 thumb galangal, peeled and roughlychopped • 8 lime leaves • 3 lemon-grass stems, remove the two outside leaves, discard the top third of the stem and finely slice the remainder • 1 cup fresh coriander leaves • 1 ½ cups castor sugar • 100ml cider vinegar • 50ml fish sauce • 50ml tamari sauce
1. Put the first seven ingredients of the chilli sauce in a food processor and puree to a coarse paste.
2. Put the sugar in a saucepan with 4 tablespoons of water and place on a moderate heat, stirring well until the sugar dissolves. When it has, remove the spoon and turn the heat up to full. Boil for 5-8 minutes and do not stir until it has turned a dark caramel colour (but do not allow to burn).
3. Stir in the paste, bring the sauce back to the boil and add the last three chilli sauce ingredients.
4. Lightly oil the scallops with sesame oil and season with salt and pepper, then grill each side on a hot char-grill, overhead grill, or skillet for 90 seconds.
5. To serve, sit the scallops on a bed of watercress, put a dollop of creme fraiche on top and drizzle generously with sweet chilli sauce.
