Hello everybody, I’m so excited to introduce you to these 3 easy recipes that I learned from Mere Marshall in Rotorua, New Zealand!
It was great to visit her because I had been looking forward to meeting her. If you want to know why I think she’s such an inspiring person, please check out her fan page on my website. She invited all her family members and friends over for a big party on the day we filmed. We had a great time!
Abalone is known as paua to the Maoris. Paua, which is found off the coasts of New Zealand, is dark green and looks a lot different from the abalone that we see outside of New Zealand. But it tasted exactly like the abalone we all know. The inside of a paua shell looks like colorful jewels. I had paua fritters twice in New Zealand during my visit to Jamie Frater’s house in Wellington and Mere’s house in Rotorua.
There are 3 recipes in this video: traditional New Zealand paua fritters, taro chips, and a recipe Mere created: a dipping sauce made with Korean soondubu (soft tofu) and dill leaves. Making a dipping sauce with soondubu was a brilliant idea! How come I didn’t think about this! The dipping sauce is so creamy and flavorful, but not greasy at all because it’s made with soft tofu! It’s also totally vegetarian. I’m sure you will be impressed by the soft creamy sauce, just as I was.
Mere says:
“Paua fritters are a real kiwi dish often had on a Friday with fish and chips. My recipe is an old standard with taro instead of potatoes. They are delicious as chips and my own tofu and dill cream to go well with it. This is a nod to my enjoyment of herbs and tofu or dubu. Added to this dish, the cream is like satin and flavoursome without being too rich. Vegans can enjoy it too.”
The cameraman for this video was Kristian Robin Lomath, a very talented artist and a friend of Mere’s. Thanks for being the cameraman, Kristian!
Paua fritters
Ingredients (for 4 servings)
- 2 cups minced paua (abalone)
- 1 sliced bread, processed into crumbs
- 2 tbs flour
- ¼ ts baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 ts salt, and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 ts of thyme leaves
- ¼ cup chopped shallots
- 1½ tbs milk
- Olive oil for frying
Directions
- Put all the ingredients except for the vegetable oil into a large bowl. Combine well.
- Heat up a fry pan and add olive oil.
- When the oil is hot, place 2-3 tbs amounts of the paua mixture in the pan. Press down a little, keeping them in a round shape. Cook for about 5 minutes per side at medium heat.
Place cooked paua fritters on absorbant paper and keep warm while finishing the remaining fritters.
Taro chips
Ingredients (2-4 servings)
- 1 cup’s worth of taro, peeled, washed, pat dried, and sliced thinly
Directions
- Shallow fry the slices in vegetable oil until they are lightly browned and crisp.
- Place on a paper towel to drain.
- Serve with pauafritters and tofu and dill cream.
Tofu and dill cream sauce
This is a very creamy yet light sauce/cream that is nice with both paua and taro chips.
Ingredients (for 4 servings)
- 1 package of soft tofu (a little more than 1 cup)
- 1 tbs chopped dill leaves
- 1 clove of garlic
- juice of ½ lemon
- ½ ts white pepper
- 1ts salt
- 1 tbs olive oil
Directions
- Place all ingredients in a food processor. Process until the dill is well combined with tofu.
Posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 at 11:52 am.
Last updated on April 26, 2015.
Tagged: abalone fritters, abalone recipe, dill leaves, fish and chips, fritters, gapshida, Gapshida recipe, maangchi recipe, maori cooking, New Zealand traditional food, New Zealand traditional recipe, paua fritters, soft tofu, soondubu sauce, taro chips, taro recipe, travel cooking video, vegetarian food, vegetarian sauce
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Paua fritters looks good and yummy. Very healthy dish and good for pica-pica :). It is okay for a Taco as a substitute?? . Anyway, I will try this at home and definitely my friends would love to try this different dish.
Kia ora I think you could use taro in place of tacos. I find it is best to cut the taro very fine or on the finest setting in the food processor. They are more like warm potato crisps -light and crunchy but not as tough as tacos. Parsnips are also delicious done this way too. Hope you will try and enjoy…..
Nga mihi
best wishes to you
All that delicious food! *drools* Looks like y’all had a blast! :D
The paua fritters and especially that sauce look so yummy. I don’t think I will be able to get my hands on abalone here, is there anything that I could substitute it with?
Hope you’re enjoying a lovely spring in NYC, Maangchi-unnie! ^^
Kia ora Libelle.I am not sure what you could substitute the paua /abalone with. I have served the sauce with mussel fritters and vegetarian -zucchini pancakes. Of course it is very different from having it with paua -abalone but still very nice. Yesterday we were treated to some West Coast whitebait -a real New Zealand seasonal treat. I think the sauce would be good served with this too or just eat the sauce with the taro chips – that’s a yum combo.
Thanks for your interest.
Nga mihi
Best wishes
Mere
Your tofu cream sauce is my favorite these days.
Hello Mere! ^^ Thank you so much for your response! After reading your suggestions, I think I’m going to try the sauce this weekend with some kind of seafood jeon. I imagine the flavour to be light and fresh tasting, perfect for this warm weather we’re having. My mouth’s watering already just thinking about it. lol
Thanks again, wish you all the best!
Libelle