Food for the Soul

Originally published May 07/05/20

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Recently I discovered the hidden (to me, anyhow) gem that is the Netflix original “Chef’s Table”. I'd caught the opening episode featuring Italian chef Massimo Bottura, and had all but forgotten it. This time around, however, things were different. I had much more free time (for obvious reasons) and I wasn’t held down by irksome obligations.

What struck me most deeply about the show this second time around, was how it was able to astutely tap into the chef in questions, desires and motifs. By observing their journey and their process, the show was able to paint a narrative that came to define them as a chef. It explored cooking as an emotional and, even, therapeutic practice.

Thanks in great part to the nation’s lockdown, I binged watched the show incessantly, eventually coming to episode one of volume three. Jeong Kwan is a South Korean Buddhist nun who approaches cooking as a spiritual practice by preparing vegan meals for her community at Baekyangsa Temple. Aside from her incredibly touching and humbling story, what enthralled me most was what people were saying about her cooking. They understood, she understood. She undertook cooking as a way of treating the mind and soul, a way of communicating her emotions and Buddha’s way. She respected the ingredients and their properties, and took simple pleasure in the time it took to prepare them in a way that spoke to her beliefs.

Cooking and food are about so much more than taste and presentation, it’s about subjective feeling and memories and emotion. Biologically, food has that uncanny ability to resonate with us. Whether good or bad, it reminds us of a time in our lives when things were simpler, and that is something only a choice few things can do. For lack of a better term, it’s soul food. In the unprecedented situation we find ourselves in, such a practice merits recognition.

On a personal level, street food has always resonated with me more than any other cuisine. It’s messy and it’s real. It pins you to a moment when all that matters is savouring every bite in front of you. Perhaps my earliest memory associated with this unconventional style of cuisine is fish and chips, the classic British takeaway. Every time, it instantly takes me back to sitting on the beach on a fish Friday with my grampy. Enjoying that meal with all his grandchildren was by far his favourite pastime. For him, that meal represented family and tradition.

Over the last few years, as my love for food and cooking has grown, so have my horizons. I’ve fallen in love with Asian food. Despite having no such ties to this distant land, I’ve found myself experimenting with Ramen, dishing up floral Thai curries, and trying out ingredients I had never thought to use before. Why? Because it’s food that I love to make. It resonates with me. It gives me a unique kind of release and joy to share it with my partner and my family and my friends. For me, it’s what cooking is all about, connection and communication.

As such, I’ve developed a recipe that I believe speaks to the heart of what influences my love of cooking. The process was creative and I was able to put heart and soul into it. It incorporates my love of Asian street food and I used ingredients that reflect this. I love making this dish. It’s kind of messy, and it’s delicious. With so much free time on our hands, what better time to get creative?

Asian inspired Tuna Tacos with Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients

Tuna Steak

Miso Paste

Soy Sauce

Fish Sauce

Sesame Oil

Chilli Oil

Honey

Whole Avocado

Whole Cauliflower

Red Chilli

Red Onion

Spring Onion

Coriander

Lime

Taco Wraps

Recipe

1. Dice the tuna steak into small chunks. In a small bowl fill ¼ with soy sauce, miso paste and honey, roughly equal parts. Finish with a dash of fish sauce. Marinate the tuna overnight.

2. Cut the avocado into reasonably thin, small slices. In a separate bowl fill ¼ with chilli oil and marinate the avocado overnight.

3. Keep the leftover sauce and oil and mix together in a separate bowl.

4. Cut the cauliflower in half and, using a cheese-grater, cut it into very small chunks, about the size of regular rice.

5. Heat a little oil in a separate pan and saute the cauliflower rice for 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper. Coat the rice lightly in sesame oil and soy sauce and saute for a further 5 minutes.

6. Cut the red chilli into thin slices. Dice the red onion, spring onion and coriander into very small, fine portions and set aside with the chilli.

7. Heat a little sesame oil in a frying pan and char the diced tuna for about 10 seconds on each side. Season with sesame seeds.

8. Fill the wraps with the tuna and avocado as suits you. Try not to use too much filling as it will make it difficult to close the wrap. I made my own wraps but store-bought wraps would work just as well, depending on your preference.

9. Lay the red chilli over the filling and sprinkle the diced onion and coriander over.

10. Use a little of the leftover oil and sauce mixture to finish.

11. Serve the tacos de assembled with lime wedges and the cauliflower rice as a side.

12. Bon appetit!