Tempura Oyster with Caponata, Poblano Harissa, Plantain Chips & Lemon Salt

Caponata

1 large eggplant, cut into bite size pieces 3 tablespoons olive oil

1 small red onion, cut into a small dice

3 tablespoons pitted green olives, roughly chopped 100g can san arzano tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 tablespoon capers

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider or red wine vinegar

Poblano chilli harissa

4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped 1 shallot, roughly chopped

½ teaspoon caraway seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon coriander seeds 10g parsley, roughly chopped 2 poblano chillies

Tempura oyster

6 fresh oysters, shucked 34g plain flour

150g tempura flour

350ml cold sparkling water Canola oil for frying

Plantain chips

1 plantain

1 tablespoon flour

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

Lemon salt

1 lemon, rind peeled off

½ teaspoon sea salt

Caponata

In a medium sized skillet, sauté the onions and eggplant together in the olive oil until dark brown, then add the rest of the ingredients, let simmer for 20 minutes and season to taste.

Lemon salt

Dehydrate the lemon rind overnight in a dehydrator then blitz with a grinder and add to the sea salt.

Poblano harissa

1. Prepare the poblano’s by charring on an open flame until they are completely blackened on all sides, let sit in a covered bowl for 10 minutes, then peel, de-seed and chop into roughly 2cm pieces.

2. Toast off all the seeds then grind in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and set aside.

3. In a medium sized saucepan on medium heat, cook the shallots in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until golden brown, roughly 2 minutes. Add the garlic, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, parsley and all the spices, continue to cook until the garlic starts to brown, then add the chillies. Simmer for a further 2 minutes then season to taste.

Tempura oyster

1. Season the plain flour with salt and pepper then toss the oysters into the flour.

2. Combine the tempura flour with the cold water and whisk until smooth. Coat the oysters in the batter and shallow fry in the hot canola oil for roughly 2 minutes until golden brown & drain onto paper towels and set aside.

Plantain chips

1. Start off by peeling the plantain then freezing it for about 3 hours then thinly slice it in long strips as thin as you can on a mandolin.

2. Mix the flour and paprika and dredge over the plantain slices. Shallow fry in hot canola oil until golden brown and drain onto a paper towel.