Cooking Lab - Light & Tangy Crab Salad Dip

This is such a versatile great salad and we used to have it at every extended family lunch. Seafood highlighter is not real crab - it just have the crab taste. 


(c) GMV -Got My Vote!

I always remember this dish fondly. Perhaps its because of the tangy, refreshing taste, or I was really tricked into believing that its real crab :) 

This is very versatile salad and you can enjoy it on its own, or use it as a sandwich filling or make California sushi roll with it. 

I am using the seafood highlighter in this salad dip, but, of course you can use real crab meat - and that would taste so gourmet.


If you are not a fan of crab, you can replace it with tuna, prawn or chicken. 

Ingredients:

- 250g seafood highlighter (imitation crab meat)
- 50g chopped parsley 
- 3 tablespoon thousand island dressing
- 1/2 lemon
- 10g finely diced French onion
- 10g finely diced apple
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt and black pepper

Instructions:

1. Separate the pieces of crab (seafood highlighter) by hand. Save 30g of whole pieces of crab aside.

2. Boil a pot of water and cook the seafood highligher for 3 minutes.

3. Drain and set aside to cool.

4. Once cooled, place the seafood highlighter, thousand island salad dressing ,finely chopped parsley, apple and onion in the blender.

Note: Celery usually go nicely in this salad. I've use apple instead because I am just not a big fan of celery. 

5. Season with black pepper.

6. Half way through the blending, add in the lemon juice and olive oil.

7. Continue blending until you achieve a nice fine coarse texture.

8. Season with salt.

9. Scoop the crab dip from the blender and set in the fridge over 1 hour before serving.

10. In a fry pan, shallow pan fry the ribboned seafood highlighter.

11. Season with salt and place on top of the crab dip salad.

12. Serve the salad dip with fresh avocado slices and lemon wedges.

It is the guilt-free kind of salad!~ 

Cooking Lab - Super Easy Honey Hummus Dip

Hummus never caught my attention. It is kind of hard to compete with fancy gourmet dips with its plain cream texture. For $4.99 a tub, my money usually goes to the exotic capsicum pesto dip, roasted fig with macadamia dip or caviar dip.

....until I see my colleague having it everyday and never seems to get tired of it.

She tested various brand of dips - but they are all hummus, nothing else.

So I gave Hummus a chance and I must say it was not an earth-shattering taste experience. It tasted nice but that's it. It does not leave a memorable imprint.

So my dear friends take me to an out-of-town Turkish restaurant where they serve charcoal chicken and lamb kebabs. The combination of hummus and grilled meat instantly struck me. My gosh, so this is how you eat hummus. It is... actually quite good.

(c) GMV - Got My Vote!

Hummus is a chick-pea based dip and is a staple meze in the Middle Eastern.

 

A perfect replacement for butter in a wrap or sandwich.

It tastes delicious with crisps or crackers. 

My quirky favourite: Hummus dip with Kettle's chili potato chips~  

Ingredients:

- 1 can of chickpea

- 2 tablespoon of cream fraiche

-2 tablespoon honey

- 1 garlic clove

- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

- 1 lemon

- 1 tablespoon paprika fries sprinkle 

- 1 packet garlic nibble crackers

Instructions:

1. Rinse chickpea under cold running water. Drain

2. Add chickpea, cream fraiche, crushed garlic, honey, salt and lemon juice in the food processor.

3. Blend and slowly add in the olive oil in.

4. Continuing blending until the mixture become a smooth creamy paste.

5. Scoop the hummus dip into a serving dish.

6. Drizzle with some more olive oil on top.

7. Season with more paprika fries salt.

8. Garnish with a few roasted chickpeas and herbs.

9. Enjoy with garlic flavoured crackers. 

This honeyed hummus has a sweeter taste and will make you look at hummus differently.

BTW: It is ridiculously easy and cheap to make. All it takes is 3 minutes in the blender. 

No cooking involved.

Cooking Lab - Smoked Salmon Mousse Dip (燻鮭魚沾醬)

This is a good luxurious smoked salmon spread for any party. A light, creamy and flavorful mousse that only takes a few minutes to prepare. 

(c) GMV - Got My Vote!'

Ingredients:

- 300g good quality smoked salmon, coarsely chopped. 
- 3 large scallops 
- 1 small French onion 
- 1 avocardo 
- 50g Philly smoked salmon cream cheese 
- 50g fresh dill 
- 1/2 lemon 
- Salt & pepper 
- 10g mozzarella cheese 
- 30g fresh rocket 
- 30g diced tomato 

Instructions:

1. Roughly chop the smoked salmon, dill and French onion in smaller pieces.

2. In a food processor, put in the salmon, cream cheese, dills, French onion and lemon juice.

3. Season with some salt and pepper.

4. Blend for 1 minutes until the mousse is smooth.

5. Mash up the avocado. Set aside.

6. Slice the scallops in half.

7. Sprinkle some Mozzarella cheese on top.

8. Use a blowtorch and lightly sear the scallops.

9. Divid the smoked salmon mousse equally onto 3 serving platters. Top with mash avocado and the seared scallops.

10. Garnish with fresh rocket and tomato.

 I think I could eat these scallops all day long!!
So juicy and tender!~~

11. Serve with a selection of good-quality crackers or breadsticks.

Enjoy the party.

Serve with a selection of good-quality crackers!

燻鮭魚美麗可口的變身! 

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