Curry Seafood Bruschetta

Remember the time when I used up half a French baguette from Baker's Delight and stuffed it with prawn and cream cheese (and ate it all by myself because I had no one to share it with?)

I thought it's about time that I post about the other half...it's fearful symmetry! (A terribly poetic usage, I know.)

And also to remind you that there are only a few days left for the Baker's Delight challenge - a chance for you to win a voucher to sample some of their new artisan range - just leave a comment on that post for your chance to win! :D 

Seafood curry is a first for me. And it made my kitchen smell crazy delicious that I'm pretty sure the neighbours were standing outside my door sniffing through the cracks. Scary (imaginary) neighbours.  The baguette is toasted to perfect crunchiness and the rich seafood and melting cheese that goes on top of it makes it the perfect snack anytime during the day.

Curry Seafood Bruschetta

• 1/2 French baguette
• 80-100g mixed seafood (fresh or frozen - I used fresh from the local seafood shop)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 50g cheese (I used mozarella)
• handful of herbs (like parsley)

Preheat oven to 200C.

1. Put a pan over medium heat and once hot, add the olive oil and garlic. Stir until fragrant and slightly golden. 

2. Defrost the mixed seafood if necessary and add to the pan along with the herbs.

3. Once cooked/heated up, add the curry powder and stir around the pan until combined.

4. Add the milk and cream - let it cook for a few minutes and add the salt and pepper. 

5. Slice the baguette into around 2cm thick slices. Using a small knife, make a cut (lightly) around the centre of the slice and press down on it to create a cavity (to hold more toppings!).

6. Put the seafood mixture into the cavity of the baguette and put the cheese on top of each.

7. Back at 200C until the cheese melts (roughly 5-10 minutes - keep an eye out to make sure that sides of the baguette doesn't burn.)

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Zaaffran - Darling Harbour

Ok, long story short.

So I was playing the hostess one Saturday night and I wanted to make something impressive. Something I've never made before: Mamak's famous chicken curry (Mamak is a famous Malaysian restaurant here in Sydney). But as it happens in life sometimes, the harder you try, the more you stuff up.

Somewhere between my replacing ground chili with ground cayenne pepper labelled 'extra hot' and forgetting to add lemongrass and curry leaves, I took a taste of my pot of boiling orange gravy and immediately felt my throat tighten...then eventually beads of sweat formed on my forehead...need water! NOW!

I was too embarrassed to photo evidence of such 'curry'. If I did, I'm sure the photo would lie, because surprisingly the pot of curry looked rather decent. It really did. But I don't think I can live with looking at those photos without horrible memories coming to haunt me.

Lessons learnt. Let's move on. I will come back to cooking curry one day once I get over this. Really.

Okay, so there's one place you can go to to avoid having curry disasters in the kitchen. A place that's guaranteed to serve delicious and authentic Indian food without the potential risk of hazardous choking on overly spiced food. Oh, should I mention, it has a beautiful view over Darling Harbour too?

View from the table

Mango Lassi - $6

This is without doubt my favourite mango lassi! The taste of cardamon was so fragrant and I couldn't stop myself from drinking it before the food came out.

Whole lamb shanks slow cooked in an onion, tomato, and yoghurt sauce

BIRBALI NULLI - $29.5

The lamb shank was delicious and so tender. The sauce went well with the garlic naan that was provided.

Garlic Naan

Briyani: Rice and chicken with Garam Masala, Mint, Saffron and nuts combined under flaky pastry. Served with Raita - $29.80

According to my Indian colleagues, the chicken briyani served in this restaurant is the best and most authentic he's tried in Sydney. It took a while for this dish to be served as they have to bake the pastry on top of the rice and chicken for 25 minutes. For me, this is the highlight of the night as I could taste a lovely and interesting combination of spices with each mouthful of the rice and and the chicken buried underneath. The cool and refreshing raita was a great accompaniment to the rice...yummm!

I'll be back here again soon...even though it is on the pricier side, the quality of the food definitely makes it a worth while experience!

Oh, and if you have entertainment book, you get 25% off too ;)

Zaaffran
Harbourside Centre

Darling Harbour

Sydney NSW 2000‎

Tel: (02) 9211 8900‎

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