Piquant Shrimp Balls

Made with spicy seasoned shrimp and no fillers, piquant shrimp balls are the perfect Mardi Gras or party appetizer. A little dipping sauce with pickled okra completes the dish.

I feel sorry for folks who don’t grow up near an ocean. It’s not just that they seldom, or sometimes never, felt the sand between their toes or built dribble castles as children, but they also often missed out on seafood as a normal, typical dinner option. It’s saved for special occasions and restaurant meals. Which is a shame.

At our house, we eat a lot of seafood! Everything from fancy-ish main course recipes like Trout en Croute, Fennel Orange Cod en Papillote and Meyer Lemon Butter Sauce Prawns to appetizers like Mini Party Crab Cakes and Squid with Garlic Chili Oil, to down home favorites like Pan-Fried Fresh Sardines, Ceviche and Spicy Salmon Shrimp Burgers. Oh, and since it's Mardi Gras time, I should mention my Louisiana Barbecued Shrimp and Shrimp Creole! Those are just a drop in the bucket. I could go on but I think you get the point. These piquant shrimp balls are one of my favorites.

Making piquant shrimp balls is super easy! The secret to making balls with no fillers or egg is to use a food processor on half of the shrimp, then stir in the remaining shrimp, roughly chopped. Pan-fry the balls with a little olive oil for a golden exterior and your family and friends will be asking you to double the recipe next time. I promise.

Ingredients - for 2 dozen piquant shrimp balls
Good handful flat leaf parsley leaves and tender stems (pinch off hard stems and discard)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1-2 red hot chili peppers
2 medium cloves garlic
1 lb 2oz or 510g peeled, cleaned fresh shrimp
Olive oil for pan frying

For the dipping sauce:
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon whole grained mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 small clove garlic, finely minced
1 hot pickled okra, stem end removed, finely minced (sub small cornichons or capers, if desired)

Method
Make the dipping sauce by combining all ingredients. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Cut the peppers and garlic into pieces then process with the parsley and salt until finely minced.

Add in half of the shrimp and process until chopped fairly finely. You are looking for a chunky paste.

Use a sharp knife to cut the rest of the shrimp into four or five pieces, depending on size.

Tip the seasoned mixture out into a mixing bowl. Mix the cut shrimp well with the seasoned chunky shrimp paste.

Cover a plate snugly with cling film (this makes it easier to get the shrimp balls off the plate) and use a tablespoon to divide the mixture into about 24 pieces.

Dampen your hands with water and roll the pieces into balls and place them in a non-stick pan with a drizzle of olive oil.

Cook over a medium high heat with a splatter guard on top. Once the shrimp balls are cooked enough to be firm, turn them over and keep cooking, shaking the pan occasionally, until all sides are golden and the shrimp balls are cooked through. This takes just a few minutes.

Serve hot with toothpicks and the dipping sauce. Sprinkle on a little extra chopped parsley for color, if desired.

Enjoy!

This week my Sunday Supper tastemakers are sharing their favorite easy Mardi Gras recipes. Whether you are hosting or attending a potluck, we’ve got you covered!

Sunday Supper Easy Mardi Gras Recipes

Appetizers

• Andouille and Crawfish Pimento Cheese Fries by Soulfully Made
• Hot Louisiana Shrimp Dip by Sprinkles and Sprouts
• Mardi Gras Muffaletta Dip by For the Love of Food
• Piquant Shrimp Balls by Food Lust People Love
• Trinidadian doubles by Caroline’s Cooking

Main Dishes

• Andouille and Chicken Gumbo by Delaware Girl Eats
• Bananas Foster French Toast by A Mind “Full” Mom
• Bananas Foster Baked Oatmeal by Cooking With Carlee
• Blackened Shrimp Pasta by Seduction in the Kitchen
• Cajun Courtbouillon by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Cajun Pasta Carnivale by Palatable Pastime
• Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo by The Freshman Cook
• Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta by Wholistic Woman
• Creole Beef and Rice Bowls by Renee’s Kitchen Adventures
• Easy Shrimp and Grits Recipe by Life Tastes Good
• Gluten Free Gumbo by Cricket’s Confections
• Gumbo Z’herbes by Monica’s Table
• Hawaiian Jambalaya by Shockingly Delicious
• Overnight Muffuletta Sandwich by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Slow Cooker Jambalaya by The Crumby Cupcake
• Spicy Jambalaya Flatbread by My Life Cookbook
• Tenderloin Grillades with Cheesy Grits by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Vegetarian Muffaletta Sandwich by Hardly A Goddess

Sides

• Creole Potato Salad by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Easy Buttermilk Cornbread by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Muffaletta Wedge Salad by Shaken Together
• New Orleans Brandy Milk Punch by Tara’s Multicultural Table
• Not So Dirty Rice by Simple and Savory
• Red Beans and Rice by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings

Desserts

• Bananas Foster by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Basic Bread Pudding by What Smells So Good?
• Bourbon Vanilla Cherries Jubilee by Pies and Plots
• Mardi Gras Cheese Ball by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Easy Mini King Cake Bites by Family Around The Table
• New Orleans Mardi Gras Beignets by Big Bear’s Wife
• Pecan Praline Cookies by Sunday Supper Movement
• Traditional Mardi Gras King Cake by Curious Cuisiniere
• White Chocolate-Raspberry Bread Pudding by Gourmet Everyday

Pin these Piquant Shrimp Balls!

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Keralan Yeast Appam #BreadBakers

Keralan appam are easy to make, blending soaked rice with coconut milk to make a rich, thick batter. These delicious lacy pancakes taste fragrantly, inexplicably, of butter.

Appam is popular in certain regions of India, particularly the south and the state of Kerala. It’s made with raw and cooked rice, often fermented with toddy or kallu, an alcoholic drink made from palm or coconut sap. If you don’t have toddy, you can let the batter ferment naturally or add some yeast. Fresh grated coconut and/or coconut milk are frequently present in the ingredient list, as is flattened rice – a sort of rice flake.

This month our Bread Bakers are making pancakes. Our host Mayuri of Mayuri’s Jikon assured us that there were pancakes of all sorts and from every part of the world. I had never really thought about it but she is absolutely right. If you search “pancakes” the list is so loooooong and varied! Who knew?

Even if you just search for “appam,” the name I chose out of the main list, you will find countless recipes for naturally fermented, toddy fermented and yeast fermented versions. Everybody seems to think their family recipe is The One. Isn’t that always the way? I must confess to the same conceit about some of my Cajun dishes, even when my mom informs me later than my grandmother never made something the way I do. Clearly one of us remembering wrong. Yeah, I know it’s probably me, but here we are.

Some links to check out - these are just a drop in the immense Keralan appam bucket!
http://www.kothiyavunu.com/2016/02/kerala-appam-recipe-palappam-recipe.html 
http://www.kurryleaves.net/2014/07/kerala-appam-recipe-palappam-kerala.html
http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/appam-recipe-kerala-appam/
http://mariasmenu.com/vegetarian/palappam
http://www.recipesaresimple.com/appam-palappam-traditional-riceflour-no-yeast-3methods/
http://www.cookingandme.com/blog/2014/05/29/how-to-make-spongy-appam-with-yeast/
http://www.archanaskitchen.com/no-yeast-kerala-style-appam-recipe

Anyway, I’ve taken several of those recipes and come up with this one. First of all, I didn’t have toddy. Secondly, I couldn’t find flattened rice. But some recipes called for neither one or the other so I figured I could mix and match. I do have freshly grated coconut but I know many of my readers will not, so I went with a coconut milk version. I used the stuff from the can.

Before we get started cooking appam, let me tell you how good these were. I served them with a Keralan pork chop recipe seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, coriander powder and cardamom. It had lots of onions and tomatoes that made a rich gravy for the pork chops and potatoes. Perfect for eating with appam! Even after my husband and I were full, we were picking up pieces of the appam and nibbling on them.

How is it that something that contains no butter at all, indeed were cooked on a non-stick skillet with just a little canola oil, can taste so buttery? It made no sense. But buttery they are. We both declared them delicious and worthy of the make-again-soon list.

Note: Start one day ahead of when you want to serve the appam.

Ingredients
1 cup or 190g raw rice – I used extra long grained basmati.
1/2 cup or 60g cooked rice
1 cup or 240ml thick coconut milk
½ teaspoon dry active yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
oil as required

Method
Rinse the raw rice in cool water until the water runs almost clear. Cover the rice with ample cool water and set aside to soak for 5 hours.

Drain the water off of the rice in a sieve or colander. Put it in the jug of your blender with the cooked rice, the coconut milk, the salt and all but 1 teaspoon of the sugar.

Mix that teaspoon of sugar with a couple of tablespoons of warm water in a small bowl. Add the yeast and set aside to proof. You are looking for foam to start forming. If it doesn’t, start again with new yeast.

Blend the rice and coconut milk on high until you have a smooth batter. Add in the yeast mixture and mix again briefly. The batter will have the consistency of crepe batter or thick cream.

Pour the batter into a large bowl and cover loosely with cling film.

Leave overnight to ferment. In the morning, if you are not cooking your appam immediately, you can put it in the refrigerator.

You can see that the fermented batter really thickens up.

At this point, I thinned mine with a little water because it wouldn’t spread out at all. You want to be able to pour it in the pan with a measuring cup or ladle, not just spoon it into the pan.

Heat your non-stick skillet over a medium flame and add just a drizzle of canola or other light oil.

Pour in about 1/4 cup or 60ml of the batter and shake the pan so it spreads around. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until the bottom is brown and the top is completely cooked. Do not flip the appam.

Continue until all the appam are cooked. These are traditionally served as a breakfast or snack with vegetable stew.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month’s host, Mayuri of Mayuri’s Jikoni. Check out the pancakes from different parts of the world that our fellow Bread Bakers have baked this month:

• Alagar Kovil Dosai from Sara’s Tasty Buds
• Blueberry Dutch Baby from Hostess At Heart
• Brown Rice Dosa (Indian Savory Crepes) from Spiceroots
• Buckwheat, Blackberry and Saffron Drop Scones from A Shaggy Dough Story
• Chinese Scallion Pancakes from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Corn Pancakes from Kids and Chic
• Crepes from A Baker’s House
• Dutch Baby from Herbivore Cucina
• Galettes de Sarrasin from The Bread She Bakes
• Greek Tiganites from Gayathri’s Cook Spot
• Hotteok (Korean Pancakes) from Cook’s Hideout
• Hotteok (Korean Stuffed Pancakes) from Passion Kneaded
• Kabalagala (Ugandan Pancakes) from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Keralan Yeast Appam from Food Lust People Love
• Malpua (Sweet Indian Crepes) from SimplyVeggies
• Oven Baked Tropical Pancakes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pannukkau (Finish Pancakes) from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Potato Latkes (Jewish Pancakes) from Sneha’s Recipes
• Savory Finnish Baked Pancakes(Pannukakku) with Smoked Salmon from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Srilankan Hoppers from I camp in my Kitchen
• Strawberry Nutella Crepes from Spill the Spices
• Swedish Pancakes from Palatable Pastime
• Sweet Potato Pancakes with Brown Sugar and Pecan Sauce from A Salad For All Seasons
• Wholegrain Yeast Pancakes from Ambrosia

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Ham and Mustard Spirals

Flavorful ham and sharp whole grained mustard bake up crispy in puff pastry to create these lovely ham and mustard spirals. They are a quick and easy appetizer for your red carpet party.

As I mentioned last Sunday, I love puff pastry. It’s such a versatile ingredient! If you have puff pastry in your freezer, you can make a quick appetizer out of just about anything in your cupboard or refrigerator.

A number of weeks ago, I bought some very finely sliced French ham from the deli counter of my nearby supermarket to make ham and cheese baguettes. The following Monday morning, I was going to a Christmas get-together with friends and wanted to bring a treat to share. I had four or five slices of ham leftover and a package of puff pastry in the refrigerator.

Ham and mustard are a classic combination so you can see how I got here, but you could use chutney or pesto or whatever other sauce you’ve got on hand. The important things to keep in mind is that 1. you don't use ham that is too thickly sliced and 2. that you don’t add too much of your chosen sauce, both of which might make your spirals soggy.

Ingredients
4-5 slices of French ham, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1 package ready rolled puff pastry - 8 oz or 230g
1 oz or 28g Parmesan, freshly grated

Method
Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C and line a baking pan with parchment or a silicone liner.

Unroll your puff pastry and spread it evenly with the mustard. Lay the ham out in single layer, covering the whole pastry. Start rolling on one side, all the way to the middle.

Repeat with the other side. If you are working in a warm kitchen, roll the whole thing in cling film and pop it in the freezer for five minutes before slicing it.

Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 1/2 inch or 1 cm slices. Place the slices on your prepared pan.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the Parmesan.

Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until they are golden all over and the cheese has melted.

Enjoy!

This week my Sunday Supper group is sharing fancy appetizers for your red carpet award-watching party. Dress up, make a cocktail and get some of these ham and mustard spirals in the oven!

Or make one of these other fancy appetizers. Many thanks to our host Wendy of Wholistic Woman and our event manager, Cricket of Cricket’s Confections.

Finger Foods

• BLT Crostini Sliders with Avocado Aioli by Casa de Crews
• Easy Caprese Puff Pastry Bites by The Weekend Gourmet
• French Onion Palmiers by Cooking With Carlee
• Homemade Mozzarella Cheese Sticks by Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Middle Eastern Deviled Eggs by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Mushroom and Blue Cheese Gougeres by Turnips 2 Tangerines
• Simple Greek Pinwheels with Tzatziki Dipping Sauce by A Mind “Full” Mom
• Soppressata Puffs by Cosmopolitan Cornbread

Hors d'oeuvres

• Baba Ganoush by The Crumby Cupcake
• Baked Fruit and Nut Camembert by SundaySupper
• Caesar Salad Wonton Cups by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Cucumber Bites with Creole Shrimp and Guacamole by Life Tastes Good
• Dates with Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Truffle Honey by Monica’s Table
• Drunken Asparagus with Feta and Prosciutto by Wholistic Woman
• Ham and Mustard Spirals by Food Lust People Love
• Italian Chicken Meatballs by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Japanese Meatballs by NinjaBaker.com
• Loaded Hasselback Potatoes Mini Size by Crazed Mom
• Mini Caprese Bites With Balsamic Drizzle by My Sweet Savings
• Pork Dumplings by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Prosciutto and Blue Cheese Pear Bites by Jersey Girl Cooks

Seafood

• Lime Shrimp Cups by Our Good Life
• Mini Crab Cakes by My Savory Spoon
• Oysters Rockefeller by Caroline’s Cooking
• Scallop Crudo with Citrus by Cricket’s Confections
• Shrimp Martini by Palatable Pastime
• Southwestern Shrimp Spring Rolls by The Freshman Cook
• Tuna Poke Mochi Waffles by Brunch-n-Bites

Veggies

• Baked Eggplant Fries with Basil Dipping Sauce by Dizzy Busy and Hungry
• Blue Cheese Asparagus Bites by Hardly A Goddess
• Broccoli Pesto Potato Bites by Simple and Savory
• Mushroom Purses by Seduction in the Kitchen
• Roasted Carrot Soup by From the Bookshelf

Sweets

• Gluten Free Champagne Cake Pops by Gluten Free Crumbley
• Loaded Chocolate Dipped Potato Chips by Desserts Required
• Mini S’mores Tarts by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Cheesecake Bars by Pies and Plots
• Sweet Dijon Pecan Baked Brie Bites by Soulfully Made
• Wine Gummy Bears by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Pin these Ham and Mustard Spirals! 

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