Seafood Mould

Certain recipes have memories attached to them. This is one such recipe. As a child I used to stand in Jeroo masi’s kitchen and watch in awe as she churned out the most amazing dishes. Masi wasn’t a run-of-the-mill home cook. She had Rita, a gem of a lady, in the kitchen to make regular everyday fare for the family but come the time for a party or a get-together and Jeroo masi would take over the reins of the kitchen with gusto. She at times served this dish as a cold salad and at times as a hors d’oeuvre, gently nestled over warm canapés or vol-au-vents. Be it as a salad or a hors d’oeuvre, I could never get enough of it. When I began cooking and experimenting in the kitchen at the age of 13, I requested masi for this recipe and she happily parted with it.

The first time I made Seafood Mould, was the early 80’s. I was taking baby steps in the kitchen of a household where mum never cooked (she hates cooking – no judgements – didn’t make her any less of a wonderful mother and... she’s still the best! Touch wood! <3 ). Our kitchen drawers held no measuring spoons and gelatine was something I had only heard of when Granny made Bluebird Jelly. No surprise then that the first time I gave this dish a try I fell flat on my face. I used three times the amount of gelatine that I was actually supposed to use. *very sheepish look*

I learned my lesson since; the very next month I used all my pocket money (and some more – mummy zindabad) to invest in measuring spoons and some basic kitchenware. I was now on my way to mastering this recipe and many others thereby making lesser faux pas in the kitchen. ;)

I haven’t made this recipe in years and a few days ago decided to recreate it. How, then, could I not share it with all of you? I hope you all recreate this dish it in your kitchen with as much joy as I do when I make it in mine. Jeroo Masi, with all my love, always, this one’s for you! <3

Ingredients:

List A:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 (half) cup tomato sauce/ketchup
1/2 (half) cup Maggi Hot & Sweet Sauce

6 level teaspoons gelatine powder

1 cup water

Juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce

List B:

2 hard boiled eggs, finely diced

1 onion, finely diced

2-3 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 capsicum, finely diced

¼ kilo fish steaks - boil in lightly salted water, drain, remove skin/bones and flake the fish meat

12-13 medium sized prawns - boil in lightly salted water, drain and chop into tiny pieces

Method: 

1. Melt gelatine powder in 1 cup water over gentle heat. When melted, take the liquid off the fire and cool it, stirring all the time.
   
   
2. When cool mix mayonnaise, tomato sauce/ketchup, Maggi Hot & Sweet sauce, juice of 1 lime and Worchestershire sauce into the gelatine.
3. Mix well to ensure all ingredients come together nicely and evenly.
4. Add fish, prawns, hard-boiled eggs, onion, capsicum and celery.
5. Mix well and spoon the mixture into a bowl to set.
6. Put in the fridge and allow to set for 4-6 hours.
   
   

To Serve:

Serve as a cold salad, directly, from a large bowl in which the dish has been set. You may set the bowl, in which the salad is set, over a larger bowl of ice if it’s a buffet meal.

Or

Once set, serve as a hors d’oeuvre; a spoonful over warmed canapés (I used store bought ready canapés and merely warmed them in an oven for 2 minutes). Fill the canapés neatly or rustically, whatever rocks your boat. Alternately, you may also serve it in freshly baked vol-au-vent puffs.

Or

Serve as tiny moulds overturned on individual plates; each mould garnished with a tiny boiled prawn and a few specks of celery. Sounds gorgeous, doesn’t it? ;)

Store bought Canapés - Warmed for 2 minutes in a pre-heated oven

Chef Notes:  

1. Please do not use gelatine sheets and, please, do not ask me whether you can substitute sheets for powder because my answer will be a firm, ‘No!’; more so because I will not be able to guide you in regard to balancing the proportion of powder by sheets. 
2. The original recipe uses 1 cup tomato ketchup/sauce but i prefer that slight hint of chili hence have used half cup ketchup and half cup Maggi Hot & Sweet Sauce. 
3. Any regular white fish (e.g. King fish-Surmai or Indian White Salmon-Rawas) will work fine for this recipe. Please avoid using fish that have a strong fishy odour. 
4. I would strongly advise the use of measuring spoons to ensure this dish turns out as it should.
5. The mayonnaise used by me, for this recipe, is the one I make at home. I never use store bought, bottled mayo. The recipe of the mayonnaise used by me is on my blog under the name, ‘The Never-Fail Blender Mayonnaise’. 
6. No Instagram filters have been used on any of the photographs; I prefer you get to see the end product in its natural colour. Having said that, the dish appears a tad orange in certain photographs, instead of the peach colour that it actually was, because I have clicked those photographs during sunset, near the kitchen window. 
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.