Fiddleheads with Coconut Milk

I was craving for some vegetable-based dish one day, then one of my co-workers left a gallon bag full of fiddleheads inside the fridge for anyone interested to take home. The unit sec and I decided to divide that. That's what I cooked in a laing-inspired fashion, although I decided to add some vinegar toward the end of cooking.

My craving was satisfied, and my sons enjoyed it as well.

Ingredients:
1/4 lb pork liempo, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, sliced
2-3 tbsp patis (fish sauce)
1 (13.5 oz) can premium coconut milk (first press)
1/2 cup to 1 cup water
qt fiddle heads
salt and pepper to taste
dash of ground basil leaves
2-3 tbsp cider vinegar

Instructions:
Add about 1/4 cup water to pork and sautee until pork renders fat. Add salt and pepper. Add garlic and sautee until light brown. Add onions and sautee until caramelized. Add patis and let sizzle. Add coconut milk and fiddle heads. Add about 1/4 cup water and stir. Let simmer uncovered until coconut turns creamy (add water if it turns too dry). Season with salt, pepper and ground basil leaves. Add vinegar and let simmer another 5 minutes. Serve with plain rice.

Laing (using Haddock and Collard Greens)

I always have the craving for laing when I feel like going mostly vegetarian (mostly because I am and never will be a pure vegan), usually when I want to lose some weight.

However, being too far from Asian stores, and actually never really finding the dehydrated taro leaves in this state, I looked at some of the greens available in the grocery store and felt them with my fingertips, trying to imagine their consistency in comparison with fresh taro leaves. The collard greens seemed close enough...and I started my quest in finding a good substitute for taro leaves in cooking laing.

I have friends who have tried fiddleheads for this mainly-veggie dish, paired with pork. But for some reason, I get dizzy eating fiddleheads. It must have some component that did not agree with me.

I also have cooked spinach haddock laing, although it was heavier on haddock, so it was like a marriage between fish chowder and laing, using coconut milk instead of milk or cream. It was one of the recipes I submitted to Hannaford when they interviewed me for the "Food Lover's Favorite" column in fresh magazine.

But I really wanted a leafy type of veggie to make this dish with. Collard greens seemed like a good substitute.

I am posting here a procedure that I think will give me a better outcome. When I tried cooking this, I did not realized that the collard greens took a lot of time to cook to the tenderness I desired, and in effect, the fish was overcooked, and the coconut milk almost turned all the way to oil (I want it to reach only the creamy stage, not oily). So with the following revision in the procedure, I hope to next time cook this again, hoping that the results will be what I had hoped to achieved. Because after the "getting-to-know-you" stage (I admit I was not too fond of the veggie at first, because it somewhat left a subtle hint of bitterness, maybe because it was not fully cooked), I have come to love the taste of it on the subsequent days when I had it for lunch.

Ingredients:
1 bunch collar greens, cut horizontally in strips (separate the hard stems from the greens)
3 tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 onion, slilced
3 tbsp (roughly) equivalent slices of ginger root
1 pound haddock, sliced (or you may purchase chowder cut;they are cheaper)
1 cup water (or enough to half cook the greens)
1 can premium coconut milk
3 tbsp patis (fish sauce)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a wok, sautee the ginger and garlic in hot oil. Follow with onions and cook until translucent. Add patis and let sizzle. Add 1 cup water and the stems. Let boil for about 5 minutes. Add the greens and stir. Let boil until just past half-cooked (I'd say about 10 minutes). You may have to add some more water to make sure it does not dry up. Add the coconut milk and let boil for about 5 minutes uncovered. Add the fish cuts and let cook for about two minutes or so (do not overcook). Enjoy with plain rice.