Mussel fritters. Potato salad with broccolini and a ginger miso dressing.

Mussel fritters and potato salad are two quintessential dishes of New Zealand and Australia. This dish reimagines those classics in an Asian context.

Frozen New Zealand green-lipped mussels in the half-shell are available to buy in Saigon. Thank-you Talleys. Big, juicy, and tasty… really not too dissimilar from the fresh ones.

While mussels are the star of the dish, the antipodean version would often include bacon or chorizo. In this re-imagined version, Chinese sausage (or lạp xưởng in Vietnamese) replaces the bacon.

Instead of potatoes being suffocated by mayonnaise, here we have the much lighter yet more complex ginger garlic miso dressing. Influences from both Japan and South East Asian.

The broccolini links this dish to the present, as it was only grown commercially starting in the relatively recent 1990’s. A wonderful vegetable if you can get it. It is at its best after just a couple of minutes of cooking, whether blanching or sautéing. A crunchy, tasty, and the very healthy vegetable that we all know we need!

As with the Chinese sausage, the roasted red peppers were not a typical addition to the classic kiwi potato salad either. But I love roasted red peppers, so here we are.

Mussel fritters. Potato salad with broccolini and a ginger miso dressing.

Servings: 6 people

Author: Steve Paris

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Mussel fritters

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 medium eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or unsweetened drinking yogurt
• 1 tsp salt
• 500 g mussel meat diced into max 5x5mm pieces
• 100 g chinese sausage lap xuong, diced into max 5x5mm pieces)
• 4 cloves garlic
• grated rind of a lemon
• 1 large mild chilli finely diced
• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup spinach diced, cooked, and well drained
• 1/4 cup Parmesan

Potato and broccolini salad

• 300 g new potatoes alternatively a thin skinned potato like Yukon Golds
• 200 g broccolini
• 2 medium red peppers
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Ginger miso dressing

• 4 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 piece ginger a thumb sized piece, about 40 g, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp miso
• 1 Tbsp tahini

Instructions

Mussel fritters

• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, flour, baking powder, buttermilk, and salt and set aside for 20-30 minutes.
• Finely dice the onion, chilli, and garlic. Sauté in a pan with a little olive oil and the diced chinese sausage, until the onion is soft.
• Add the sautéed onion and chinese sausage mix, the lemon rind, spinach, parmesan, and chopped mussels to the batter and stir to combine.
• In a flat pan over medium heat, add some vegetable oil and spoon in enough mixture to make an appropriately sized fritter, about 2-3 Tbsp, or a small ladle full. Cook until golden brown on both sides.
• Keep in a 130 degC oven while preparing the remaining fritters.

Potato and broccolini salad

• Wash and trim the red peppers. Roast in a 200 degC oven for 30 minutes.
• Remove any loose or burnt skin, then dice into 10×10 mm pieces (or thereabouts)
• Wash the potatoes and broccolini. Trim the lower stalks from the broccolini if necessary.
• Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add the salt.
• Blanch the broccolini in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then refresh under very cold water or in an ice bath.
• Add the potatoes to the boiling water and boil until just tender (about 10-15 minutes).
• Drain the potatoes and let cool. Dice into bite sized pieces.
• Spread on a baking tray and roast for 15 minutes at 200 degC. Allow to cool. 

Ginger miso dressing

• Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. Alternatively, mince the garlic and ginger and whisk together with the other ingredients.
• Store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to allow the flavours to meld.

Completing the potato salad

• Toss together the diced potatoes, broccolini, and diced red peppers. Drizzle over some of the ginger miso dressing and toss again. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.