Healthy Matters with Hayley Marie Locally supported by NZ Farm Shop

I thought for my last recipe I would share with you my favourite dish of all time, which happens to be my elimination dish on ‘MasterChef New Zealand' where Nadia Lim wanted to bottle my sauce.

If I hadn't undercooked my lamb, this dish would have been a 10/10. Now this recipe is all yours to try at home and create your own food memories. Make sure you continue to follow my food journey on my Facebook page, where I share tips and recipes weekly. Watch this space @Hayley Marie-Masterchef NZ.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 lamb rack

Thai tamarind sauce

3 small bird's eye chillies
2 fresh whole lemon grass stalks, chopped fine
8 whole garlic cloves
5 kaffir lime leaves, chopped fine
1 red onion, quartered
2 red capsicums, chopped in chunks
2 large stalks fresh coriander
3 blocks palm sugar
3 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp tamarind paste
1 cup warm chicken broth, not as strong as chicken stock

Vegetables sauce

Mix together and set aside:

1 Tbsp seasoning sauce
1 Tbsp white sugar
1 ½ Tbsp thin light soya sauce
3 Tbsp oyster sauce

Vegetables blanched and ready to put on the hot plate

1 bunch baby bok choy
2 zucchini, chopped in large sticks

Crispy shallots and chillies with salt

2 large shallots, chopped and deep fried until crisp
2 large red chillies, chopped and deep fried until crisp
1 Tbsp sea flake salt

Method:

For the sauce, blend in a processor chillies, lemon grass, garlic, lime leaves, red onion, capsicum and coriander until smooth. Fry off with one tablespoon of oil in a wok until fragrant, about five minutes.

Add sugar and fish sauce and cook until all the palm sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Add tamarind paste and cook for one minute, then add three tablespoons of the chicken liquid and reduce. Taste as you go. Add more fish sauce, tamarind, or sugar if needed to get the sauce to your taste buds. Keep adding the stock, little amounts at a time, and reduce until you have a brown gold to red colour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Remove any silver skin from the lamb, cut in half and season with salt. Sear each side and put in the oven for 15-17 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with tin foil and rest for 10 minutes.

Heat the hot plate and char the vegetables, do not overcook. They should still be crunchy when ready to serve.

Slice and serve the lamb over vegetables and top with the tamarind sauce. For extra crunch, top with deep-fried shallots and chillies, and season with rock salt.