Ann Leckie's latest book Radiant Star features significant mention of a traditional Ooiooiaan foodstuff, peas and pucks -- the "peas" being a small, round, native sea creature and the "pucks" being a sort of circular baked biscuit. And while the recipe is only described in passing in the book, it turns out that nand'Leckie has published a detailed version on her blog using local ingredients, resulting in a sort of fish ball miso soup.

I made it almost to spec. Her recipe calls for wakame; I found dried shredded kelp at the grocery store, and figured that, while non-traditional in miso broth, it might make a better stand-in for skel than wakame. That was alright, but I think next time I'd just go with the wakame as recommended.

The end result is not a favourite for either me or Alex, but it was tasty and reasonably filling. It was also very quick and easy to make, and all of the ingredients are either shelf-stable, frozen, or keep for a very long time in the fridge, making it a good weekday meal. I also think that swapping out the fish balls for something more flavourful (such as fried fish balls or small scallops) or something that absorbs the broth better would improve it, even if that makes it less authentic, and may try that next time.

This recipe writeup uses wakame, and is also scaled up from the blog version by a factor of six, making 5-6 portions.

Peas and Pucks

From Radiant Star by Ann Leckie, via her blog

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp dried wakame
• 6 C water
• 2 tbsp dashida
• 2 tbsp miso paste
• 500g fish balls (fried or seasoned if desired) or (perhaps) scallops
• 2 tbsp cornstarch, mixed with just enough water to form a slurry
• pickled red onion slices for garnish
• 1 package refrigerator biscuits, or 10-12 home-made biscuits

Directions

1. Place wakame in a bowl of warm water to reconstitute.
2. Cook biscuits according to package directions.
3. Combine water and dashida in a pot. Bring to a boil.
4. Add miso paste and fish balls and reduce to a simmer.
5. Once fish balls are fully cooked through, stir in corn starch.
6. Remove from heat. Strain and add wakame.
7. Serve beside (or poured over) pucks, and garnished with pickled onion.