Food dreams pan out for Kiwi chef

Anna Hansen is making a name for herself in the world of fusion cuisine. Photo / Supplied

Listen to Anna Hansen describe how she created her sugar-cured prawn omelette with smoked chilli sambal and the passion she exudes for her food is as refreshing as her honesty.

"I like curing meats so I decided that I would dry my own prawns. Then I realised that was a ridiculous idea because what was I going to do? Hang them out the window by their tails to dry? So I sugar-cured them with lime leaves, garlic, ginger, chilli and soy sauce.

"It was horrible. The last resort was to pan fry them. All the sugars caramelised, the Asian flavours came out and they were amazing."

When her version of "the Kylie Kwong's deep fried egg thing" - whole egg fried in a wok with spices - didn't pan out, she decided on an omelette.

Team that with a sambal of fried red peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onion, ginger, chillies, fish sauce and tamarind strained off into a paste with prawn oil, and you have Hansen's sensational signature dish at The Modern Pantry - the chic eatery in London's Clerkenwell which she opened to rave reviews 15 months ago.

Next week the Kiwi chef from West Auckland arrives home for a flying visit to help promote Coco, a new book she features in which showcases 100 of the world's best chefs, chosen by 10 internationally renowned chef curators.

Being handpicked as one of Fergus Henderson's top 10 for Coco is a huge accolade for Hansen who started as a pot washer at his French House Dining Room then worked her way up to being head chef there after she moved to London at the age of 22.

The English chef, world famous for his Nose to Tail Eating philosophy, is not usually a fan of fusion cooking but says Hansen's take on it is exceptional.

"Fusion cuisine can be hard to get right. But Hansen's food has a real process behind it that makes it successful.

"She has a very gentle touch," Henderson told Viva.

The list of talented chefs he had to choose from was extensive and the criteria of the publishers, Phaidon Press, exacting, but Ferguson says Hansen stood out because her food is "absolutely super".

The 39-year-old, now regarded as one of London's top female chefs, likes using Asian combinations of sweet, sour, salt and spice in most dishes and some of her favourite ingredients include miso, tamarind, star anise and lemon grass.

Her "modern pantry" approach aims to demystify such ingredients, which she says people tend to buy once for a recipe, then shy away from using again.

It's also the concept behind her first cookbook, The Modern Pantry, which will be published in 2011 by Ebury, whose other cookbooks include the River Cafe series, Moro and Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, which is revered by serious foodies.

"The book will be my view of what should be in a modern pantry - my top 25 ingredients explained and showing people different ways of using them.

"I got incredible feedback from my proposal," says an incredulous Hansen.

She was equally surprised to be included in Coco along with chefs she admires like Australian Skye Gyngell, head chef at the award-winning Petersham Nurseries in Surrey and Tristan Welch of Launceston Place.

"I feel honoured and flattered. It is a great reward for going out on my own because that took a lot of courage."

Before Hansen opened The Modern Pantry in a formerly derelict Georgian-built townhouse and foundry in St John Square, she worked under Peter Gordon at Green Street and The Sugar Club then alongside him as a business partner at The Providores restaurant in Marylebone until 2005.

It took more than four years of hard slog and some false starts before she finally opened her own elegant, understated restaurant which now includes a 60-seat dining room, a 40-seat ground floor cafe and shop that sells baked goods and ice creams.

Food critics have heaped praise on Hansen's inventive food flavours - from the chorizo, date, tamarind and feta fritters to the chocolate liquorice mousse with brittle chocolate wafer, whipped cream and tamarillo.

"Right now I'm obsessing about sea aster. We have this amazing forager who gathers it for us. It has a succulently textured leaf that is salty and sweet and it tastes like the ocean.

"We are also getting crab apples and sloe berries and wonderful wild puffball mushrooms. Fry them up with garlic and parsley and lemon and they are really rich and textured and meaty," says Hansen, who is constantly experimenting and tweaking recipes.

"This might sound a bit crazy but I quite often dream solutions to my food issues. I keep repeating the process until I get it right and if I remember what I have done when I wake up, it usually works."

So far her dreams are paying off.

•Coco, $85, is published by Phaidon Press and on sale now.