Claypot Fish head

Whoa! This has been a hectic week, with almost everyone in the house under the weather.  Haven't been quite in the mood to whip up nice dishes until my extended family popped over for dinner. Decided that we shall have 2 versions of the fish head, a Claypot one and a steamed one. 

Here's the Claypot recipe. 

Ingredients:

- fish head (I used Threadfin 午鱼)

- ginger 

- garlic 

- leeks

- beancurds

- Shaoxing wine

- spring onions

- corn flour

- ikan bilis stock

- oyster sauce

As I did not have time to grab other food from the supermarket, the above was all I used. You can add in fried yam, long white cabbage, baby corns, mushrooms and meat if you want to make this dish a sumptuous one. 😃

Steps:

1. Marinate the fish head with salt, and Shaoxing wine. To avoid that fishy smell, take care to use a clean towel or kitchen napkin to wipe the internal of the fish head. Leave to marinate for 15 mins. 

2. Remove fish head from the plate, pat dry with a paper towel. Coat the fish head with corn flour. 

3. Heat oil in a saucepan for deep frying of the fish head. Add in the fishhead when oil is hot. Fry the first side for about 8 mins and flip over to continue frying for another 5 mins. 

4. While the fish is being deep fried, you can choose to do up the condiments. Alternatively, you can also prepare them in advance before commencing on the cooking. Chopped a sprig of spring onions, 4-5 slices of ginger, some garlic and blend them. Set aside for later use. 

5. Remove the fish and drain off the oil. Add in beancurds to fry. Remove when beancurds turned golden brown. Keep the excess oil aside for later use. 

6. Switch to a Claypot. Oil the Claypot base. Add the blended condiments into fry till aromatic. Add in leeks and continue frying. Add in 2 tbsp of stock and continue frying. When leeks soften, add in beancurds and some oyster sauce. 

7. Add in 1 cup of stock into the Claypot and boil. Add in cornstarch to thicken the gravy. Create a well in the Claypot, shifting the beancurds to the wall. Slowly lower the fried fish head into the Claypot. 

8. Add garnishing and you are ready to serve. :)

Have a good day!

Happy mum

Steamed minced pork with salted eggs (咸蛋蒸肉饼)

This is one dish that I have been wanting to do lately but decided to wait till after CNY cos having 咸鱼，咸蛋 (salted fish/eggs) during the CNY just doesn't seem too auspicious. Wahahahaha!!

Relatively simple and no fuss. Here goes:

Ingredients:

- approx. 350g minced meat (abt 1.5pk of pre-pack minced meat from supermarket)

- 3 water-chestnut (coarsely chopped)

- 2 salted eggs

- half a cap of Shaoxing wine

- sauce mixture (3 tbsp light soya sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 3 tbsp water)

- spring onions chopped

Steps:

1. Crack the salted eggs into a bowl.  Wash the egg yolks under running water to rid the mucusy egg white. 

2. Mix the chopped water chestnut with the minced meat as well as half the salted egg white. Mix well. 

3. Mix in half a cap of Shaoxing wine and mix. Leave it to stand for 10mins or more. 

4. Using one egg yolk, break into a few parts and mix. 

5. Smear a little cooking oil on the plate to prevent sticking. Dish out the meat and arrange on a plate for steaming later. Using the other egg yolk, break into bigger chunks and place on the surface. 

6. Send into the steamer for 15mins. 

7. Prepare the sauce (refer above). Using this time, chop spring onions and set aside. 

8. Once 15mins is up, off fire, place spring onions on top of the meat and pour the sauce mixture over the meat.   

9. Dish and rests to serve. 

Happy Sunday!

Happy mum

Broth for Yong Tau Foo

I love drinking soup. So does my daughter. I especially love cooking a broth that is totally based on the natural goodness/sweetness of the ingredients. No salt and no MSG. 

This is the same type of broth I will use for my Yong Tau Foo and my mee hoon kway (shall cover the MHK separately). 

Ingredients:

- 150g ikan bilis (without head)

- your favouite Yong Tau Foo mix (I love Fuzhou fishballs, tau kwa, fish cake etcher)

Steps: 

1. Rinse and pat dry the ikan bilis. Set aside. 

2. Boil a pot of water for the soup. 

3 heat up the pan with a little oil and toss the ikan bilis inside to fry them till they turn brown and crispy. 

4.when the water is boiling, add in the ikan bilis and let it continue to boil. 

5. The broth is ready after 10 mins of boiling. Using a sieve, remove the ikan bilis. (U may leave it there if u want to eat them)

6. Add in your favorite Yong Tau Foo mix to boil for another 5-8ims and you are ready to serve. 

Here's a no salt no MSG soup that my kids love. Using the same soup base, you can also explore cooking the following:

1. Fish porridge 

2. Mee hoon kueh

3. Fishball noodles 

4. Mix seafood soup

5. Steamboat soup base

6. Many others

Happy trying!

Happy mum

Steamed Seabass

Here's another fishy business and the husband loves this a lot. A relatively cheap dish to do at home yet cost a lot when dine at the restaurants. 

Tips for choosing Seabass:

Learnt from a show that the best weight for a fish is between 800-900g. It's not too small nor too big and the meat texture is the best.  

Ingredients:

- Seabass 

- ginger (sliced and in shreds)

- spring onions chopped in 1-2 inch length

- 2 tbsp oil 

- sauce to drench (4tbsp of light soya sauce, 1 tbsp of fish sauce, 1 tbsp of sesame oil and 2 tbsp of water)

Steps:

1. Slice the fish meat by the back bones on both sides. This will allow the fish to be thoroughly cooked yet maintain a nice body. 

2. Place the sliced gingers and some chopped spring onions in the fish stomach to rid the fishy smell.

3. Rub a little bit of salt on the both sides of the fish. 

4. Place 2 - 4 chopsticks beneath the fish to raise it up from the plate. This will allow even steaming and cooking for the fish. Place the sliced gingers on the fish. Pour a capful (or half depending on the size of the fish) of Shaoxing wine over the fish. 

5. Send into the steamer for 15mins. 

6. While the fish is being steamed, prepare the sauce (refer above). 

7. Heat up 2 tbsp of oil. 

8. Once 15 mins is up, remove the fish from the steamer and gently roll and pull out the chopsticks. Place the spring onions over the fish. Drench the sauce mixture over an around the fish. Using the heated oil, pour over the spring onions. You will hear the sizzling sound of the oil poured over the spring onions. 

9. Place some coriander over the fish and you are ready to serve. 

Happy feasting!

Happy mum

Stir fried beancurds with leeks

After sinful feasting during this festive period, it's time to go back to simple meals. Something that warms the heart. It's beancurd and leeks!  Yeah, have been very into leeks since last year for god-knows-why. :)

Ingredients:

- chopped garlic

- 2 cubes of beancurd (tau kwa), sliced into bricks. 

- leeks chopped into 1 inch length, and half into lengthwise

- abalone sauce (optional) otherwise pinch of salt

Steps:

1. Fried the beancurds into golden brown. For the health-conscious, pan fried instead of deep drying. Dish and set aside. 

2. Stir fry the chopped garlic until aromatic. Use medium heat to prevent browning. 

3. Add in the leeks and give it a quick fry, till aromatic too. 

4. Add in 1 tbsp of hot water and continue frying. This will help to soften the leeks. Add a pinch of salt an continue frying on medium heat. 

5. Add in the beancurds and give a good mix. 

6. Add in the abalone sauce (optional). I added this for the extra taste. Add in half cup of hot water and continue to fry (braise) for 1 min. 

7.  Dish to serve. 

Happy simple dish. :)

Happy mum

Rabbit Fish in salted beans sauce

This has to be my favorite fish. Many fanciful names, but commonly know as Rabbit Fish or 白肚鱼to the older folks. During CNY, they conferred this as 发财鱼! 

There are many way to prepare this fish, whether steamed, fried, boiled, or even cooked in mee sua soup!

For today, it's my all time favorite cooking style - in salted beans. Great for white porridge!  

Ingredients:

- rabbit fish 

- ginger shredded

- salted beans (I like this brand a lot and it's cheap too @ $1.70 - see below)

Steps:

1. Heat up some oil and toss in the ginger shreds when hot. Stir fry the ginger till aromatic. 

2. Place in the rabbit fish neatly and let it cooked on its own for 2 mins.  Using a long tong is very advisable. :)

3. Add in the salted beans and the sauce and let the fish remain cooked for about 1 min then flip the fish to the other side. 

4.  Abt 10 secs later, pour in boiling water and let the fish continue to boil within the broth. Volume of water depends on yourself. We like to use the gravy to drench over our porridge/rice so we usually do more gravy. 

5.  The fish is done when the fish eyeballs turned white. 

6.  Dish out, garnish and it's ready to serve. 

Happy Huat-ing with your 发财鱼！

Happy mum