Hong Kong Style Steamed Greasy Grouper

Ok, the eldest son super loves steam fish with soy sauce. He is a picky eater and whenever we dine at restaurants, he will always request for that one dish only. As it is, that is a super expensive dish and I can't keep feeding him with that!  Hence, I decided to show him that he can have his favorite at home too, at one-tenth of the restaurant price. 

Ingredients:

Greasy Grouper

Salt (rub over the fish and its cavity)

Salted Plum x 1

Spring onions x 2 sprigs (chopped into 2 inch length)

Ginger (5 big slices and 3 slices julienned - strips)

Rice Wine

Shao Xing wine

Sauce:

Mixture of:

Light soy sauce (2 table spoons)

Sesame oil (1 table spoon)

Water (3 table spoons)

Oil (2 tablespoons) - set aside. 

Steps:

1. After washing of fish, pat dry with paper towel. Salt the fish totally including its stomach. 

2. Lay 1/3 of the spring onions and 1/2 of the big slices of ginger on the plate. Stuff the fish stomach with another 1/3 of the spring onions and 2 slices of ginger. 

3. Rest the fish on the spring onions and ginger slices. Garnish the fish with the slices strips ginger. Place a sour plum next to the fish.

4. Pour 1 teaspoon of rice water over the fish. Then another half cap of the ShaoXing wine over the fish. 

5.  Send the fish into the steamer for 10mins. 

6. Prepare the soy sauce mixture. 

7. Heat up the oil. 

8. When 10 mins is up, remove the plate and pour away the water on the plate (from the steaming process). Place the fish back into the steamer. 

9. Add in the last 1/3 of the spring onions on top of the fish. 

10. Pour the hot oil over the body of the fish and onto the newly added spring onions. You will hear the lovely sizzling sound. 

11. Pour the soy sauce mixture over the fish. 

12. Cover back the lid of the steamer. 

13. Off fire after 1 min. Dish to serve 

There you go, an inexpensive dish that is so expensive in restaurants. The greasy grouper is $6 from NTUC.  The last steamed fish we had from a restaurant recently is a whopping $180. That's crazy crazy!

Happy mum

Teo Chew Steamed Fishcake

I was itching to try new dishes yet was too lazy to go into a battlefield in my kitchen, creating complicated dishes. Also, going healthy is one of the food concepts in the mind recently. Hence when I chanced upon a recipe for my favourite Teo Chew steamed fish cake (潮州蒸鱼饼), I decided to give it a try.  The verdict was : you did this yourself? :)

Ingredients:

- 400g fish paste (I got the bobo brand 200g x 2 tubs)

- 250g minced meat

- chopped spring onions (amount to your desire)

- chopped red chilli (optional)

- 1 tbsp corn flour

- dash of pepper

- dash of salt

Steps:

1. Mix the ingredients above well into a paste.

2. Coat a big metal plate with a little oil and add in about 2 tbsp of water.  Set aside. 

Notes: The oil will prevent the fish cake from sticking too much. I added water so that I can use the "stock" for my other dishes. :)

3. Get ready a bowl of water and a spoon. 

4. Start scooping the paste and shaping into your desire designs. Once done, place your fishcake onto the plate. 

Notes:  As the paste is rather sticky, you can dip your spoon into the bowl of water before u scoop the paste. The wet spoon will prevent the paste from sticking too much. 

5. Once done, send into the steamer for steaming for 20mins. If you have crafted into bigger pieces, you will need about 25 mins. 

6. To check for doneness, poke a fork into the fishcake. If the fork comes out clean with no residues, the fish cake is ready. 

Happy caking!

Happy mum

Oven-baked Fish Head

It's been ages since I last did my marketing in the wet market. It has always been the supermarkets for the sake of convenience, and to chock up points. But I had a pleasant surprise today at the wet market. Saw a few plates of fresh batang fish head and each plate had 3 heads and costing $4 only!  Immediately, I told the fishmonger to give me only the freshest. :)

So, for tonight, it was the oven baked fishhead. 

Ingredients:

- 1 fish head halved. 

- terikayi sauce

- salt

- minced garlic and ginger

- chilli powder 

- olive oil

Steps:

1. Marinate the fish head with the terikayi sauce, followed by minced garlic and ginger. Pat chilli powder over the front and back and the cavities. Set aside. 

2. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees for 10 mins. 

3. Before delivering the fish head into the oven, sprinkle some salt over the head and drizzle the head with some olive oil. 

4.  Baked for 25mins. 

5. Serve hot. 

Happy baking!

Happy mum

Steamed Threadfin Steak in black beans

It's been a loooooong time since I blogged about my homecooked dishes. All thanks to Mummy Sharon who asked about my blog address and so coincidental that I just did up a steamed Threadfin and she is planning to do some whipping up of the same type of fish. So Sharon, here you go! :)

Ingredients:

- a Threadfin steak (aka ngoh hee or 午鱼)

- spring onions chopped into 1.5inch length

- sliced ginger 

- 1 sour plum

- dash of fish sauce (optional)

- salt

- 1tsp salted black beans 

Steps:

1. Salt the Threadfin steak both side  and place on a plate

2. Squash a sour plum and place onto the plate. 

3. Add the sliced ginger on the steak

4. Add the black beans on the ginger 

5. Add a dash of fish sauce 

6. Send to steamer for 15mins

7. Add spring onions on the done steak and Serve hot.

Happy steaming and enjoy!

Happy mum

Fried Fish Meat Bee Hoon Soup

Our family helper usually cooks the standard 3 dish 1 soup kinda dinner for the family, so when I take over the kitchen on the weekends, I try to abstain from the usual menu.  That is to give myself and the family members a break from the mundane menu list.  So, we had the Fried Fish Bee Hoon that particular Sunday evening. 


Ingredients:
- Snapper Fish (chopped into big cubes)
- Corn flour mixture (with water) + Salt
- 1 pack of Thick Bee Hoon (washed under tap and soaked 3 minutes in hot water.  Strain to dry)
- Long white cabbage + Chye Sim
- Ikan Bilis
- Condensed Milk
- Tomato (optional)


Steps:

1. Boil a pot of water to be used as broth.

2. Heat up the frying pan and fry the ikan bilis till crispy.  Set aside half to be used as garnishing.  Pour the other half and the oil residue into the pot of boiling water to boil for 1 hr.

3. While the soup is boiling, prepare to fry the fish meat.  Set the oil in high heat.  Coat the fish meat into the flour mixture and drop into the wok for deep frying.  Sieve and strain when fish meat turns golden brown.  (usually abt 8mins).

For one-serving only

4. Pour a bowl of broth (prepared earlier) into a small pot.  Let it boil before throwing in the thick bee-hoon.  As the broth starts to boil again, add in condense millk (about 2 tbsp) and give a quick stir.

5. Add in the veggies and fish meat last.

6. Ready to serve.  Add the ikan bilis as garnishing.

Have fun!

Happy mum

Teochew Steam Pomfret

I have been too lazy of late, to cook and even more to blog. Hence, here's backdating the entry.  Teochew Steam Pomfret is a comfort food to me.  Yes, pretty expensive too, especially if dining outside.  For our family, I try to make it a point to buy small pomfret (usually cost ard $3-5) from the supermarket to pamper the kids and myself.  Note though, that pomfrets are high in cholesterol. 

Ingredients:
- 1 pomfret (sliced from the upper back on both sides)
- 1 ginger (sliced into strips and 3 pieces into slices)
- 1 tomato (diced into cubes)
- 1 plum (slightly squeezed)
- 1 garlic (minced)
- Pinch of salt (to spread over the fish)
-  Half cap Shaoxing Wine


Steps:
1. Set the wok up for steaming before working on the fish.

2. Placed the sliced ginger into the cavity of the stomach.  Placed the fish into a plate.

3. Scattered the diced tomatoes, plum and ginger strips on the fish.

4.  Drench the Shaoxing wine onto the fish.

5. Send the fish into the steamer and steam for 15 mins.

Happy Steaming!

Happy mum

Baked Cod Fish w/ Salted Black Beans

oh, so I have been too lazy to update this blog and I do feel terribly ashamed, simply becos this journal is supposedly a reference for my kids so that when they do feel that they need some form of guide for a specific dish, they know where to get the inspirations and know-how.

Anyway, taking the step-by-step pics is really too tedious for me, when I need to guide the kids on what to throw into the wok, or what to cut.  (yea, the kitchen is our playground under mummy's strict supervision).  Besides this, to also keep an eye on the food before they turned charred.  So, eventually, its the end-product photo attached and the recipes as follow:

Ingredients:
- Frozen Cod Fish Steak (thawed)
- 2 tsp of butter
- 1 tsp of salted black beans
- 1 yellow onion (chopped into rings)


Steps:

1. Set the oven at 25mins, and preheat oven at 200degrees for the first 10 mins.

2. Fold aluminium foil into boat-like shape (or bowl shape lah), coat the 1 tsp butter at the base and scatter some onion rings below.

3. Place the cod fish steak over the onion rings and the 1 tsp butter on top of the fish. 

3. Pour the 1 tsp of salted black beans over the fish and throw in the remaining yellow onion rings.

4.  Send to the oven and baked for 15mins.

5. Ready to be served.

Happy baking!

Happy mum

Thai Style Spicy Lime Seabass

IIt's been weeks since I am back from Bangkok and I am still having the post-bangkok blues. And the hubby has been craving for our favourite Thai dish, the spicy lime seabass. Naturally I have to create this lovely dish. I have previously done up this dish before and it was 70% close and I am trying to achieve a 90marks for this round. Good that I have a Thai friend who shared her own recipe for this dish. Using her recipe as reference, I did it slightly differently. 

Ingredients:

- seabass

- 2 stalks of lemon grass (thinner portion 1cm diagonally chopped, thicker portion chopped into halves and smashed)

- chopped garlics (about 1 full clove)

- chopped ginger

- 2 limes (juice)

- 2 chilli padi (chopped)

- pinch of salt

- fish sauce 

- shaoxing wine

Steps:

1. Prepare the broth first. Using a small pot, boil about 1 cup of water. Using a frying pan, add oil and stir fry the following in this order: thicker lemongrass, ginger, garlic. Allow the individual aroma to be released each time before adding the next ingredient. Add the boiling water into the wok to simmer. Add in 2 tbsp of fish sauce. Let it simmer a while before transferring to the pot to further boil over small to medium heat. Add the chopped chilli into the broth. I did not fry the chilli together as I do not want the broth to be too spicy till the rest of the flavour are masked. 

2. While the broth is boiling, let's prepare the fish. To allow faster and even cooking, I make slits at the back of the fish separating the fish meat and the fin bones. Placed a slice of ginger each in the slit. Stuff some chopped lemongrass and ginger into the fish stomach. 

3. Prepare the steamer. 

4. Place the seabass on the plate, marinate with salt on both sides, and pour 1tsp of shaoxing wine over it. Next sprinkle the lemongrass, chilli and remaining garlic over the fish. Send the fish into the steamer for 15mins. 

5. While 5 mins into steaming, open the cover and pour the broth and lemongrass stalks into the plate and continue steaming for 10 more mins. 

6. Pour the lime juice over the fish. I did not cook the lime juice in the broth as over cooking will cause the juice to turn bitter and not sour. Adding the lime juice last enhances the refreshing sour taste. 

7. Ready to serve. You may add garnishing at this stage. I skipped that cos we were too eager to tuck in. :)

Happy seabassing!

Happy mum

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 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

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