Fish with vegetables - fennel, capers, melon, fruits

Fish does not always have to be deep fried and eaten with chips, plainly poached or simmered in soup.

Fennel

Fish slices can be stir fried or steamed with fresh fennel, oil (light olive or sesame). Not only does fennel neutralise any fishy smell or taste, its exotic aroma is appealing but not over the top. Half a fennel is enough to cook one tail fillet of fish.

Dill (shoots), fennel seeds or powdered fennel could be used as a marinade for fish before frying, adding sophistication to an otherwise simple dish.

Fresh fennel makes are refreshing salad with citrus fruits and herbs. http://ausletters.blogspot.com/2009/11/seasonal-vegetables-from-down-under.html

Capers

Fish tastes good with tangy tinge. Throw in a handful of capers to steam fish or garnish over cream sauce for fried fish.

Preserved plum in brine

Also known as wet sour plum (as opposed to dried version which is eaten with wine or as a snack to soothe the throat). Crush and remove the stone. Spread over fish and steam with ginger slices and a dash of cooking white wine or Shaoxing wine. Season with warm soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil and garlic oil. Thisis a typical Chaozhou dish which hailed from southern China.
Remember : ensure that only very fresh fish is used for steaming because this method of cooking reveals all the goodness but also exposes the shortcomings of fish that is not up to scratch.

Lime and Chilli sauce

Mix fish sauce with brown sugar till well combined. (About 2 TBS of fish sauce to 1 TBS of sugar). Squeeze half a Thai green lime juice and mix with the sauce. Add 1/4 tsp of crushed chilli and mix well. Use as marinade to steam fish or dressing for fish salad with mango slices.

Melon and Tofu

The bones and head of larger fishes need not be discarded as they serve as a base for delicious vegetable stews. The fish meat close to the bone is especially tasty too. If the fish store has just deboned fishes into fillet, they are more than happy to sell you the bones for a song.

Grill on medium low the fish bone and hairy melon wedges (in separate trays lined with baking paper) in the oven lightly sprayed oil. Alternatively, sear in on high heat in a heavy and deep skillet or pan. Fry two cloves of cleaned garlic with skin intact till golden brown. Stir fry carrot slices or cubes till slightly cooked but still firm. Pour fish stock into the pan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, season with pepper, a dash of oyster sauce and soy sauce or fish sauce. Add a knob of bashed ginger.

Add the grilled fish and melon. Cover and bring to a brief boil. Add deep fried tofu puff (from chilled section of Asian supermarket). Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.



Do be very careful when eating fish bone stews as there could be smaller and chipped bones.

More on cooking seafood : http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/04/seafood-secret-of-balancing-and.html

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Best cookware for frying eggs - comparison and preferences

Cast iron wok or frying pans are the superior cookware for frying food. Despite it's humble appearance, the cast iron utensils ensure that heat is conducted to the food instantly and produce the best intended results. Best for frying sunny side up. The only issue some may have is that you need to use a bit more oil and heat it up before putting the food in.

I have recently discovered that the Korean marble frying pan which is touted as the cookware for cooking meat and seafood in its own oil and juices, is great for cooking omelette as well.

They are better than teflon coated non-stick pans that yield undercooked results that is lacking in fire or oumph.

European tech sandwich alloy cookware such as Scanpan and Swiss Diamond are good for searing, general frying and stewing. However, they are not very suitable for frying eggs because of the even heat distribution which tends to cause the omelette to stick and break up easily.

My verdict : Korean stone frying pan which costs USD25 produces the best results and is easy to maintain.

Chee Cheong Fun sauce - rice rolls with spicy XO sauce

The best way to eat chee cheong fun is with homemade XO sauce and combining the various traditions to get the best of different worlds.

There are various types of sauces for Chee Cheong Fun. Using dark soy sauce, sesame oil, hoi sin sauce, oyster sauce, fried onion crisp, cut shallot, dried shrimp and scallop XO sauce, fresh shrimp, minced meat, mushroom, sesame seed, peanut.

Fry the onion, garlic, dried shrimp, soaked scallop, ground dried and fresh chilli to make the XO sauce.

To prepare sweet sauce, mix the soy sauce, hoi sin in a saucepan. Mix corn starch and water and pour over the sauces before it starts to boil. Lower heat till liquid is reduced.

Add pickled green chillies and garlic red chilli sauce for more flavour and garlic crisp, shallot crisp, sesame seeds, fresh spring onion, coriander leaves as garnishing and toppings.

Types of common chee cheong fun sauces :

- Hongkong sweet sauce

- Penang prawn paste chilli sauce

- Ipoh Style sweet, hot and sour meat sauce

- Vietnamese black fungus meat and shallot sauce

* Permission to publish on this blog.

Yam bean / bangkwang / turnip fry and stew with cuttlefish

The main ingredient of this festive dish is yam bean, also known as turnip in Southeast Asia or bangkwang in the local Malay lingo. The other main ingredient is dried cuttle fish that is sliced thinly.

Peranakans in northern Malaysia (Penang nonya) name this dish : "yu heu char" which means "fry with cuttlefish" though it is simmered like a stew after the initial frying.

My late aunt's special recipe has sliced shitake mushroom, prawns and carrots to add colour and sophistication to this home cooked dish for special occasions.

The difference between a successful and mediocre dish in the frying. First the garlic crisp, salty beans, mushroom and cuttlefish. Then the vegetable is added and stir fried to ensure it absorbs all the savoury flavours of the other ingredients. No sugar is needed as yam bean is a root vegetable that contains lots natural starch and sugar.

The flavoursome stew can be eaten with rice or use as filling for lettuce wraps (iceberg, cos or Chinese lettuce, whatever is available).

The more commonly known lettuce wraps "sang choy bao" :

http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/09/chef-demonstration-of-sang-choy-bao.html

Seafoods for tasty soups, congee and porridge

There is a wealth of information and expert knowledge on cooking soups and stews in oriental cuisines, especially Chinese cooking. It is believed that liquid food enables easy digestion even for the physically weak, sick and convalescing.

Fresh Seafood

Rock oysters, scallop (fresh with roe or thawed from frozen), fish, abalone and prawns can be made into delicious dish in a short time. Do not overcook the seafood.




Dried seafood

If you prefer a meat or vegetable, dried seafood would greatly enhance the flavour of soups such as wanton noodles, porridge and congee.

The most common dried seafood for flavouring are dried oyster and dried scallop. Sometimes dried shell fish slices are used as they are cheaper options.

Dried scallops must be washed and soaked for a few hours before adding into the porride or congee. Dried abalone are expensive and require a longer time to prepare as they need to be soaked for hours and slow cooked for several more hours and therefore used in specialty soups rather than for daily cooking.

The difference between congee and porridge

From Fujian (Hokkian) and Caozhou (Chewchou or Teochew) are rice porridge. Cook rice with three to five times the amount of water in high heat, half covering the lid. Bring to the boil, uncover and continue boiling for another five minutes. Add ingredients and flavouring. Turn off the heat when all the raw ingredients are well cooked. Ready to serve.

Another way of cooking porridge is to boil the soup and add seasoned meat. If using ribs as the soup base, it must be cooked for at least 2 hours.

Guangdong (Cantonese) style congee requires boiling the rice soup for at least two hours. Lower the heat to medium level once the congee starts boiling. Add ingredients and cook till al dante. A friend's relative who owns a restaurant revealed that adding soy milk at this stage will produce a smooth texture. Then lower the heat further and simmer. Keep the lid covered all the time.

For a writeup on crispy oyster pancake, please refer to :

http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/oyster-egg-pancake-chaozhou-style.html