A simple dish using fish fillet. Good for the kids because NO BONES! I remembered once I feed Le-Ann with fish, and the bones got stuck on her throat. We rushed her to the hospital ER to removed the bone from her throat. Ever since then, I swear to myself I am not going cook any fish with lots of bones for the kids. Hence, fish fillet is the best! LOL. I always buy garoupa fish fillet from the wet market. At times I used it to cook fish porridge, sometimes sweet & sour fish fillet and this round I stir  fried the fish fillet with spring onions and ginger slices.

Ingredients :
1 piece of garoupa fish fillet, sliced
Few slices of young ginger
Some chopped garlic
5 stalks of spring onions, cut to about 2? length
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbso of Hsiao Xing wine
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Method:
1. Heat oil in wok, stir fry ginger, and garlic and till fragrant.
2. Add in fish fillet, oyster sauce, soya sauce and Hsiao Xing wine. Stir fry a minute.
3. Season with salt and sugar and lastly add in spring onions. Give it a quick stir and dish up.

I tried to opt for more organic food at times it is hard to stick to 100% organic. Certain food items like vegetables, noodles and rice I will use organic but the kids at home doesn’t seem to like the organic brown rice .My kids will give me funny faces when I cooked brown rice. Either they will say ‘Yucks”… “Not nice” and ended up I leave with left over of brown rice at home. In order not to waste it, I used it up to cook porridge and they didn’t even realize I uses brown rice. LOL

Ingredients :
300gm of fish fillet, de-boned and cut the fish meat into thin slices and the bones used for stocks ( I used snake head fish )
2 cups of brown rice, soaked overnight in water
2 litre water
1 small piece of young ginger, cut into slices
Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishing :
Ginger, cut into thin strips
Spring onion and Chinese parsley, chopped into small pieces
Fried crispy shallots
A dash of sesame oil

Method :
1. Put the fish bones into a pot. Add in the water and let it boil for about 30 minutes.
2. Remove the bones and add in the organic brown rice, ginger and pandan leaves. Let it boil for about an hour or till become porridge. Season with salt and pepper.

Remarks: I am using a slow cooker to cook the porridge for about 6 hours. Then using a soup bag to separate out the fish bones.

I love buying cod fish from the wet market and this type of fish is so expensive. A small slice of it will cost about RM30 – RM40 per slice. Both my kids love cod fish and whenever I cook this fish, it is all for them. My aunties advised me not to eat so much cod fish because this type of fish, there are lots of chemical used to preserve the freshness of the fish. I wonder whether this is true or not.

Anyway, my usual way to cook this fish is pretty simple. Just steamed it and have some soy sauce drizzle on top of it. Eat while it is still hot. Both my kids can have a full plate of rice to go with it.

Ingredients :
A slice of cod fish, about 500gm
Young ginger, julienned
A handful of wolf-berries
Some fried shallots and shallots oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Method:
1. Clean the fish and place it on a plate.
2. Top it with julienned young ginger and wolf-berries.
3. Steam over hot boiling water for 10 minutes.
4. Remove from wok, and pour soy sauce, sesame oil, shallots oil and the crispy fried shallots on top of it fish.

I hardly have the time to dish up fanciful dishes for my kids now. I think the main factor is because Dearie Suki hardly eat at home now and the kids are pretty easy with whatever I cook for them. I always have my homemade fish paste in the fridge. When I run out of ideas what to cook, I will opt for dishes using fish paste. The fish paste can  be used  to make yong tau fu or roll it up with omelette and steam it, or simply fried it and dipped with tomato ketchup. Hmmm… sound easy rite. I used the fish paste to stuffed with taufu pok today’s dinner. Kids love it!

Ingredients :
Homemade fish paste ( refer to the recipe HERE )
1 packet taufu pok
Some chopped garlic
1 cup of water
1 tbsp oyster sauce
Salt, pepper and sesame oil for seasoning
Cornstarch for thickening
Chopped spring onion for garnishing

Method :
1. Slit the taufu pok with scissors.
2. Stuffed the fish paste in the taufu pok. Leave aside once done.
3. Heat some oil on a flat pan. Fried the taufu pok till golden brown and a bit crispy. Set aside.
4. Pour away the oil and leave about a tablespoon on the pan.
5. Sautee the chopped garlic till golden brown. Add in oyster sauce and water. Bring it to boil.
6. Season with salt, pepper and some sesame oil.
7. Pour in the fried taufu pok and give it a stir. Thicken with cornstarch.
8. Dish up and garnish with chopped spring onion.

When I buy a whole Mackerel or Tenggiri fish, the only thing I did is to make into fish paste. At times I will cook Tenggiri Fish Curry but the kids can’t eat spicy so making fish paste is the best for them. The fish that I bought last week is very , very , very fresh and it would be a waste if I make it into fish paste. Hence, I cut few slices and pan fried till cook. Not overly cook because the flesh will be too hard which is not my liking.

Then sautee some big onions till soft, pour over the fish and drizzle some soya sauce on top of it. Yummy… you can either eat it on its own or with white porridge.

The second entry from me for the Merdeka Open House 2010 : Food From Our Hearts organized by Babe in the City-KL. Steamed Ikan Kembung, an easy fish dishes that was created by my Ah Mah. When I was a kid, my Ah Mah take care 5 of us at home which is me and my fellow cousins. I could say  she is really a super lady and at that age of 70 plus she still have the energy to take care so many of us.

With so many grandchildren to take care off, she still managed to cook lunch for us and I really miss her dishes a lot. She is not a good cook but still, her simple home cooked dishes is something we always look forward to for our lunch before we go to school. Born in a Hokkien family, she love to cook plain porridge for lunch plus few dishes to go with it. One of my favourite is her Steamed Kembung Fish. She usually steamed one plate with chilli padi and one plate without chili padi for the younger cousins who can’t take spicy food. Plus the chopped garlic and the lime juice squeezed on top of the fish… wow super yummy to go with the porridge. Here you go a simple recipe to try out.

Ingredients:
Kembung fish, cleaned
Some chopped garlic
Some chopped chili padi
Soya sauce & sesame oil to taste
Lime juice

Method:
1. Steamed kembung fish till cook. Pour away the excess water in the plate after steaming.
2. In a bowl, mix the chopped garlic, chopped chilli padi, soya sauce, sesame oil and some lime juice. Then pour over on the kembung fish.
3. Serve with with porridge or rice.

Happy Merdeka Day!

I miss the night market in SS13, Subang Jaya. When I was with my ex-company, every Tuesday without miss, I will buy my cooking stuffs there. It was almost a year I didn’t step in the night market there. I used to buy a lot of Snake Head Fish ( Sang Yue ) from one of the stall there. But ever since I left, hardly I cook this fish for my son, Ee-Thern. It is quite hard to find this fish at the market nearby my house. You will only see it once in a blue moon at the wet market in SK.

Last weekend, when I was at the market, I found it. Bought two of it back home. That afternoon itself, I steamed one of it. The fish is quite big though and I divide it into two. I steamed it with Chinese herbs, i.e: Dong Kwai and Wolfberries with a dash of Hsiao Hsing Wine. The outcome is superb. The kids love the fish and also the fish essence dripping during the steaming. They can really eat a big plate of rice with it.

Ingredients :
1 medium size Snake Head Fish ( Sang Yue ), cleaned
Spring onion, cut into 1 inch length
Some young ginger, cut into thin strips
Salt, pepper and sesame oil for seasoning
5 pieces of Dong Kwai
A handful of wolfberries
1 tbsp Hsiao Hsing Wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
Some deep fried shallot / garlic with the oil

Method :
1. Clean the fish and season with some salt, pepper and sesame oil.
2. In an stainless steel oval plate, place fish, ginger strips,dong kwai, Hsiao Hsing wine and half of the spring onions on the plate. Sprinkle the wolfberries over the fish.
3. Steam over high heat for about 15 minutes.
4. Once done, pour the soya sauce and deep fried shallots/ garlic with the oil over the fish. Top with the remaining spring onion on top of the fish. Serve hot with white rice.

Remarks : Don’t over steam the fish as the fish meat will get hard.

I made some fish paste last week and yesterday prepare some Yong Tau Foo for dinner. I realized the Yong Tau Foo selling at the stalls are charging RM1 per piece. Some are charging RM0.90 per piece. My GOD, everything is so expensive now. If I have the time at home, I would rather prepare it myself than eat out. Furthermore you wouldn’t know whether the fish paste they used are made from 100% fish or they have actually added other items in it.

Preparing the fish paste is rather simple. You can check it out at my other blog HERE for the step by step pictures on how to prepare fish paste. I’ve stuffed the fish paste with chillies, brinjal, long beans, lady’s fingers, beancurd skin and tau foo pok. Just deep fried it till cook and prepare some oyster sauce to drizzle over. Yummy… I love it.

Here are as simple steps on how to prepare the sauce :

Ingredients :
Some chopped garlic and onion
2 cups of fish stocks (used the mackeral fish bones to prepare the stocks )
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soya sauce
Salt, pepper and sesame oil to seasoning
Some cornstarch for thickening

Method :
1. Heat oil in pan. Sautee garlic and onion till fragrant.
2. Add in oyster sauce, soya sauce and fish stocks.
3. Simmer for about 10 minutes and then season with salt, pepper and sesame oil.
4. Lastly thicken with some cornstarch and let it boil for a minute.
5. Off the fire and pour over the Yong Tau Foo.

I am getting fat after coming back from Bangkok. Haizzz… After too much of heavy and fried foods in Bangkok, I cook something light with less oil at home these few days.  I think I have to control myself lately if not the best diet pills in town also couldn’t help me to maintain my weight. I am telling myself I have to control my food now.

We had Fish Fillet Meehoon Soup yesterday night. I bought Sang Yue from the night market last week and get the taukeh soh to de-bone it.  The fish bones are keep to boil the black beans soup next week and the fish fillet are used up to cook this meehoon soup. Something simple and not so oily for dinner last night.

Ingredients :
Fish fillet( I used Sang Yue )
Meehoon, blanch with hot water till soft
Ginger, sliced thinly
Spring onion, cut into 3cm lengthwise
1 cube Knorr Chicken Stock
2 litre of water
Some Romain lettuce
Some fried shallots
Salt & Pepper to taste
Sesame oil

Method:
1. Put the water in a pot and bring to boil.
2. Then add in chicken stock. Let it boil for 20 minutes.
3. Season with salt, pepper and sesame oil to taste. Pour in the fish fillet and let it boil for a second. Off the fire and set aside.
4. Blanch Romain lettuce.
5. To serve, put some meehoon and blanched Romain lettuce in a bowl. Garnish with some fried shallots and serve hot.

Back to my daily routine. Cook, snap pictures and blog. Hahaha… Well, I was watching the televisions and came across a local cooking show. The chef was demonstrating how to cook assam pedas fish and uses daun kesum. Wah… I was salivating and quickly go to the fridge to check whether I still have ikan kembung in it. Found one container of ikan kembung  in the fridge and nearly forget when I bought it.

I uses the recipe from Amy’s blog – Cooking Crave as she have one recipe posted for Assam Pedas Ikan Kembung.This dish is really appetizing and for those who loves Asam Laksa, well this tasted exactly like it.

Ingredients:
1 kg fish ikan kembung
2 litres water

Blend together:
10 dried chillies – soaked & seeded
2 fresh chillies – seeded
20 shallots – peeled
2 inch dried shrimp paste (belacan)

10 stalks polygonum (daun kesom)
1 wild ginger bud (bunga kantan) – cut lengthwise
2 cm piece galangale (lengkuas) – smashed
5 stalks lemon grass (serai) – smashed

4 pieces dried tamarind skin (asam keping)
50gm tamarind (asam jawa) mixed with 250ml water – optional

Seasoning:
some rock sugar to taste
some salt to taste
1 cube ikan bilis stock – optional

Method:
1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add in the ground ingredients, daun kesom, bunga kantan, serai, lengkuas & asam keping. Simmer stock over low heat for 10-15 minutes.
2. Remove daun kesom and bunga kantan. Taste the soup if it’s sour enough.
3. Add the asam jawa juice to taste, add in fish and seasoning. Try the soup while you add in the seasoning until you get the correct taste.
4. Keep the soup simmering over very low heat, once the fish is cooked turn off the stove. Serve hot.