Pan-Fried Sutchi with Kiwi Sauce

Hello everyone! This new blogspace stores and records all my tried and tested tasty recipes which I would like to share with you.

Most people love to cook with freshest available ingredients but find it near impossible to visit supermarket everyday, that's when frozen items come to rescue. He he.

I bought a bag of frozen Sutchi (Pangasius Hypophthalmus) fillets from NTUC (freezer section) recently and used its suggested recipe to make a meal. The fish tasted fresh and firm and with my slightly modified kiwi sauce, I found it rather enjoyable.

This takes no time to cook so I find it suitable for weeknights. And so I decide to post this recipe on this blog for you. Try it, you may be pleasantly surprised. :)

Pan-Fried Sutchi with Kiwi Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 pieces Sutchi fillet
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Margarine (replaced with olive oil for the health conscious)
Dash of pepper

Kiwi Sauce:

1/2 Kiwi (mashed)

20g can Pineapple (diced)

40g Cucumber

1/2 tbsp Sugar

1 tbsp Lemon juice

1/4 tsp Salt

Modified Kiwi Sauce:

1 Kiwi (diced and lightly squeezed to collect some juice)

20g can Pineapple (in real pineapple juice; diced to achieve consistent cube size like the kiwis)

40g Cucumber (diced, same size as above; i used japanese cucumber)

1/2 tbsp Sugar (I don't add sugar in my cooking so I substituted sugar with pineapple juice)

1 tbsp Lemon juice (add a little a a time, taste before and after adding juice to make sure it doesn't taste too acidic)

1/4 tsp Salt (opt; I don't add salt to my cooking either, I opted out)

1 tbsp Olive oil

1 finely chopped medium red onion

5-6 cherry tomatoes (diced, same size as above, cherry tomatoes are sweet in nature, so really...you don't need to add sugar)

Method:

1. Marinate fillets with salt and pepper.


2. Pan-fry with margarine till golden brown.


3. Pour kiwi sauce over fish and serve with steam greens &/or potatoes &/or crusty bread &/or steam rice.

Fried Hokkien Noodles with Prawns

I applaud clever marketing idea when I see one.

Whenever I buy packed noodles (egg noodles, fresh noodles, hokkien noodles, udon etc) I always turn the pack over to look at their recipe suggestion.

I make up my marketing list this way in the supermarket, it helps save a lot of my time. This is what I want to cook tonight, so tell me what else I need. And then I will start browsing up and down the aisles looking the ingredients mentioned on the packaging.




For my luckiest friends living in Singapore, you may not wish to bother. You just need to go to your nearest hawker centre or coffee shop and you can enjoy a plate of hokkien noodles in no time. Unlike us in Perth, we either have to learn how to cook our hawker favorites or we can spend $9 to $10 for a plate of "doesn't taste like Singapore wan leh".

Anyway, I tried making this dish and though the picture doesn't do it justice, The Man actually asked for more. ;=)

Fried Hokkien Noodles with Prawns

Serves 4
Prep time 15 min
Cooking time 15 min

Ingredients:
500g Coles Hokkien Noodles (I seldom specify brand, but to my surprise, Coles's is the best, they don't have overpowering preservatives)
2 teaspoons peanut oil
1 red chilli, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
24 large green prawns, shelled and de-veined
300g bok choy, sliced
¼ cup water
2 teaspoons sesame oil
½ cup kecap manis, sweet soy sauce
¼ cup light soy sauce
coriander to garnish (I couldn't be bothered)

1. Prepare noodles as directed and set aside.
2. In a wok or large frying pan, heat the oil until hot. Fry the chilli and garlic briefly until fragrant and cook the prawns in 2 batches until prawns turn into a bright coral colour. Remove from pan and keep warm.
3. Add the noodles and bok choy to the pan and fry over a high heat until noodles are hot and bok choy tender.
4. Return prawns to wok with the water, sesame oil, kecap manis and soy sauce. Toss over a high heat for 1 minute and garnish with coriander before serving.

My friend Ms S.GOH has kindly shared her version of Hokkien Mee.

- Boil water - standby, rinse the noodle.

- Heat up the wok, fried garlic, put in meat and stir till its cook

- add in the hot water

- put in the noodle (make sure that the water is over the noodle)

- put in all other ingredients (prawn, vegetable, sotong ....)

- Cover it and for at least 5 min.

- Stir everything , put in a little salt, MSG, white pepper, light soy sauce, dark soya sauce)

- Cover it until is boil . Taste it and is ready to serve

Steamed Salmon with Asian Flavours

A popular low fat meal in our household, makes me a happy cook as there is little preparation.

Steamed Salmon with Asian Flavours

Prep time 10 min

Cooking time 11 min

Ingredients:

4 salmon fillets

3 green onions, thinly sliced

½ cup light soy sauce

1 tablespoon chopping ginger

1 tablespoon grated palm sugar

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon sesame oil

cooked rice and Asian greens, to serve (I used broccolini)

1. Line a bamboo steamer with baking paper. Add salmon and top with green onions.


2. Simmer soy sauce, palm sugar, ginger, garlic and sesame oil in a small saucepan for 1 minute. Set aside.


3. Place steamer over a wok of simmering water. Drizzle with a little sauce mixture. Cover and steam for 8-10 minutes, until cooked. Serve with cooked rice and Asian green.

Very simple one dish delight!

I thought my arm was falling off after I scrubbed down the shower screen in my ensuite today. I tend to feel slightly ill after chemical exposure (duh!!). Like any project you undertake in your life, its always wise to schedule for breaks in between. Half way through cleaning, I decided to take off my gloves, walked away and sat in front of my laptop, googling "Domestic cleaning services". Hahahahahaha!

But I am not joking, I did call up one company that quoted s $58 for a regular weekly cleaning, another company quoted $28.80 per hour (including GST). I find the prices reasonable, its hard work when come to thorough cleaning you know... Anyhow, I am pretty convinced I should leave it to the expert. "Hey babe, can we get a cleaner in soon prreeeeeshhhh?" He is keen, but auntie here is keener.

I mentioned I was going to try a recipe I dug out yesterday. "Chicken & Bok Choy stir fry". Verdict? Not bad, I am pleased. :) It was an easy one-dish-wonder. Perfect for weeknights. Though the recipe below is designed for 4 servings, we cleaned up everything effortlessly. Geee...we can always exercise tomorrow, can't we?

So here goes:

Chicken & Bok Choy Stir-Fry

Serves 4

2 tablespoons peanut oil
6 chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, cruched
8 shiitake mushrooms, soak in hot water for 10 mins, then drained
200g baby bok choy leaves
2 teaspoons sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon teriyaki marinate
2 teaspoons oyster sauce

1. Marinate chicken in teriyaki marinates for half hour.
2. Heat oil in wok and add chicken, stir-fry on high for 3 mins or until golden brown.
3. Add onion, stir-fry for 1 min or until tender.
4. Add garlic, mushroom, bok choy, sweet chilli sauce and oyster sauce, stir-fry for 1 min or until heated through. Serve with rice.

Steamboat

I promised you a list of Steamboat ingredients. But I think I will only give you the variety of items and you can decide on the portion yourself. As you can see from my previous post, I sucked at guess-timation.

My experience with Steamboat dinner has always been an intimate family affair with grandparents, uncles, aunties, parents, brothers & sister etc. And everybody chips in to help or to buy different ingredients. I was seriously in doubt that I could single-handedly pull off a steamboat dinner.

I have never prepared steamboat for 4 people and I had no idea how to portion the food. I was worried all the time about portioning. It would be too embarrassing for me if I didn't prepare enough food.

Logically, if you are unfamiliar with steamboat, you would naturally think its only a matter of scaling it down. (Hey, wait till you do it yourself, there's a lot of work okay!) It was a huge logistical challenge for me. Anyway, I am glad I did that now and I now have a slightly clearer picture than I did previously. Having said that, I am still not confident suggesting portions, everything is by trial and error. So good luck!

Below is a short introduction to Chinese Steamboat

The Chinese Steamboat owes its beginning to the Mongols of northern China, more than 400 years ago. These nomadic peoples did not bequeath a great culinary heritage to Chinese cuisine, but the Mongolian hot-pot is a most important legacy. By the eighteenth century it had become a winter favorite in the Qing dynasty court and still remains and flourishes in all China's regions today.It began as a simple way of cooking meats and vegetables. The thinly sliced meat is dropped with some leafy vegetables into a bubbling chicken soup contained in a specially designed pot (called a steamboat by the Cantonese, and a hot-pot or a fire kettle in other regions of China). It is placed in the middle of the table for finishing and serving. After a minute or two, the food is cooked and is lifted out and eaten with a variety of dipping sauces. When all the meat and vegetables are finished, cellophane noodles are added to the broth, resulting in a wonderful fragrant and flavorsome soup.

Steamboat Ingredients:

Meat
Beef fillet (cut into thin slices, marinate, see ingredient to marinating)
Pork fillet (cut into thin slices, marinate, see ingredient to marinating)
Chicken breast or tenderloin (cut into thin slices, marinate optional, see ingredient to marinating)

Seafood
Prawns (with shells)
Cod fish fillets (cut into thin slices)
Squid tubes (cut into thin slices)
Scallops (remove roe)

Others
Fish balls
Prawn balls (optional)
Meat balls (optional)
Quails eggs (hardboil in water, depend on availability)
Crabmeat stick (peel off the plastic wrapper)
Assorted steamboat ingredients you can find in Asian Supermarket
Fried beancurd
Firm beancurd
Glass Noodles
Rice

Vegetables
Chinese Cabbage (wash and cut into bite size)
Shiitake Mushrooms (hydrate in hot water)
Beansprouts (rinse, tailed if you have time)
Baby Bok Choy (wash and cut into quarter)

Meat Marinate in
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp corn flour
1 tbsp rice wine
Salt and pepper

Dipping Sauce
Minced ginger in Soy:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced ginger
few drops of sesame oil.

Mustard & Soy:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 teaspoon English or French mustard
2 teaspoons peanut oil
2 to 3 drops vinegar.

Hoisin Sauce:
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1/4 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

Chilli Sauce: Fresh cut chilli with light soy sauce

By the way, my friend from Singapore, Ms S.Goh also suggests alternative chilli sauce: sambal chilli or chicken rice chilli

Chicken Tenderloins with Coriander Salad

Chicken Tenderloins with Coriander Salad

Strange..I cook this pretty often but I manage to miss out on blogging. Anyway, better be late than never. (Gosh, don't you hate cliche?)

This quick and easy recipe:

Serves 4

Prep time 10 mins

Cooking time 10 mins

KJ 1115 Fat 16g Sat fat 3 g

1 bunch of coriander, leaves plucked

4 green onions (shallots), chopped

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

500g chicken tenderloins

1. Place coriander, green onion and tomatoes in a large bowl. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, chilli sauce and fish sauce in a jug and set aside.
2. Preheat a lightly greased chargill or barbecue on high. Cook chicken for 3 mins on each side, until golden and cooked through.
3. Pour dressing over coriander mixtures and toss to combine. Divide chicken between serving plates and top with salad, season and serve.

Steamed Fish with Asian Vegetables

Steamed Fish with Asian Vegetables

Typical Chinese meal consists of 3 dishes+1 soup, a standard family requirement. You can cut down on variety for just 2 people, but you know you are not meeting the standard, that's how I feel anyway. I got to hand it to our Ang Moh friends, they always manage to design cooking 2 dishes at one go, in this case, fish and vegetables in the same dish. Very clever lor.

This recipe:

Serves 4
Prep time 5 mins (okay, it took me longer than that, you shouldn't trust this anyway)
Cooking time 5 minutes (again you shouldn't trust this, for me I always steam my fish for 8~10 minutes)

Here what you need:

6 green onions (shallots)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine) or dry sherry
4 baby bok choy, trimmed, quartered
4 firm white fish fillets, such as trevalla or flathead fillets (I use Cod fish)
125g shiitake or oyster mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled, cut into julienne
Steam rice, to serve

1. Finely slice 4 green onions. Combine with garlic, oil, soy sauce and shaoxing wine in a small bowl. Season well and set aside.
2. Line a steamer with baking paper. (My bamboo steamer peed chia already, so I just use an oval plate coated with oil) Top with bok choy, then fish. Scatter with mushrooms and carrot and spoon over soy sauce mixture. (You can add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil if you like a nutty flavour)
3. Cover and steam for 5~7mins, over a pan or wok with simmering water, until the fish is cooked through. (In my experience, its best to leave it for 8~10mins)
4. Meanwhile, cut remaining green onions into thin slices. Divide dish and vegetable stacks between serving plates and top with green onion. Serve with steamed rice.