Steamed Fish Cantonese Style

Ingredients
Fish
Salt
Soy sauce / Lee Kum Kee Seafood Soy Sauce
Water
Rice wine
Ginger, thinly sliced
Coriander, finely chopped
Spring Onions, finely chopped

Steps

• Start by rubbing fish with a bit of salt and place in fridge (not too much salt).
• Score both side of the fish and place sliced ginger on top of the fish.
• Get your steamer ready with boiling water...
• Once water in boiling, place fish in the steamer and steam for 8 mins.
• At this point, check fish to see if it is about cook, by checking the scored section of the meat if it’s Still translucent then you’ll need to cook more 3 - 5 mins max.
• If fish meat is about all white, take out some juices (as much as you can) then pour in the Pre-mixed steamed fish sauce (please see below).
• Cover the steamer and let it cook for about 5 to 6 mins.
• Fish should be cooked now. All up about 13 to 15 mins.
• (depending on the fish – fish for 2 to 4 people about 700gm max should take about 13mins) check it’s eye too.
• Take out and add chopped coriander and spring onion at this point.
• If you wish you can also pre-fired garlic oil and add to the fish.

Steamed fish sauce

• 2 tablespoons of rice wine / shao xing wine / sweet sherry / mirin / - all about the same, you can use either as substitute
• 3 tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee seafood soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of water – I am just guessing here , as I don’t usually measure.
• Basically this is to dilute the seafood soy sauce to your taste, it can be quite salty.
• The secret is...make sure you taste your sauce...even if there’s a bit of rice wine, you can still taste the salt and sweetness of the sauce.
• Add a bit of sesame oil if you like the taste, without it, just find. You don’t want to complicate the flavour too much, as fish is delicate and should be sweet.

Notes:
When you are buying fish, let your fishmonger know that you are planning to steam.
Cod is the best for steaming as it’s meat is firmer than others.
Snapper and Bream they are good too.
Try not to steam salmon or trout – too flaky and oily, it’s better to pan fried or grill these.

Thai Beef Salad - Yum Nua

Ingredients

500 g rump steak or new york cut
1/4 cup spring onions sliced thin
1/2 cup coriander leaves and steam
1/4 cup mint leaves
1 medium cucumber seeded and sliced
1 tomato cut into wedges
1/2 medium red Spanish onion cut into thin wedges
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1 cup rocket leaves

dressing
1 clove of garlic
1 bird's eye chili
2 tbs lemongrass thinly sliced (white part only)
1 1/2 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar
2 tbs fish sauce
2 1/2 tbs lime juice

Start making the dressing by crushing the minced garlic and bird chili using mortar and pastel.
Put this paste in a small bowl and add lemongrass, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar.
Whisk together to combine and set aside.
To cook the steak, heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
Sear the steak on one side and continue to cook until medium rare or medium.
Remove from heat and let stand on cutting board for 5 minutes.
After meat has rested, slice steak thinly.
In a large bowl, add beef and all other ingredients then pour the dressing on top and toss gently.
Serve with rice if desired.

Tippy's Summer Pancake Rolls ( The P Rolls )

Ingredients
10 cooked prawns, peeled
2 pieces of chicken thighs
[lightly marinated with soy and sesame oil then pan fried until cook, then sliced]
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 basil leaves
a bunch of coriander
1/2 cup dill
1/2 cup spring onions, thinly sliced
1 cup bean sprouts
5 rice paper sheets
5 thin savoury pancakes

Sauce:
hoisin sauce
crushed peanuts
a dash of chili sauce / cut chili

for the pancake, you'll need:
1/2 cup of flour
1 egg
1 tbs corn flour
a pinch of salt & pepper
water enough to make a thin batter

Pre-prepared all ingredient and wrap each roll carefully.
Serve with hoisin/peanut sauce.

Barbecued Duck Salad with Palm Sugar Dressing

Ingredients
1/2 Chinese barbecue duck, shredded
1 cups (160g) bean sprouts
1 cup coriander
1/2 cup mint leaves
1 long red chilli, thinly sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced green papaya or green mango or green apple
1/2 cup spring onions
1/2 cup fried eschalot*
1/2 cup lemon grass thinly sliced (white parts only)

Dressing
¼ cup grated palm sugar
½ cup (125ml) lime juice
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 chopped chilli (optional)
Top with a few tablespoons of coconut milk

To make the palm sugar dressing, place the palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce in a bowl and stir to combine. Place the shredded duck, bean sprouts, coriander, mint, chilli, papaya/mango/green apple and the palm sugar dressing in a large bowl and toss to combine. Spoon the salad into small bowls to serve. Serves 4.

Simple Chicken Salads

You'll need:
1 x cup of iceberg lettuce
1/2 cup of carrots julienne
1 x red chilli julienne
1/2 cup of cucumber julienne
1/2 cup of bean sprouts
3 x spring onions finely chopped
1/2 cup of coriander (optional)
a handful of mint leaves
Qtr / half store bought roasted chicken, shredded
a handful of roasted peanuts roughly crushed

Sauce:
1/2 cup of sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp of fish sauce
juice of 1 lemon/lime

Mixed all just before serving.

Chilli Fish Balls

Ingredients:

1 pack x fried fish balls (AROY brand, 1 kg)
1/2 cup chinese satay/ bbq sauce*
1 tsp x super hot chilli bean paste (HK brand - Koon Yik Wah)*
1 tbsp of kicep manis (sweet indonesian soy sauce)
1 tbsp of oysters sauce
splash of water

Add all in a pot and cook under gentle heat until sauce thicken.
Serve while they are hot!

*more notes about these items.

Takoyaki Party

Saturday 1 November 2008, Tomo-Chan and Marc had invited us (Toko-Chan, Sachi-Chan and Me) to their lovely home for a popular and yummy Takoyaki Party! After stuffing our faces with 200 balls!!! And hours of Wii fun. In the end Toko gave up with a cramped left foot and her tired arms from washing too many pairs of dirty undies. Sachi showed off her yoga and balancing moves she is as fit as a 54 yrs old. When asked how does she keep it all so well? Sachi says, Young at heart is the key! and lot of happy smiles : ) Mary was headbutted by lots of football boots and was sent back to the bench. Tomo was the winner of all. Well Done!! Marc suggested us to go skinny dipping with a beer and feeling rich! But the weather was a bit too cold so we've opt for next round of Takoyaki and Wii challange!

(p.s we had to let Tomo wins cause she had our passports!!!)

So what is Takoyaki?
Takoyaki (たこ焼き or 蛸焼, Takoyaki?) (literally fried or baked octopus) is a popular Japanese (Osaka) dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, konnyaku, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver (aonori), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (fish shavings), originating from Osaka. There is a similarly named dish called ikayaki but it is a broiled whole squid and bears no resemblance. "Yaki" is derived from "yaku" (焼く, "yaku"?) which simply means "to bake or grill" in Japanese, and can be found in the names of other Japanese cuisine items such as teriyaki or sukiyaki. source:wikipedia

You'll need:
1 2/3 cup flour
2 1/2 cup dashi soup
2 eggs
1/2 lb. boiled octopus, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup dried sakura ebi (prawns)
1/4 cup chopped pickled red ginger
*For toppings:
fried bonito flakes
aonori (green dried seaweed)
takoyaki sauce
mayonnaise

To make:
Mix flour, dashi soup, and eggs in a bowl to make batter. Thickness of the batter should be like potage soup. Put oil inside cups of a takoyaki grill pan. Pour batter into the cups to the full. Put octopus, red ginger, and green onion in each hole. Grill takoyaki balls, turning with a pick. When takoyaki become rounds and brown, remove them from the pan and place in a plate. Put sauce and mayonnaise on takoyaki and sprinkle bonito flakes and aonori on the top. *makes 4 servings