Hearty & Creamy Chinese Soup - Fish, Tofu, Coriander & Century Eggs

I am not normally excited about Chinese soups but this one had me going gaga! (Sorry, I spent too much time trying to buy tickets to Lady Gaga's concert this morning. All sold out. I didn't get one. I'll have to scream & dance to the fancam videos on youtube later)

It's so creamy from the fish, hearty from all the chunks of velvety smooth century eggs and tofu, and the coriander made the whole thing so refreshing. I adore! I asked SC's mom for the recipe and it goes pretty much like this...

Pan fry your favorite fish. Add some rice wine, add water, bring to boil. Add tofu cubes and century eggs pieces. Season with salt and white pepper, add (lots of) coriander only at the last minute to keep them green.

Slurpsss.

Tom Kha Steamed Fish

It's been a while since I shared a lazy and tasty food huh?

One of my recent lazy tasty discovery is....using instant seasoning mixes (bumped up with fresh herbs and spices) to steam fish!

I can't believe I haven't done this earlier. Very easy, and it offers more variety of flavor combos when I am bored of the classic soy sauce or black bean steamed fish. I used tom kha instant seasoning mix this time, but I've also tried tom yum, opor, and rendang. All yummy! I will surely try more flavors...welcome to the world of endless instant seasoning possibilities!

If you hate using instant seasoning mixes (I bow in respect to you), feel free to grind your own paste using fresh ingredients, it could be as quick as a few pulses in a food processor, and I am sure it will be as tasty, if not tastier ;)


Ingredients
Fresh herbs & spices (you can omit all of these fresh herbs and spices if you are feeling lazy)
- a stalk of lemongrass, cut into sections and bruised
- galangal, bruised
- some kaffir lime leaves, cut thinly
- 1 or 2 red chillies, cut thinly

Main ones
- 1 of your favorite fish, cleaned and pat dry
- 1 pack of your favorite instant seasoning mix (I used Tom Kha)

Rub the fish with instant seasoning paste, scatter the fresh herbs and spices on top, and steam until the fish is just done.

Check the doneness by inserting a chopstick into the thickest part of the fish, the chopstick should go through easily, mine took about 10 minutes. Now I am really just saying stuff to make this "recipe" look longer...actually it is really one-sentence easy ^_^'

Experiment, enjoy and share!

Steamed Fish with Fremented Black Beans, Garlic, and Chilli Recipe

A classic Chinese dish. Very easy to prepare and super tasty!

I used to hate steamed fish (don't we all?). Ugh. It's not something that I normally had when I was still in Indonesia (back then, we preferred deep fried fish with sweet and sour sauce heheheh). I was just not used to eating fish skin being silky smooth (I would think that silky smooth = slimy), and I felt that the steamed fish with ginger and scallion served with soy sauce is just too...subtle for my taste. I want explosions. Subtle isn't my thang.

After a few years in Hong Kong, I learnt to appreciate and enjoy steamed fish. Yes, even the subtle kind...but this explosive one is one of my favorites. Never gets bored of this flavor combo!

Recipe
- 1 fish (choose your favorite. I love pomfret/grass carp/hung yao. You can  use fillet too), cleaned well
- 1 cm ginger, julienned
- 2 chilli, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp fermented black beans
Place fish on a plate. Scatter some of the minced stuff on top of the fish and in the cavity of the fish, steam until the fish is just done. The above fish takes about 8-10 minutes to steam. You can use a steamer or a wok. Fill wok with hot water, about 1.5cm deep, place a shallow bowl or plate upside down, place the plate with the fish on top of that bowl, cover wok and steam.

If you want a short cut (I always do), you can opt to not use ginger and chilli, simply buy Lee Kum Kee's black bean and garlic sauce and 1-2 tsp all over your fish before steaming.

Perfect with (lots of) rice.

Just A Simple, Healthy, Thrifty and Tasty Menu

I love one pot/one dish meals (I am lazy like that), and I have to learn from SC's mom to make the most out of a minimum budget. She whips up multiple dishes menu daily, three meals a day minimum!
This is an example of a her simple lunch menu.
Meat, fish, vegetable, rice.
Very well balanced, easy to make, and inexpensive.
She is my guru!

Stir fried chicken with ginger, garlic and scallion.


Pan fried grass carp, simply seasoned with salt and pepper. You can also steam this if you don't want your flat to be perfumed by fish oil :D


And choy sum stir fried with garlic and chinese wine.
Served with fluffy jasmine rice.
I have a longgg way to learn to be able to create thrifty, healthy and tasty meals like her.
Give me a shout if you need any of the recipe.

Hope your Monday's yummy.
Mine gives me headaches T_T

Super Simple Steamed Fish with Lemon and Garlic Recipe

After an exhausting session at the gym, I wanna be a good girl, but I don't wanna eat something (salad? fresh fruits?) that would make me hungry after an hour and end up eating a large bag of chips or a bowl of sinful instant noodles with more sinful frills. All of my hard work would be wasted!

I need to eat something savory, light yet satisfying, and easy to prepare.
This is perfect! I adore the classic soy sauce/ginger/chilli/garlic/fermented black beans/spring onion combo, but it's so tasty, it makes me end up eating a few bowls of rice with the sauce alone. This one is much lighter and brighter, but still flavorful.

Recipe
- your favorite fish (it can be with bone or fillet, I used pomfret)
- 1 lemon
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- white pepper, fish sauce
- hot water for steaming

Clean your fish, place in a dish you'll use to steam, squeeze juice of half a lemon, scatter the garlic around it or stuff some into the cavity if you're using whole fish. Pour some boiling water into wok, place a saucer or a small bowl with its bottom facing up, place your plate with the fish on top of it so that the water won't get into your fish dish (you can use a steamer if you have), cover the wok and steam the fish until it's just done (mine took about 8 minutes). Once done, drizzle a bit of fish sauce, and if you want, garnish with freshly chopped coriander (which I didn't use simply because I didn't have one in my kitchen).

I could just eat that for dinner, or with a bit of brown rice and vegetables.

I feel healthier already...
But I am sure I'll get back to the normal junk food programming soon.
I am weak like that.
T_T

Tuen Ng Family Dinner 端午節晚餐

Just sharing what we had for Tuen Ng festival family dinner. SC's mama made almost everything, yummy yummy yummy. I made the bakuteh (pork ribs stewed in Chinese herbs and spices) and the curry fish, using packets of spices I bought from my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur.
是日端午節, 晚餐去左SC企食, SC媽媽整左好多正野食! 而我就整左肉骨茶同咖哩魚, 今次個調味包係馬拉買的!

Seabass in Indonesian Opor Sauce 印尼椰汁鱸魚

I thought it was going to be so easy.

The idea sounded perfect in my mind.

1. Pan fry a piece of nice fish perfectly.

2. Prepare a flavorful sauce using instant spice pack

3. Garnish

In my mind, these 3 easy steps would turn the tasty Indonesian dish into something that looks "fine dining".

I should've known that I'm not a fine-dining material.

我仲以為好容易

1. 剪好D魚

2. 用調味包

3. 裝飾吓

我成日都以為整到好似高級餐廳咁係好容易...

I butchered the fish!

I've failed to get the skin crispy and I've overcooked the flesh.

Grrrr.

Luckily, seabass is a pretty forgiving fish. So apart from looking horrible, it stays moist and yummy. Phew! And the sauce, I did use an instant opor (Indonesian coconut milk sauce) spice pack, but cranked it up with a lot of fresh ingredients, so it was really yummy!

I'll do better next time.

我浪費左條咁靚既魚...

我整唔到D皮脆, 條魚又煮得太熟...

好彩鱸魚點整都係好食...除左望落去唔好睇, 食落去都仲OK既

個現成印尼椰汁調味包係得既, 成碟魚3D晒..仲有自己都加左好多配料落去

我下次會努力的了...

Recipe

The Sauce

- Opor seasoning pack

- 1/2 cup coconut cream

- 2 cloves garlic, crushed

- 1 stalk lemongrass, crushed

- 2 cloves shallot, thinly sliced

- 4 kaffir lime leaves

- a touch of sugar, pepper, cooking oil, water

Saute garlic, lemongrass and shallot in a bit of cooking oil, add spice pack, add coconut milk, a bit of water, and a touch of sugar. Set aside

剪香D蒜頭, 檸檬葉, 紅䓤頭, 加調味包, 加椰奶, 加水, 加糖, 放埋一邊

The fish

- 2 fish fillet (I used seabass)

- cooking oil, butter, salt and pepper

Season fish fillet with salt, pepper, rub generously with oil. Heat up a frying pan. When pan is really hot, add the fish skin down. Let cook until the skin crisped (I was too impatient), add oil and butter when necessary, turn once, let cook for a bit (thin fish fillet cooks real fast!), place fish fillet on top of sauce. I garnish mine with mint leaves and ate it with a lot of rice.

條魚, 用監鹽, 油, 胡椒調好味, 同佢按摩吓. 整熱個獲, 落個皮煎先, 煎脆左, 落油, 牛油, 每面只可煎一次, 自己因時間. 上碟, 落埋D醬汁

Dammit. If only I cooked that fish perfectly...

自古失敗在嘗試!

My Weekend Breakfast & Baby Marcus' Food - Grass Carp & Choy Sum Congee

Now baby Marcus has started eating various solid food, we prepare it daily, super fresh, using ingredients which are normally organic and even better than what we normally eat every day. Ahhh...things we do for our kids...new parents syndrome.

Marcus would only eat a bit, so we get leftover ingredients which we sometimes used the next day. But since we want to use the freshest things, these days we try to consume the ingredients used for baby Marcus' food, just like what I saw in this wonderful blog, Yummies for your little one's bellies. I saw her making two different versions of dishes, one for the baby and one for the big kids, and I was truly inspired!

Last weekend, I was on congee making duty, and I made grass carp and choy sum congee for baby Marcus. I ate the same congee, mine was just cranked up with a lot more seasoning. Heheheheh

Recipe
- 1/4 cup rice
- water to rice ratio: 5 to 1
- 2 small stalk of organic choy sum, finely chopped
- a small slice of grass carp belly (about 3cm x 10 cm)
Cook rice in hot water until soften (to congee/porridge consistency). While rice is cooking, clean and steam the fish. Once the fish is done (it's done when a chopstick could go through it very easily), mash the fish and remove all the bones. Once the rice/congee is done, add the shredded choy sum, let cook for 1-2 minutes (we don't wanna cook it for too long, w, e want to retain as much nutrients as possible, that's why we chopped the choy sum so finely), add the mashed fish, remove from heat.

For the baby, pour congee into a food processor/blender, pulse for a couple of minute, serve warm. No seasoning necessary, the rice actually makes the congee pretty sweet.

For me, I surely didn't food-process the congee, added fish sauce, pepper, topped it with crispy shallot. A very comforting hot weekend breakfast for me.

Slurp~!

Creamy Fish & Tomato Soup

Another soup that's supposedly good for me (in terms of being a milk-producing cow ^_^)...but I love this one. Creamy fish soup with a bit of a tang from the tomatoes :)

As always, it's super duper easy to make.

Recipe
- 1 piece of grass carp belly (around HK$15), or you can use your desired type of fish
- 4 tomatoes, cut each into 6-8 sections
- 2 cm ginger, crushed
- hot water, olive oil for pan frying the fish, salt and white pepper

Clean the fish thoroughly, scrub with a bit of salt to get rid of any slimy surface, season with salt and pepper generously, pan fry with a piece of ginger until the skin's golden brown in a bit of hot olive oil. Add hot water into a pot, add tomatoes, the remaining of ginger, and the fish, bring to boil, simmer until the soup is creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

Warmth and comfort in a bowl...
Helped with my milk production...and NO PAPAYA!

Yeah! *doing my little victory dance*

Fish & Papaya Soup - Things Only Mothers Would Do

I hate papaya.

Ew.

Ew.

Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ewww!!!

But sc's mama heard that drinking fish & papaya soup will increase my milk production (currently, my production is seriously lame ^_^')...and I do want the best for lil' Marcus.

So, I thought, I'd only drink this Chinese soup wearing a mother's hat.

I was surprised to learn that the soup is pretty tasty :D
Thank God! I drank a few bowls of this...and now my milk production improved from seriously lame to...just lame :p

I'll continue to drink more of this.

Recipe
- 1 large slice of grass carp belly (around HK$15)
- 1 small papaya
- hot water
- salt and pepper to taste, olive oil for pan frying the fish

Clean fish, rub with salt and pepper, pan fry in hot olive oil to brown the skin. Cook the pan fried skin with chunks of papaya in hot water until the soup turns rich and creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

The soup is tasty and don't worry, I don't think you will suddenly produce some milk because of this :D

Grilled Grass Carp Belly

One of my favorite fish, grass carp (waan yu), the belly part.
The meat's silky smooth and fatty, certain parts of the belly are not too bony, and the bones are big enough to be easily found and pulled out, it's easily found in Hong Kong wet markets, and it's relatively cheap! HK$15 would score you quite a big chunk of it ;)
It tastes fantastic steamed, or cut into thick chunks and dipped into hot pot soup base...and this time, I wonder if it's gonna taste good grilled.

I simply cleaned the fish, season it generously with salt and pepper, pan fry skin down with a bit of olive oil until I got a bit of brownage...rub a little butter...

Threw it into 200C preheated oven until the meat's just cooked, and drizzle it generously with lemon juice. Love! Especially the crispy skin. You can serve this with some sauces, soy sauce-garlic-chilli-corriander or butter- cream-lemon-herbs with a carb of your choice.

Carp...carb...oh how I miss thee...

Spicy Sardines with Tomatoes and Zucchini

My love for canned food and anything lazy-ass-friendly is no secret.
But this spicy sardine dish is something that's rather far from lazy. It's doing a lazy dish the un-lazy way, as it involves a bit more than opening a can of sardines and reheating it in a microwave, which would've been nice too, but we wanna bring canned sardines to another level ;)

It's a dish that's always served back home in Indonesia when I was growing up...minus the zucchini. I simply added the zucchini as I want it to be a one-dish-dinner (as always).

It takes more than opening a can of sardines, but it is by no means difficult (you know me and my limited skills ^_*)

Recipe
- 1 large can of sardines in tomato sauce
- 1 zucchini, cleaned and sliced to 5mm thick slices
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, sliced thinly
- 1 red chilli, sliced thinly (or more depends on how spicy you want it to be)
- 2 tomatoes, cut into 8 sections
- olive oil, salt, pepper, kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce), light soy sauce, fish sauce, hot water, crispy shallot (for garnish)

Saute 1 clove of garlic in hot olive oil, add zucchini pieces, season with salt, pepper and a touch of fish sauce, let cook (add a bit of hot water if necessary), set aside. Saute the other clove of garlic, onion and chilli in hot olive oil until fragrant, add sardines including the juice, let cook for a while, season with fish sauce, light soy, kecap manis, and pepper. Add hot water if you want more "sauce", pour over zucchini, garnish with crispy shallot and serve with steamed rice.

Quick, easy, tasty, although not too lazy :)

It Felt Like Dining with iPhone - Outback Steakhouse

Let's start with a lame excuse.
"Work has been crazy, so I haven't had a chance to go through my food photos with recipes."

However, I do realize that I suck at reviewing restaurants. Thus, I'll just share a bit of my recent dining experience with you (is this also somehow called a "review"?).

Lil' SC, aka my bun in the oven wanted fish and chips.

*Rolled eyes*
Yeah, right. As if lil' SC can want anything at this stage.
But I figured that if I could still blame it on him, I should. Soon enough, he'll be able to deny everything he's accused of and I only have me, myself and I to blame for my cravings.

Anyway, what bb wants, bb gets.

So we went to Outback Steakhouse (the OZs are quite famous for their fish and chips, right? Update: many thanks to Spike and Yaya's Yum Yums, who notified me that Outback Steakhouse isn't Australian, but it's an American invention ^_* Oppps! Anyways, I loved their fish n chips nonetheless ^_^) and I was very happy with my giant serving of fish and chips. Succulent fish, crispy batter, chunky fries, with delicious tartar sauce and refreshing slaw.


The baby back ribs were ok, but I've had much much better ones elsewhere.

Naturally, when I am not allowed to have alcohol, all the down-under margaritas the cocktail menu boasted looked extra attractive to me. But, being a good mama-to-be, I ordered iced tea (maybe not exactly good, since the tea isn't decaf. Opps). Anyway, I love such iced teas, since I can adjust the level of sweetness and the amount of lemon juice myself.

Now, the whole main point of this post.

SC is so hooked on his iPhone games, he pretty much ignored me when I juggled our orders trying to get good shots of them. My hormones-fueled wrath was upon him (again, I must blame everything on raging hormones while I still can ^_^)...which he wisely ignored, and he stopped playing his iPhone once dinner started. My wrath was then diverted to our servers, who sucked big time (We (I) hated that we had to explain ourselves why we wanted another extra tiny bowl of ketchup for the fries), and despite all the wrath...the mood swing went the other way after I was full and the evening ended happily in peace.

For locations etc:
Outback Steakhouse Hong Kong
PS. We went to Tsim Sha Tsui branch. I should've gone to the one in Wanchai.

Pan Fried Salmon with Korean Mushrooms and Japanese Creamy Sesame Dressing

I am crap at food styling.
Obviously.

I didn't know what got into me when I decided to place this piece of salmon on one side of the plate, and pour the mushroom sesame sauce forming a weird upside down V-shape. I decided not to show you the big picture because I don't wanna turn you off this yumminess.

I am quite pleased by this week's food experiences.
A quick visit to City Super (armed with a bunch of coupons) scored me quite a selection of stuff I can't wait to try, including these salmon steaks, Korean mushrooms and Japanese creamy sesame dressing.

They're bound to create an easy harmony, I could already hear the melody in my head...(p-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face. Wait a minute. No sorry, that's an entirely different story)

The dish is super easy, the only thing to worry about is the pan frying of salmon. Never, ever leave a piece of salmon on a hot pan when trying to play with the other....or you'll end up with this:

This piece was a bit dry, but the creamy mushroom sauce compensated it.

Recipe
- 2 pieces of salmon fillet (HK$60)
- 1 pack of mushrooms (I used these cute yellow Korean mushrooms, HK$9)
- 1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 small clove of shallot, thinly sliced
- olive oil, salt, black pepper
- Japanese creamy sesame dressing (I bought HK$40 for a bottle, you can select cheaper/more expensive ones)

Cut off the bottom stem of mushrooms, clean them. Prepare garlic and shallot. Saute garlic and shallot in 1 tsp of olive oil, add mushrooms, let them cook until wilted and a bit browned. Pour the sesame dressing generously, add salt/black pepper if desired. Set aside. Season all sides of salmon with salt and black pepper, pour a bit of olive oil and rub them good. Let them sit for a couple of minutes while you heat up your pan (preferably non stick). Once the pan is hot, turn down heat to medium, place the pieces of salmon, skin down. Let cook for 2 minutes, flip once, and remove once it feels done (firm but not too fragile), let the salmon rest for a couple of minutes, pour creamy mushroom dressing and serve. Garnish with parsley if you have them (I didn't T_T).

We had this for a quick weekend lunch, serve this over pasta or your choice of potatoes if you want something more "substantial".

Stay tuned for more ways to use the Japanese creamy sesame dressing.

I think it is also one of those things that taste fantastic on EVERYTHING.

Steamed Carp Belly with Chinese Bean Paste

Try reciting this again and again, real fast:
Steamed carp belly...
Steamed carp belly...
Steamed carp belly...

No problem yet?
Try typing (no copy and pasting)
Steamed carp belly
Steamed carp belly
Steamed cra (back space back space) carp belly
Heheheh...

I chuckled again and again in front of my laptop typing this...I need to get a life.

Love this fish (wan yu), especially the belly. The meat's succulent, satiny smooth, the bones are gigantic and relatively soft, easy to spot and pull out. They're gigantic, and they're relatively cheap! HK$30 (USD3.8) can get you a couple giant slabs of carp belly, which is the exact amount needed to get me sated from a fish.

If you're bored with the usual soy sauce, ginger and spring onion steamed fish combo, try this one.

Clean the carp belly slabs and place them on a plate.
Finely chop 1 clove of garlic, cut a sprig of spring onions to 5 cm pieces, julienne a slice of ginger, finely chop red chilli, scatter them on top of the fish, add a couple tbsp of Chinese bean paste (get this from Asian stores/Chinese grocer, in Cantonese it is called min si. It's remotely similar to miso, but a lot sweeter and it still has beans in it instead of a smooth paste)...

...and steam it for 8-10 minutes.

After steaming...hello succulent, satiny smooth cr carp belly...

The heck with food styling (opppps, sorry), let me just quickly devour this.

Steamed Pomfret with Lemon and Corriander

Steamed fish is a super popular dish in Hong Kong households.

It is "the" ultimate dish. I can be shooting out gorgeous dishes and desserts outta my ass, but to sous chef's parents (and other parents would agree), if I haven't done any successful steamed fish, that means I can't cook.
There's gotta something about steamed fish that makes it so popular. OK, it's healthy (-er than the fatty food I normally cook), when done right, the meat's delicate, satiny smooth, the sauce kicks you right in your face with beautiful flavors, and the garnishes hitting every part of your palate.

So, why haven't this dish appear in my blog sooner?
I've been dying and fearing to try steaming my own fish for a while...but knowing my track record of failures, I thought I was bound to ruin the fish. I was afraid of the prospect of rough and dry overcooked fish no garnishes or sauces can hide.

But finally, I got over my pathetic self and faced my fear since I received some free fresh fish from sous chef's mom, I thought I'd brave the steamed fish challenge (nothing to lose...well, at least financially).

I wanted to try something that's different from the normal soy sauce poured over steamed fish garnished with chopped spring onions (real reason was, I can't afford having my initial attempts being compared to sous chef's mom's glorious versions, so, I had to make it different. HAHA)...so I went for citrus. Citrus and fish....they're bff.

Recipe
- 1 medium sized pomfret (one of my favorite fish, minimum bones, maximum succulent flesh. or I also like snapper)
- 3 cm ginger, crushed, divided
- a bunch of corriander
- 1 lemon (juice and zest)
- 1 small clove of garlic, chopped
- 1 small clove of shallot, sliced
- 2 small red chilli, chopped
- olive oil, fish sauce and sugar
- hot water for steaming

Clean fish, stuff it with a couple slices of lemon zest (peeled using a peeler, not grated), a few pieces of corriander roots, and 1 cm ginger, put fish on a plate, add a few lemon slices on top and scatter some corriander roots around the fish too.

In a large wok/sautee pan (it needs to be large enough to place a plate upside down, with a plate of fish on top, covered), bring 3-4 cups of water to boil, place a small place upside down in the water (or you can use those small metal stand to hold your plate). The upside down plate/metal stand should be able to support your plate of fish, it should be tall enough so that it won't be completely submerged in the water or your plate of fish might be floating around and swim back into the sea (hehe, lame joke), and it should be low enough, so that the cover of the wok can completely cover the whole thing without touching the fish.

Whew! I should've taken some step by step pictures to illustrate this.

While the fish is steaming...
wait-a-minute.
For how long?
For smaller fish (around 25 cm), I steam them for about 7 minutes. I steam larger fish (around 30cm) for 10-11 minutes.
How do I know if the fish is done?
Try cutting the thickest part of the fish flesh with a spoon, it should easily go through and hit the fish bone.

So, while the fish is steaming, prepare the rest of the ingredients for the sauce/topping.
Reserve a few slices of lemon. Saute garlic, chilli, ginger and shallot in tiny bit of olive oil, add a generous amount of fish sauce, add about a teaspoon sugar, squeeze lemon juice, mix well, taste and adjust until you achieve a perfect balance of salty, sweet, sour, and hot.

Once the fish is done, add freshly chopped corriander, lay a few pieces of lemon and pour the sauce over fish.

Satiny smooth, succulent meat, with citrusy, kick-me-in-the-face spicy sauce.

Oh, one more thing.
You already know this.
Never overcook the fish.
If you did, give it to that neighbor you always hated (who knows, they might like it).

Lightly Pan Fried Pomfret with Ginger Lemon Honey Sauce

Pan frying fish with almost no oil?
What are you? Crazy?!!!

That was what I thought when I saw a shopping center demo of various non-stick, non-chemical coating woks and pans.

I hate pan frying fish.
It sticks.
It needs quite a lot of oil.
It splatters.
It stinks.

Blah!

My friend once asked me how to fry whole fish without splattering and all the other annoying things. I remembered my spontaneous reply...it was..."just don't cook fish". What a useful advice.

Then it started with one "innocent" window shopping trip to a nearby mall (is there such a thing?), I shashayed by a few demos of woks and pans...normally I'd stop by each counter for a couple of minutes, laughing at how expensive the pans are, murmuring that the pans probably won't work (in super low volume of course, I didn't want a heavy wok hitting my head), giggling and proceeding to the next counter.

But this time, I stopped at the last counter and watched a little closer.
I have been using cheap non stick pans and the teflon coating peels off after a while. I was tempted by the idea that these pans are non stick because of its uneven surface (they call this air cushion), without chemical coating. I need a saute pan to replace my old teflon, so I bought myself the cheapest of the bunch.

I didn't wanna bet big, in case it doesn't work. The 28 cm saute pan costs HK$498 (around USD64).
Hope it works!

The first test for my new pan....the dreaded pan fried fish!
I simply season the fish with salt and pepper (generously), rub it with teeny tiny bit of olive oil and drop it to the pan.

The moment of truth...flipping the fish. Whoa! It really didn't stick!
The fish is naturally curvy and the pan's flat. To ensure that the fish is cooked thoroughly, add a bit of water and cover the pan to let the fish get steamed for a bit. I also squeezed a bit of lemon juice from time to time.
Lemon and fish....they're good friends.

Set the fish aside after pan frying.

Ginger, Lemon and Honey Sauce
- 3 cm ginger, cut into match stick size
- 1 tiny clove of garlic, crushed
- juice of a lemon, a few slices of lemon for garnish
- 2 tbsp honey
- salt, sugar, olive oil, water

Saute ginger and garlic in a bit of olive oil, squeeze lemon juice, add honey, sugar and salt until you achieve the desired balance of savoury, sweet and sour. Add a bit of water to mix everything well. Pour sauce over pan fried fish.

So far, I am loving this pan and if it stays this way, my non stick wok needs to worry, it might get replaced soon.

Baked Pasta with Fish, Bacon and Cheddar - Too Much isn't Always Wonderful

It's been a while since I made pasta.

Why?
Ask me questions!
- Are you too loyal to rice, so that eating pasta makes me feel guilty? Nope, I love almost all food almost equally. HAHA
- Do you just hate pasta? Of course not! (who can possibly hate pasta, btw?)
- Are you on low carb diet? Bah! I am on high everything diet.

You're never gonna get it right.

- Are you too lazy to cook pasta?....

Hmmm...this question is rather difficult to answer...

- Are you crap at cooking pasta?

Errr....can I say "no comment"?

I know that most people find cooking pasta "quick and easy".
I still remember a friend's answer to "what do you cook for your husband every day?". She said "Easy. Pasta."

I don't get it. To me, cooking a good pasta dish is challenging. It involves a lot more steps that how I normally cook. But, knowing me, I was probably making things difficult for myself. It could never be "simply cook the pasta and mix with the sauce" for me. Purely because I don't know how to achieve a good pasta dish that way...yet. I always felt obligated to do too much, and too much isn't always wonderful.

Baked Pasta with Fish, Bacon and Cheddar

This dish photographed like a sweet dream.
Golden, glistening, glorious, gorgeous.
Too bad it doesn't taste as amazing as it looks.

I baked this pasta dish to get a crunchy top with a creamy bottom.

The top was great. The bacon's tasty (as if bacon could ever taste bad), the fish pieces were succulent, the scorched cheese layer with bits of herbs and black pepper flakes was delicious, and the pasta has a touch of wonderful crunchiness to it.

But the bottom was not too great. The bottom part of the pasta turned dry and it didn't get most of the good parts from the top, and it went too hard to mix. I should've added more sauce to keep the pasta creamy at the bottom next time (if there's gonna be a next time).

Although the dish wasn't a success, let me still share what I did for this dish:
- Pasta for two, boiled and drained
- Fish fillet, seasoned with salt and pepper, seared just a little bit, not completely cooked
- Bacon bits, pan fried without oil until shrunk and cripsy
- Sauce: oil from the bacon, finely chopped garlic, dried herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage), salt, pepper and cream, sauteed and cooked in a fry pan
- grated cheddar cheese, black pepper and dried herbs topping

Preheat oven to 250C, assemble pasta in an oven proof dish, pasta, fish fillet, pour sauce, add grated cheese on top, bake until golden brown, add bacon bits.

It's more like a savoury pasta cake than a creamy pasta dish.
Sigh.

Sharing this failure with Presto Pasta Nights gang (Gosh, it's been a while, and I wonder if sharing failure is allowed. Oppps), hosted this week by Equal Opportunity Kitchen

I promise that I'll share something that isn't a food disaster in my next post, guys. Wish me luck. I need it so.

Spicy Steamed & Grilled Pomfret

Have you looked at your dinner, straight in the eye, and said "So, sorry, but we're gonna eat you" ? Well, I did. It's creepy thinking about how a moment ago they were still flippin' & floppin' in their little tank, waiting to be taken home and transformed into a beautiful dish by a skillful cook (not me, I could sense that they struggled a lotttt when they know I was gonna buy them, they tried to jump and throw themselves towards a bunch of convincingly "veteran cook" looking aunties). I can't blame them. At that point, I had no idea how was I gonna handle them.

Hong Kong is big on buying live fish, many of my friends' folks won't purchase a dead fish, it's gotta be swimming upon purchase, still jumping inside the plastic bag, and probably still trying to jump off the chopping board. That's how fresh they like their fish to be. If it ain't swimmin', it ain't no good.


I am not them. I love fresh fish, but I don't want my fish trying to jump off the chopping board, or refusing to leave the fridge. They might be swimming in their tank in the market, but they gotta be dead by the time I need to work 'em. Fortunately, I could tell the fish shop guy how I wanted to do my fish, and he would fix my fish accordingly. This time, we're doing the fish two ways. Sous chef is steaming his fish ala mama, and I am grilling mine ala me.

Spicy Steamed Pomfret

Recipe
- 1 pomfret (or you can use other fish. I like fleshy fish with minimum amount of bones)
- a bit of ginger, sliced into matchstick pieces
- 3 red chilli, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- a handful of fermented black beans
- olive oil
- sugar, tiny bit of soy sauce

Clean the fish thoroughly. Place fish in a plate, arrange chopped ginger, garlic, chilli and fermented black bean on top and bottom of the fish. Drizzle some olive oil over. Steam for about 13 minutes (or longer/shorter depending on the size of the fish). Mix a bit of soy sauce and a bit of sugar. Once it is done (try picking the flesh with chopsticks/fork, the flesh should be white and relatively easy to pick), pour the soy sauce and sugar mix. Serve.

Spicy Grilled Pomfret

Recipe
- 1 pomfret
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cloves shallot
- ground ginger
- ground cumin
- ground corriander seeds
- ground nutmeg
- ground chilli
- palm sugar
- salt
- terasi (shrimp paste), roasted
- salt
- white pepper
- lemon (zest and juice)
- olive oil

Ground everything (except the fish) in a food processor until it forms a paste. You can also use pestle and mortar to get a nice bicep going). Preheat oven to 250C. Score both sides of the fish, rub the spice paste all over the fish. Wrap fish in aluminium foil and grill for 10 minutes. Unwrap fish and grill until the skin's beautifully browned.

Both cooking methods yielded smooth and silky flesh texture. The steamed version gives you a tasty and flavorful juice, which was perfect to pour over a humble bowl of steamed rice, and the grilled version gives you a super spicy and crispy skin, each bite was a crackling delight.

I, again, failed to dress up the fishies before devouring them (I literally stripped the meat off every piece of the fishies' bone). So, please excuse the ugly pictures, folks!

Fish Rice Noodle Soup: Bad Girl Gone Good

Meals after meals of rich, decadent and tasty food...it is time for something clean and clear. Yeah. Right.
That doesn't sound like Rita. Since when did she turn to such a good girl? Something's fishy alright.

The truth is...yes, mostly I love everything that's bad for me. But it also feels nice to be a good girl sometimes...so when people (when I say "people", I really meant my mom) ask "Do you eat well? do you eat healthy? Do you eat vegetables?" I could say "Yes! Yes! and Yes!"

Plus, this month, I could see a few birthdays coming, and each will include at least one, if not multiple satisfying, naughty and sinful meals (is it just me? or this sounds naughtier than I intended? LOL).

Thus, just this once, preparing myself for all the foreseeable beautifully orchestrated symphony of cholesterol and fat, I'll treat myself to something clean, clear, healthy, but still with a great deal of yummility to it ^_^

Fish Rice Noodle Soup

Recipe
(serves 2)
- 2 packs of thin rice noodles (mai fan) or you can choose any other noodles
- 0.5 lb of boneless fish fillet (I use seabass fillet), cut into bite size chunks
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 cloves shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 cm ginger, crushed
- a cup of fish stock or chicken stock
- 2 large tomatoes, each cut into 8 parts
- celery, cut into small pieces
- olive oil
- salt, pepper, sugar, fish sauce
- red chilli, fish sauce and vinegar (for dipping)

Marinate fish with salt and pepper, pan fried in some oil, set aside (if you want it more sinful, you can add corn starch coating and pan fry until golden brown hehe). Saute garlic, shallot, ginger, add celery pieces, add stock, add tomatoes, add hot water if you want it more soupy, add rice noodles, serve with fish fillets on top, garnish with fried garlic pieces or shallot, serve with chilli dip (for the fish).

Sharing this with Presto Pasta Night's Gang, hosted this week by Michelle of Greedy Gourmet
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That was me being a good girl for one meal. Today I had a slice of lemon cake for breakfast, a sinful yumcha lunch and 3 different birthday cakes (chocolate cheesecake, mango cheesecake and black forest)...and it's not even dinner time yet hehe

Boy, it feels so good to be bad :p