Steamed Fish in Sweet Soy Sauce

Been a long time since I updated and just returned from my trip. Here is a old simple fish recipe that I have tweaked.

This menu is light and you can use any white fish e.g. snapper, white pompret or even white water fish. The fish melts in the mouth with flavours locked in the sauce. With this menu, it is best to keep it simple and simply celebrate the fish. The meat near the cheek and head of the fish is the best part of the dish.

Steam Fish in Soy Sauce

Ingredients

• A whole red snapper ( cleaned and fins trimmed)
• 2 clove garlic chopped
• 1/2 thumb size ginger julienned
• 2 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• Mix 2 tablesppon water, 2 tablespoon light soy sauce and 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce 
• A splash of chinese cooking wine or white wine
• I tablespoon sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 bunch of spring onion julienned
• 1 tablespoon oil

Directions

• Place fish in steamer for 8 minutes (will have to be adjusted based on the size and type of the fish).
• In the meantime heat oil in pan.
• Add garlic and ginger and cook till translucent.
• Add the tomato with a bit of salt to melt it quickly. 
• Pour the soy mix.
• Add sugar, pepper and salt(if need) to taste.
• Add the wine, let it simmer then remove from stove.
• Once the fish is cooked, remove from the steamer and pour the soy sauce that has just been prepared (must be still hot) over the steamed fish (don't remove the liquid from the steam fish ...it will add flavor to the sauce)
• Garnish with spring onion

You can serve it as is with vegetables or with white rice. If you prefer boneless fish, reduce the steam time by 2 or 3 minutes. Most important of all, the dish shouldn't take anything more than 30 minutes to prepare and cook. 

Happy Cooking !

Long Beans Wrap

Long beans is a chewy and sweet vegetable which is rich of fiber, Vitamin C,  folate for DNA synthesis and minerals such as manganese, iron, copper and magnesium. The most important thing however, is that it taste GREAT!  This dish is again a 10 minutes express that can easily prepared after coming home from work with hundreds of ways to customize it. Though, I am making a vegetarian version today.

Ingredients

• 20 long beans - washed and cut into half centimeter length 
• 1 carrot diced
• 1/2 of onion diced
• 2 - 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 red chili chopped fine ( reduce or increased based on your spice tolerance)
• 2 eggs beaten, add a bit of salt and white pepper to it 
• 1 tablespoon of canola oil ( or sunflower oil)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 flatbread
• 1 tablespoon tahini

Directions 

For the beans

• Heat the oil in frying pan
• Add chopped garlic, onion, chili and cook till translucent
• add carrot and long beans, add a pinch of salt 
• Stir and cook for one minute
• Make some room for the egg in the pan and pour the beaten egg 
• Let the egg cook for 1 minute
• Then start stirring to get a scrambled texture
• Take the beans off the heat

For the roll

• Take a flat bread and spread with some tahini (alternatively roast sesame, crush it coarsely, add some salt, oil and lemon juice to form a paste for the spread - I love this version of the spread better than any bottled stuff)
• Place the beans (must be cooled first) in the center of the bread and roll it
• Place the roll in a baking tray with some olive oil drizzle and bake till crisp

You can also easily customize this dish with seafood or leftover roast chicken or meat for a twist.

Enjoy the dish!

Gourd Soup with Chicken for a Rainy Day

A rainy day and I am looking for a warm and comforting clear soup...So making my ridge gourd (luffa) soup with chicken. Ridge gourd is another beautiful vegetable belonging to the cucumber family. It's rich in fiber and other nutritional values such as vitamin C, zinc, iron, riboflavin, magnesium and even insulin like peptide and alkaloids to control sugar levels.

I love the taste of this vegetable as it is and this recipe celebrates this humble vegetable that you can find in any Asian markets. If you can't find ridge gourd don't fret it, you can use any luffa type of gourd too, will work excellently.

Ingredients

• 1 ridge gourd - remove skin, cut into half lengthwise,  remove the core, then slice into small half circles
• 1 carrot - cut into lengthwise and slice into 2 to 3 mm pieces 
• 3 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 thumb of ginger (Julien) 
• 3 shallots sliced thin in rounds
• 2 to 3 cups of chicken broth
• Some coriander leaves chopped fine
• clean the coriander root and slice it thin
• Some chicken fillet ( or you can use prawns or squids)
• 2 to 3 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 teaspoon of white pepper

Direction

• Pour oil in pan and heat
• Add the sliced shallots and fry, remove once  golden and set aside
• In the same oil, add garlic, ginger and coriander root and cook till translucent
• Add the chicken and cook for 30 second to 1 minute
• Add the chicken broth and let it come to a simmer
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• Lastly add the vegetables (carrot and the gourd) and cook for just few minutes (just till the gourd is cooked)
• Take the soup of the heat and add the coriander leaves
• Sprinkle with fried shallots before serving

Have it as it is or along some white rice. You will forget that it is raining.

Happy cooking :) !!!!