Dory Fish in Bean Paste

Our dinner 2 days ago:

As I was thinking how should I cook the dory fish, I thought maybe I'd ask my hubby how he likes the fish to be done. Guess what? "Cook with bean paste lo." Hahaha....very predictable. Well, I wasn't sure if dory fish would smell terrible if I steam it, so I thought I'd just stir fry it with some ginger and bean paste. Same ingredients, but instead of steaming, we do it the stir fry way. Works well and yummy!

Ingredients:

Dory Fish

Ginger

Garlic

Bean Paste

Oil

Water

Method:

1. Heat a little oil and saute the garlic and ginger till fragrant.

2. Add in bean paste and fish. Stir fry for 1 min.

3. Add some water and cook till it simmers.

4. When fish is cooked, dish up.

Family Dinner

Hubby and I had a satisfying dinner tonight and it was fun because this time hubby cooked 2 dishes! Today, he cooked stir fried siew pak choy and an onion omelet. Both are yummy. The vegetable dish is the same as the one he did before but this time we used siew pak choy instead of yau mak. Hehe...it's for him to practise so everything is the same except the vege used.

Stir Fried Siew Pak Choy

Onion Omelet

Braised Fish with Bean Paste & Tomatoes

Onion Omelet

Ingredients:
Eggs
Onions
Salt
Pepper
Oil

Method:
1. Beat the eggs and sprinkle some pepper into the mixture.
2. Heat a little oil and saute the onion until it turns a little brown.
3. Season with a little salt.
4. Spread onion evenly then pour in the beaten egg mixture. Let it cook/set.
5. Turn the egg and when it's cooked, dish up.


Braised Fish with Bean Paste & Tomatoes

Ingredients:
Fish
Salt
Ginger
Tomatoes
Preserved Bean Paste/whole beans
Water
Oil

Method:
1. Rub salt onto both sides of the fish.
2. Heat some oil and fry the fish until golden brown and cooked on both sides.
3. Dish up and set aside. Pour out the oil and leave only a little oil in the wok.
4. Saute ginger till fragrant.
5. Add in bean paste and tomatoes. Stir fry for 1/2min.
6. Add in water and cook till it simmers.
7. Add in the fish and let it cook for 1-2min and it's ready to be served.

Fishy Fried Rice

Nope...no fish in the fried rice ;p This is today's lunch; fried fish and simple fried rice. I've been eating out for almost the past 2 weeks and I miss simple home cooked food. Today's meal took minimal effort but we had a very satisfying lunch. Fried rice is not oily like those sold outside plus I put in lots of vegetables.


The fried fish is idiot-proof. Just clean the fish, rub a little salt on both sides and leave it for 10min or so. Then, fry it till golden brown on both sides. Use low heat especially if it's a big fish or the meat is thick to ensure it's fully cooked on the inside too.

Fried Fish

Simple Fried Rice

Ingredients:
Rice (cooked and cooled)
Oil
Garlic
Egg (beaten)
Carrot (cut into cubes)
Cabbage
Salt
Light Soy Sauce
Dark Soy Sauce




Method:
1. Heat a little oil in the wok and saute garlic.
2. Pour in the beaten egg and cook for it's set.
3. Use the spatula to break the egg into small pieces.
4. Add in carrot and cabbage. Stir fry for 1min.
5. Season with salt.
6. Add in rice and mix well.
7. Add in light and dark soy sauce. Mix well.
8. Cook for 1min over medium heat. Dish up and serve.

Braised Soy Sauce Fish

Ingredients:
Fish
Salt
Pepper
Light Soy Sauce
Sugar
Water
Sesame Oil
Oil
Ginger
Shallots


Method:
1. Rub some salt and pepper onto the fish and marinate for 30min or so.
2. Heat a little oil and pan fried fish on both sides. Set fish aside.
3. Heat some sesame oil and sauté shallots and ginger till fragrant.
4. Mix light soy sauce, sugar and water and pour into the wok.
5. Put in the fish and let it cook/simmer over low heat.
6. Turn the fish and cook till fish is cooked.

Salmon in Ginger Soy Sauce

Another variation.

Ingredients:
Salmon
Salt
Pepper
Ginger
Spring Onion
Bell Pepper (Red & Green)
Light Soy Sauce
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Marinate salmon with salt and pepper for at least 30min.
2. Using a non stick pan, pan fry salmon until both sides are cooked. Dish up on a plate.
3. Heat a little oil and sauté ginger until fragrant.
4. Add in bell pepper. Then, add in spring onion.
5. Pour in mixture of light soy sauce and water.
6. Cook till sauce simmers and pour onto the salmon.

Marmite Salmon (Version 2)

This is usually how I cook salmon. :)

Ingredients:
Salmon
Salt
Pepper
Marmite Sauce
Sugar
Corn Flour
Water
Onion
Spring Onion


Method:
1. Marinate salmon with salt and pepper for at least 30min.
2. Using a non stick pan, pan fry salmon until both sides are cooked. Dish up on a plate.
3. Heat a little oil and stir fry onion. When onion is a little soft, add in spring onion.
4. In a bowl, mix marmite sauce, corn flour, sugar and water.
5. Pour the mixture in and cook till sauce thickens.
6. Pour onto salmon. Serve hot with rice.

Fish in BBQ Sauce

One of my best friends, Beng, is crazy about BBQ sauce and I thought, “Hey, how about cooking fish in BBQ sauce?”. I love to eat fish but I don’t like to deep fry it or any cooking method that uses a lot of oil. So, other than the different types of steamed fish, I kind of ran out of idea how to make it simple and, nice and not steamed??

Well, this is really easy and doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare. It goes perfectly with rice.


Ingredients:
Fish Fillet
Ginger (grated)
Onion (grated)
Shallot
Green Bell Pepper (cut into small pieces)
BBQ sauce
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Marinate fish with ginger and onion for at least 30min.
2. Grease a non-stick pan and pan fry fish on both sides till cooked. Dish up.
3. Stir fry shallot and green bell pepper.
4. Mix in BBQ sauce and water. Cook till it boils and pour over the fish.

Dinner 13May09 (Steamed Fish in Light Soy Sauce & Stir Fried Winged Bean)

I cooked dinner again today and am glad that I have the time to do it. As usual, I don’t cook complicated stuff especially during weekdays. Dinner for today includes steamed sutchi fillet in light soy sauce (very easy and yummy!), stir fried winged beans (one of my fav dish) with dried shrimp and chili and the idiot-proof onion omelet (since it’s idiot-proof, I am not going to jot down the recipe ;p).

Steamed Sutchi Fish Fillet

Stir Fried Winged Beans with Dried Shrimps and Chili

Steamed Sutchi Fillet in Light Soy Sauce
Ingredients:
Sutchi Fish Fillet
Ginger (sliced)
Light Soy Sauce
Spring Onion (take the white part near the root and cut into 2cm length)
Parsley
Oil
Sesame Oil

Method:
1. Steam fish fillet with ginger (I placed it on a steamer in the rice cooker while cooking rice- save time ma…). Drain any liquid from the steamed fish. Leave aside.
2. Heat a little oil in a wok and sauté the spring onion until it turns a little soft.
3. Pour in light soy sauce. You can add a little water if you do not want it to be too salty.
4. Cook for 1min then dish up and pour sauce over the steamed fish.
5. Drizzle a little sesame oil over it and garnish with a little parsley. Serve hot!


Stir Fried Winged Beans with Dried Shrimps and Chili
Ingredients:
Winged Beans
Garlic
Dried Shrimps
Chili
Salt
Water
Oil

Method:
1. Use a blender or food processor and blend together garlic, chili and dried shrimps.
2. Heat oil and sauté the blended ingredients until fragrant. Add a little bit of salt.
3. Add in winged beans and stir fry over medium to high heat for 1-2min.
4. Add a little water and stir fry till the water dries up a little.
5. Dish up and serve with rice.

Salmon Steak in Ginger Sauce

As usual, I don’t really know what I’ll cook until I step into the kitchen and check out what I have in the kitchen. I bought this piece of salmon last weekend and felt like some fish for dinner tonight, so time to experiment!

Although most people like their salmon just cooked on the outside and still pink on the inside, I like all my fish to be fully cooked. So, I’ve decided to cook this Chinese style. Really easy to make and good to see VIP enjoyed it very much.

By the way, the deco on the side of the plate which looks like 2 green roses are the stem of “siew pak choy”. I was cutting the vegetables and thought they looked so pretty, so I kept 2 just to ‘accompany’ the salmon. :)

Ingredients:
Salmon
Garlic
Onion
Ginger
*Mince ginger, garlic and onion*
Oil
Salt
Sugar
Chinese Cooking Wine
Black Pepper
Dark Soy Sauce (optional)
Water


Method:
1. Sprinkle some black pepper on both sides of the salmon. Pan fry salmon on a non-stick pan until both sides are brown and fish is almost cooked.
2. Push fish to the side of the pan.
3. Mix minced ginger, garlic and onion with salt, sugar and oil. Pour this in the pan and stir fry until fragrant.
4. Add in cooking wine and dark soy sauce (optional).
5. Add in some water and cook the fish in the sauce.
6. Let it simmer until sauce thickens.
7. Dish up. Goes really well with white rice!

Dory Fish with Ginger and Garlic

Simple dinner: vege, fish and tofu.

Here’s one of the dishes I cooked for dinner yesterday. I actually brought the bean paste out of the fridge and wanted to cook the fish with bean paste. Somehow, I don’t know why while I was chopping the ginger, I thought maybe I’ll do something new…..and here goes.


Ingredients:
Dory Fish Fillet (cut into bite size)
Ginger
Garlic
Shallot
Sesame Oil
Black Pepper
Salt
Chinese Cooking Wine
Oil


Method:
1. Chop/mince the ginger, garlic and shallots.
2. Mix all the seasoning + ginger, garlic and shallots with the fish fillet in a bowl.
3. Let it marinate for 30min or so.
4. Heat a little oil on a non-stick pan.
5. Place the fish fillet on the pan and pan fry over low heat. Pour the remaining sauce/marinate over the fish.
6. Cook for ~5min or until fish is cooked.


You can actually just fry the fish first and then cook the sauce with some water and pour it over the fried fish, but I am trying not to pollute my kitchen with too much oil, so this way works for me. ;p

This one gets 8.5/10 from the VIP, so I guess not too bad la for something that I simply cook without any recipe.

When it comes to cooking, my principle has always been this; take the recipe as a guideline only especially if you cook the dish for the first time but you should cook it your own way (add different ingredients or cook with different method). From there, you’ll be amazed how many new dishes you might be able to create! I still remember how a friend said her maid cooked broccoli steamed egg (they’re supposed to be 2 different dishes!). While it may be weird, we might get some inspiration from that mistake and turn it into something new. Who knows….one day, we’ll be eating vegetables steamed egg. Haha…

Salmon Steak in Dark Soy Sauce

Has anyone ever tried a Chinese way of cooking salmon?


Ingredients:
Salmon
Ground Black Pepper
Salt
Onion
Dark Soy Sauce
Sugar
Water
Oil

Method:
1. Marinate the salmon with salt and ground black pepper for 30min.
2. In a non stick pan, heat a little oil and pan fry the fish till it turns brownish on both sides.
3. Push the fish on a side of the pan, and with the remaining oil, saute the onion for 1-2min.
4. Now, move the fish back to the centre of the pan and let it fry with the onion for 1min.
5. In a bowl, mix dark soy sauce with water and sugar. Pour this mixture onto the fish.
6. Cook with low heat. Cook 1min on each side of the fish and sauce thickens a little to coat the fish.

Fried Rice with Pan Fried Dory Fish in Plum Sauce

Thought the fried rice was rather plain without meat, so added the fish. I think you can make it in any kind of sauce you like e.g. tomato sauce, black pepper, dark soy sauce, etc.

Ingredients:

Fried Rice
Cooked rice
Cauliflower
Dried shrimps (soaked till soft and chopped)
Button mushroom (cut into slices)
Garlic (chopped)
Soy Sauce
Oil
Water

Fish in Plum Sauce
Fish fillet
Pepper
Salt
Plum Sauce
Corn Flour
Water
Oil


Method:
1. To prepare the fish, marinate with salt and pepper for 30min.
2. Pan fry the fish on both sides till golden brown.
3. Add plum sauce and corn flour, then mix with a little water. Pour this mixture in the pan over the fish.
4. Cook till sauce thickens and coats the fish.
5. To prepare the fried rice, heat a little oil and brown garlic.
6. Add in dried shrimps and stir fry for 1-2min.
7. Add in cauliflower and button mushroom. Continue to stir fry for 2-3min.
8. Season with salt.
9. Mix in rice and add in soy sauce.
10. Add a little water if it’s too dry.
11. Stir fry for 2-3min. Serve hot with fish.

Pan Fried Dory Fish in Black Pepper Sauce

One of the dishes for dinner yesterday.

Ingredients:
Dory fish fillet
Black pepper sauce
Garlic and Onion (minced)
Salt
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Marinate fish with all ingredients except water and oil.
2. Heat a little oil in a non-stick pan.
3. Pan fry the fish (without the marinate sauce) till it gets brownish on both sides.
4. Add a little water to the marinate sauce and cook with the fish till sauce gets thick. Yummy with rice :)

Turmeric Fried Fish

I bought 2 fishes last weekend and since I have steamed one, I thought I’ll just simply fry this one. If you don’t like turmeric powder, you can omit it.

Ingredients:
Fish (cleaned and make 2-3 cuts on the body on both sides)
Turmeric powder
Pepper
Salt
Light soy sauce
Oil


Method:
1. Marinate fish with salt, pepper and turmeric powder for ~30min.
2. Heat some oil in a frying pan.
3. Fry fish on both sides till golden brown.
4. Dish up and pour 1 tbsp of light soy sauce over the fish.

Marmite Salmon

One of the super quick dishes for dinner.


Ingredients:
Salmon fish
Button mushrooms (sliced)
Onion (cut into small pieces)
Marmite sauce
Honey
Pepper
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Heat pan with a little oil and sauté the onions.
2. Add in the button mushrooms and stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Move the onions and mushrooms aside in the pan.
4. Pan fry the salmon for 1min. Turn and fry the other side for 1min.
5. In a bowl, mix marmite and honey and add some water.
6. Pour this over the fish and add in a dash of pepper.
7. Cook till boiling and it’s done.

Note: You can thicken sauce with corn flour if you like.
I did not add any salt as the marmite sauce is a little salty.

Sweet and Sour Fish

Seems like we need a lot of ingredients to do this but rest assured that it’s really to whip out this yummy dish!


Ingredients:
Fish cutlets (rub in a little salt and pepper)
Cucumber (cut into slices)
Tomato (remove the seeds and cut into cubes)
Onion (cut into wedges)
Pineapple (cut into cubes – canned ones will do fine)
Green bell pepper (cut into cubes)
Shallot
Chili sauce
Tomato sauce
Plum sauce
Salt
Water
Corn flour
Oil

Batter for fish:
(mix all together)
Plain flour
Rice flour
Baking soda
Salt
Water


Method:
1. Dip fish into batter and deep fry till golden brown Set aside.
2. In a wok, heat oil and sauté shallots for 1-2min.
3. Put in onions, tomatoes, pineapple and green bell pepper. Stir fry 1-2min,
4. Mix chili, tomato and plum sauce with some water and pour into the wok.
5. Season with some salt.
6. Add in the cucumber and cook for 1min.
7. Mix corn flour with some water and pour into the gravy to make it thicker.
8. Once it’s boiling, put the fish and mix well. It’s ready to be served.

Steamed Fish with Preserved Bean Paste

This is THE dish for VIP. He can finish the whole fish (if there’s 2, he can finish all as well!) by himself. Anyway, this is very easy to do and if you like steamed fish the traditional way (yet not too complicated), try this.


Ingredients:
Fish (rub with a little salt and pepper and leave it for 30min)
Bean paste
Ginger (cut into thin strips)
Garlic (chopped)
Pepper
Soya sauce
Water
Oil or sesame oil


Method:
1. Clean the fish with some water to wash away the salt.
2. Put half of the some garlic, ginger and bean paste on a plate.
3. Place fish over the ingredients in #2.
4. Sprinkle the remaining garlic, bean paste and ginger over the fish.
5. Mix soya sauce, a little oil and water in a bowl. Pour the mixture over the fish.
6. Steam till cooked.

I usually place it on a steamer while cooking the rice. Yeah….the lazy way ;p

Fish with Onion & Ginger

I’ve finally found an easy way to cook dory fish without that ‘fishy’ smell ;p
It’s good to add more onions and ginger because they give a really nice aroma to the dish.

This picture really doesn’t do justice to the dish ;p
Anyway, it was taken using a handphone so tolerate a bit with the quality la.


Ingredients:
Dory Fish(cut into bite size slices)
Onion (shred into thin slices)
Ginger (shred into thin slices)
Oil
Water
Salt
Soya sauce
Pepper
Chinese wine
Oyster sauce


Method:
1. Rub a little salt and some pepper onto the fish and leave it for ~20min.
2. Heat oil in wok and sauté the onion and ginger till fragrant.
3. Add in the fish slices and mix well with the onion and ginger.
4. Season with soya sauce (not too much since the fish has been marinated with some salt), Chinese wine and oyster sauce.
5. Stir fry for 1-2min. Add a little water.
6. Dish up once it’s boiling.

Salmon Teriyaki Set Dinner

Western food is really not my favourite kind of food but since VIP likes to have meat with his meal, I've decided to try cook something western. With red meat being one of the "blacklisted" food for me, I can cook either chicken or fish. I settled for fish since we both love fish and it's also healthier compared to chicken. As usual, I like to try something which I have never cooked before.

I really don't know how I end up cooking this "set dinner" but as I was shopping in Jusco this afternoon I saw some nice salmon fillet and I thought "Why not?". So, I bought 2 pieces of salmon which have been marinated with teriyaki sauce. Of course vegetables is a MUST, so I picked lettuce since it looked fresh. Walk some more and then saw very nice ripe tomatoes and immediately thought of making soup out of them!

OK, here are all the work I did before we can enjoy the dinner:

Mashed Potatoes
1. Peel potatoes, poke holes with a fork and boil in hot water until soft.
2. Mash the potatoes in a bowl, add a dash of black pepper, pinch of salt, mixed herbs, little butter and some chopped onions. Mix well.

Tomatoes Vegetable Soup
1. Cut a cross on the bottom of each tomato, boil for 1 minute in boiling water. Take them out and remove the skin.
2. Chop tomatoes into very small pieces.
3. Chop some carrots, onions and celery.
4. Put all the vegetables in a pot of boiling water. Cook for ~1 hour.
5. Add salt, sugar and black pepper to taste.

Vegetables
1. Cut lettuce into bite size and slice some carrot.
2. Add a little olive oil and lemon juice.
3. Keep in the fridge to chill it until serving time.

Salmon Teriyaki Fillet
1. In a bowl, put 1 tablespoon of soya sauce, a little pepper, a little water and some onion pieces. Mix well.
2. Heat wok and pour in the mixture. Put in the salmon fillet and cook over low heat for ~4-5min depending how you like your fish (fully cooked or half cooked, etc).

For serving, just arrange all the above nicely in a plate :)

Fish with Preserved Soya Beans and Tomatoes

I was back in Taiping home last weekend and thought it has been a while since I cooked for my family, so I decided to have some fun in the kitchen! This is one of the dishes I cooked for lunch (and dinner) on Sunday.
*Doesn't look delicious from this picture but this is really easy to cook and it taste great! You can't even see the fish in this pic because they were swimming in the pool of gravy ;p

Ingredients:
Fish (you can use any kind of fish) - clean and rub the fish with some salt
Tomatoes
Spring onions
Chilli
Garlic
Ginger
Preserved bean paste (known as "tau cheong" in Cantonese)
Salt
Oil
Water

Method:
1. Heat enough oil in a wok and fry the fish till golden brown. Dish up and leave aside.
2. Scoop up the excess oil from frying. Leave a little oil in the wok and stir fry some garlic.
3. Add in the ginger, chilli and preserved bean paste.
4. Stir fry till fragrant. Add tomatoes and stir fry for a while.
5. Put in water (enough for gravy) and cook till it boils.
6. Add in the fish and let it simmer for ~1min. Add in the spring onions.
7. Cook for ~1min and dish up.