Thai Style Steamed Fish with Lemon Sauce

This is a late post - found this picture while clearing up space on the camera.  Made it about a month ago.

I used a white fish called Sherry. You can fry, make fish curry, fish balls, bbq and even steam. In any manner of cooking, the flesh is always soft and sweet.  You can use any good white flesh fish for steaming.

My steamer is a medium sized therefore I had to cut the head and leave it in the pan so as it gives extra flavouring while steaming. My whole family are not a fan of fish head and normally get the fishmonger to remove the head while cleaning.

I like to add some vegetables when steaming the fish so as I get 2 in 1 dish instead of preparing a separate dish.

Ingredients

1 whole fish - clean and gutted - sliced diagonally
1 tbs ginger garlic paste
1/2 cup of lemon juice  and lemon zest
2 tbs of fish sauce
2 tbs of light soy sauce
1tsp of brown sugar - optional
3-5 small green/red chilly -depending on your spice intake. slightly bruised
1-2 lemon grass - bruised light use the white end only
1 tbs chinese red dates - optional
1-2 kaffir lime leaves -otional
mixture of cauliflower/brocolli/carrots - optional
3-5 springs of coriander leaves
chopped spring onions


Preparation:

1.  Prepare your steaming pot.

2.  Cut 3-5 diagonal slashes across the fish depending on the size of the fish, about 2 inches apart on both sides of the fish.  This is to ensure that gravy/sauce gets coated well with the fish.

3.  In a pan ready to steam, rub ginger garlic paste on both sides of the fish. Sprinkle salt as well on both side of fish.  Under the fish place the bruised lemongrass.

4.  In a different bowl, add in lemon juice, lemon zest, brown sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce .  Adjust the seasoning if required.

5.  Pour lemon juice mixture over the fish together with chinese red dates, kaffir leaves and chilly.

6. Steam on medium heat, covered.  Add in the vegetables when the fish are about done.  Cover the steamer for another 5-8 mins till the vegetables are tender and cooked.

7.  Serve hot with coarsely chopped coriander leaves and finely chopped spring onions.

Enjoy Thai Styled Steamed Fish with Lemon Sauce with rice and some spicy vegetable.


** Sathiarani**

Quick and Simple Bake Salmon

A recipe shared by my niece, Mirosha from US. I tried this version of marination for our dinner a few days ago.  I could not find any chipotle powder so I substituted with paprika powder.  I love the use of paprika powder for marinating sea foods and meats. 

For side dish I had some carrots, potatoes, capsicums and broccoli.  My potatoes was slightly under-cooked, should have boiled and let it bake together with the other veges.

Ingredients required

3 cuts of salmon

Orange Juice from 2 oranges

Teriyaki Sauce enough to glaze the salmon

Chipotle pepper powder - enough to cover the salmons.

Vegetables of your choice for side dish.

  

• Thaw salmon, squeeze orange juice on it and let it sit for about half hour.
• Glaze it with teriyaki sauce
• sprinkle with chipotle pepper powde as per need
• bake skin side down for 30 mins on 180C
• broil on hi 5mins before removing and serve hot.

Enjoy

Sathiarani

Prawns with Hoisin Sauce

Ingredients

1/2kg big prawns - peeled and deveined
1/2 medium sized onion - sliced
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
3 tsp of hoisin sauce - you can get this from Chinese store or big supermarkets
1 tsp of  hot sauce
1 bird eye chilli - chopped (optional) for added spicy
1 tsp of light soya sauce
a dash of freshly cracked black pepper
2 tbs of sesame oil

How to prepare

1.  Marinate prawns with hoisin sauce, ginger garlic paste, hot sauce and light soya sauce.  Set aside for a few minutes

2.  Heat oil, sauté onion till soft.  Add in chilli. Fry for another minute or son.

3.  Add in prawns and stir in well with onions.  Cook till the prawns turn it turn pink and curled for about 4-5 mins.

4.  Prawns with Hoisin Sauce ready to be served.

Prawn with Hoisin Sauce

Black Pepper Crab

I usually make curries out of crab and wanted to try something different and thought of Black Pepper Crab and found one at http://www.rasamalaysia.com/  The recipe calls for mud crab, instead I use sea crab and being a fan of dried prawns I had use a handful and did not ground them, I just gave a few knocks with a pestle just to loosen the dried prawns.

Black Pepper Crab
Ingredients

1 kg crabs
oil for deep frying
2 tbs of butter
2 shallots - finely sliced
2 garlic - chopped finely
1 tbs of salted black beans - mashed (I did not add this)
2 tbs of dried prawns - roasted and ground
2 tbs of black pepper - coarsely ground (I use ready made ones)
1/2 cup of curry leaves
10 bird's eye-chillies, red or green (I used red ones and real fiery ones)
2 tbs of soya sauce
3 tbs of sugar
2 tbs of oyster sauce

Method


Clean the crabs, half them, give a slight knock to the claws.  Heat oil ( I did not deep fry like it was suggested- I use oil just nice to cover and fry them).  Fry the crab about 3/4 cooked. 


In a different wok, heat butter and saute shallots, garlic, black beans, dried prawns, black pepper, curry leaves and chopped chillies.

Saute till aromatic, add crab and the rest of seasoning and stir till mix well.  Cook for a few more minutes till the crabs are done.  Serve

Nandu Perathal @ Crab Masala

Me and my mum  were at the fish market in Al Khor where I live currently...  Found some lovely fresh looking crab...still dancing alive...

So whats next,we bought 2kilos of it and with a few more types of fresh fist from the market and headed home straight to the kitchen....

A gala day at the kitchen with the crabs and fishes...Lets see at the nandu perathal aka crab masala my mother's way....

Crab Masala
source : my mother's...

What you require...
2kilos of crabs
3 big onions - quartered
3-4 big onions - sliced finely
1/4 cup of ginger/garlic paste
3 chilies - slit into half
sprigs of curry leaves
2 pieces of cinnamon
4-5 cardamons
1 tsp of fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 - 5 pieces of aniseeds
3 -4 pieces of cloves
5-6 tbs of meat currypowder (the amount depends on the spiciness required)
salt to taste
coriander leaves - chopped (optional)

How to do....

1. Clean the crabs and cut into 2.
2. Mix the crabs with ginger/garlic paste and leave aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok/pan. 
4. Once the oil is hot, saute cinnamons, cardamons, aniseeds, cloves, cumins and fennels till aromatic.
5. Add in the onions, chillies and tomatoes and saute till the onions are soft. 
6. Add in the curry leaves and crabs and mix well.
7. Cook till the crabs are done.
8. Mix curry powder into a paste and add into the crab.  Stir well so that the paste and the crabs are coated well.
9. Cook to desired gravy level.
10. Serve hot with rice.