Steamed Tofu on Egg with Fish or Shrimp

On most days I have tofu, eggs, fish and prawns in my refrigerator. I just have to get creative and make delicious dishes out of them. One of such dishes is steamed tofu on egg with slices of fish or shrimps on it. I was able to savour three different tastes in one bite - taste of the egg, tofu and fish/prawn. I had added fried garlic on the fish version. For the prawn version, the coriander made the dish very aromatic. Besides fried garlic, we can sprinkle green onions, fried shallots, parsley or coriander on top of the dishes.

Ingredients:

• 2 tube of egg tofu or plain tofu
• Fish slices or shrimps, the number depending on the number of tofu cylinders.
• For marinating fish slices or prawns:
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 egg and 1.5 times of water
• For seasoning the egg:
• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil for greasing the plate for steaming
• Topping
• fried onions, or 
• chopped parsley, or
• chopped coriander, or
• chopped green onions or
• fried shallots, or
• bird's eye chili

Instructions:

• Fillet the fish (snapper, grouper or threadfin) and slice it thinly or peel and de-vein the shrimps. (I left the tail on the shrimps.)

• Marinate the fish or shrimps with soy sauce, salt, pepper and sesame oil for at least 30 minutes.

• Beat egg into a bowl. Add water and seasonings. Sieve.

• Grease a steaming plate with sesame oil.

• Arrange the tofu cylinders on the plate.

• Slowly pour the egg onto the plate of tofu.

• Arrange the fish slices or shrimps on top of the tofu.

• Boil water in the steamer.

• Once the water has boiled, transfer the plate to the steamer.

• Steam the tofu with fish slices/shrimps over low heat (we want a silky egg layer).

• Remove the plate from the steamer once the fish/shrimps and egg are cooked. (Should not take more than 5 minutes. Otherwise the fish/shrimps will be overcooked.)

• Sprinkle the following on top:
• fried onions, or 
• chopped parsley, or
• chopped coriander, or
• chopped green onions or
• fried shallots, or
• bird's eye chili.

• Drizzle some soy sauce on top if the dish is not salty enough.

• Serve with rice.

Fish Fillet in Lemon Butter Sauce

 

I usually eat fried fish with chilli padi soy sauce. Today, I try another style, that is, drizzling the fish with lemon butter sauce. The sweetness of the fish coupled with the tangy buttery sauce brings the dish to another level. I have used the grouper. However, other fishes that can be cooked this way include the salmon, snapper or any other white fish that you can get your hands on. This recipe is the simplest one for lemon butter sauce. However, I have seen recipes which use heavy cream and wine to make the sauce.

Ingredients:

• 350 g Grouper fillet
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp rice flour
• 1 tbsp a-purpose flour
• cooking oil for frying

• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 tsp minced shallots
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp chopped coriander or parsley

Instructions:

• Marinate fish fillet with salt and pepper for half an hour.

• Mix rice flour and all-purpose flour.

• Heat up cooking oil in wok or pan.

• Coat fish fillet with flour mixture.

• When cooking oil is hot, pan fry the fillet till golden brown.

• Transfer fried fillet to a serving plate.

• Or, some may prefer to just pan fry the fillet without any coating.

• Preparing the lemon sauce:

• Heat up wok or pan.

• Pour in lemon juice.

• Add minced shallots and salt.

• Cook till lemon juice is reduced to half the original amount.

• Add butter and let it melt.

• Add in chopped coriander or parsley.

• Pour lemon butter sauce over the fish fillet.

• Serve.

Soy Sauce Fish

Soy Sauce Fish is a simple but very delicious dish. I usually use golden snapper (jenahak) or grunt (ikan gerut) for this dish. However, I would say that golden snapper provides a sweeter dish than the grunt.  But the golden snapper is more expensive than the grunt. This dish is best eaten with white rice.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of a jenahak (fillet), about 500 g
• 3 inches ginger
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

• Batter
• 3 tbsp rice flour
• 1 1/2 tbsp wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Water, enough to form a thick batter

• Cooking oil
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 50 ml water

Instructions:

• Cut the jenahak into cubes. Marinate them with salt and pepper for at least half an hour.

• Mix the rice flour, wheat flour, salt, pepper and water to form a thick batter.

• Heat the cooking oil in a wok.

• Dip the jenahak cubes into the batter and drop them into the wok or pan when the oil is hot.

• Fry them until they are brown. Ladle them up and set aside.

• Julienne the ginger and add them to the wok. Fry them till they are crispy. Ladle them up and set them aside. 

• Add light and dark soy sauces to the remaining oil (used to fry the ginger) in the wok.

• Add water to the wok. Let the sauce boil.

• Add the fried fish to the wok and stir them till they are coated with the sauce.

• Scoop them up onto a serving dish.

• Sprinkle the crispy ginger on the fish.

• Serve the fish with white rice.

Ikan Tenggiri (Mackerel) Masak Lemak

My family and I went to have lunch at a nyonya restaurant and one of the dishes we order was Ikan Tenggiri Masak Lemak. It was very delicious; the fish was very fresh and the sauce was creamy with a tinge of sweetness, saltiness and sourness. So, I decided to replicate it at home. The resulting dish was similar to that we ate at the restaurant. 

Ingredients:

a. 2 slices of ikan tenggiri

b. For blending

• 10 g chili padi
• 8 g dried chili
• 75 g shallots
• 25 g garlic
• 50 g lemongrass (white part only)
• 20 g fresh turmeric
• 20 g galangal
• 20 g ginger
• 25 g belacan, toasted
• 15 g candlenut
• 1 cup water

c. For cooking

• all of the blended ingredients
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 3 g assam keping
• 1 cup water
• 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised 
• 1 cups thick santan
• 2 pcs of kafir lime leaves
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp sugar

Method:

• Blend all ingredients stated above under "For Blending".

• Heat up pan with cooking oil.

• Add all of the blended ingredients to the pan.

• Fry them till they are fragrant and oil splits from the ingredients.

• Add water, assam keping and lemongrass.

• Let the sauce simmer slowly for about 5 minutes.

• Add the santan and let it boil. (If sauce is too thick, add some water. It should not be too thin either.)

• Add kafir lime leaves.

• Season with salt and sugar.

• Add the tenggiri. (Do not overcook.)

• Serve with white rice.

Assam Laksa

Most of us in the family love Assam Laksa; it is spicy, sour, sweet, salty and aromatic. The aroma comes from the torch ginger flower (bunga kantan), the lemongrass (serai), the galangal (lengkuas) as well as the fish used in preparing the soup. I love to use the mackeral (kembong) in my soup. However, some prefer to use the sardine. The thick soup is served over the thick rice noodles and the dish is garnished with cucumber, pineapple, onion, torch ginger flower and mint. Some of us love to eat it with more shrimp paste (hae ko) added to it. Usually one bowl is not enough for each person. Thus, we always have to prepare a lot of soup, noodles and the garnishes so that everyone can eat to his or heart's content.

Ingredients:

• 450 g rice noodles (for 4 pax)

       For blending:

• 100 g red chilies
• 10 g dried chilies
• 70 g big onions
• 70 g shallots
• 3 lemongrass stalks, the white part only
• 1 inch belacan, toasted
• 1 inch galangal

    For the soup:

• 1 kg ikan kembong
• 2-2.5 litres water

• All the blended spices above
• 100 g daun kesum
• 2 lemongrass stalks, bruised
• 2 torch ginger stalks (bunga kantan), quartered lengthwise
• 6 pcs of assam keping
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2.5 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1 tbsp shrimp paste

    For Garnishing:

• cucumber
• pineapple
• big onion
• torch ginger
• bird's eye chilies
• mint, optional
• lettuce, optional
• egg, optional

Method:

• Prepare a big pot of boiling water.
• Add the rice noodles to the boiling water.
• Let the water continue to boil for 15-20 minutes.
• Cover the pot, turn off the fire and let the noodles sit in the pot till they soften.

• Boil 2.5 litre of water in another big pot.
• Add the kembong to the pot and let the fishes cook.
• Once they are cooked, remove them from the pot.
• Remove the fish meat from the bones. Mash the fish meat and return them to the pot.
• Add the bones to a blender. Add some water to blend the bones. Once done, sieve the fish bone water to the pot. Discard the mashed up bone.
• Add all the blended ingredients to the pot.
• Add the daun kesum, the bruised lemongrass, the quartered torch ginger flower, assam keping, sugar, salt and shrimp paste to the pot.
• Let the soup boil. (The longer you boil, the more fragrant and tasty the soup will be.) 
• Test for sourness, saltiness, spiciness and sweetness. You may add more assam keping, salt, chili, sugar or shrimp paste.
• The soup is ready for consumption.

• Garnishing:
• Julienne the cucumber.
• Slice the onion as thinly as possible.
• Slice the pineapple thinly.
• Cut the bird eye chilies.
• Slice the torch ginger flower thinly.

Bitter Gourd Bihun with Fish Fillet

 

 

I experimented with this new dish - Bitter Gourd Bihun with Fish Fillet - which was described to me by my better half. He had seen it on Tik Tok. The final result met his approval. If you like bitter gourd, then this dish is for you. I ate it and it was really delicious. I will definitely be cooking it again and again.

Ingredients:

• 100 g bihun (before soaking)
• 6-inch long bitter gourd
• 2-inch long carrot
• 1 small onion
• 1 egg
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper powder
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• Cooking oil
• 1/2 cup water

Method:

• Soak bihun till it is soft.

• Half the bitter gourd lengthwise, remove the seeds and slice thinly across.

• Julienne the carrot.

• Slice the onions in rings.

• Slice the fish fillet into small pieces. Fish - either garoupa, red snapper or white snapper.

• Heat up kuali with some oil.

• Fry the egg, break it up, dish up and set aside.

• Add some oil and saute the garlic till fragrant.

• Add the carrot, onion and bitter gourd.

• Fry till they have softened.

• Add the fish and fry till they are half-cooked.

• Add water.

• Then add the seasonings.

• Once the sauce has boiled, add the bihun.

• Fry till the bihun is cooked.

• Add the fried egg to the bihun. Stir.

• Dish up and sprinkle some coriander on top. (Can use spring onion too.)

Cheesey Sardines and Potato Bread Rolls

 

 

 

I have created Cheesey Sardine Potato Bread Rolls for breakfast for my children. However, these bread rolls can be made for teatime as well. Most households would have some cans of sardines and potato in their pantry and so can easily make them at any time. As for cheese, it is really optional.

Ingredients:

• 6 slices of bread - white or wholemeal
• 270 g mashed potatoes
• 100 g canned sardines
• 25 g green onions
• 2-3 pc chili padi (optional)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 6 pcs of Mozzarella cheese of about 1.5 inch long
• 1 egg, beaten
• Cooking oil for frying

Method:

• Remove the crust from the 4 sides of each slice of bread. Roll each slice of bread thinly. Set aside.

• Add mashed potatoes to a mixing bowl.

• Remove bones of canned sardines. Add them to the mixing bowl.

• Cut the green onions finely and add them to the mixing bowl.

• Cut the chili padi into small pieces and add them to the mixing bowl.

• Add the seasonings.

• Mix up all the ingredients well.

• Spread the ingredients onto each slice of bread.

• Place a piece of cheese across each slice of bread.

• Roll up the slice of bread and seal the seam.

• Repeat till all the slices have been rolled up.

• Heat up a pan with cooking oil.

• Roll the bread roll in the beaten egg using a fork.

• Transfer the bread rolls to the pan and deep fry them till they are golden brown.

• When done, remove them onto a piece of kitchen towel to soak up any excess oil.

• Transfer them to a serving plate.

Baked Cheesy Seafood Fried Rice

 

I am sure all of us will fry rice once in a while especially when we have lots of cooked rice in our fridge or when we are short of time to cook a full meal or when we run out of idea on what to cook. Fried Rice is the easiest meal to cook up, a single pot with all the required carbohydrate, protein, fats, minerals and vitamins in it. I usually add a combination of such ingredients as eggs, prawns, char siew, carrots, peas, maize, long beans, cabbage, onion and bird eyes chilies in my fried rice. Another delicious way of frying rice is to add sambal and crispy anchovies to it.

I brought my simple fried rice to another level by adding cheese and baking it. It is simply delicious for the palate.

Ingredients:

• 200 g overnight rice
• 1 egg
• 75 g fish fillet
• 75 g prawns
• 75 g squids
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped and divided into 2
• 1 tbsp flour
• 125 g milk
• 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
• 100 g grated Mozzarella cheese
• 4 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

• Heat up the kuali with cooking oil.

• Fry the fish fillet till cooked. Ladle up and set aside.

• Add prawns to the kuali and fry till cooked. Ladle up and set aside.

• Add squids to the kuali and fry till cooked. Ladle up and set aside.

• Add half of the chopped garlic to the kuali.

• When the garlic is fragrant, add rice to the kuali.

• Break the egg onto the rice. Fry the rice till it is dry.

• Add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper to the rice. Fry the rice till the seasonings are incorporated.

• Ladle up the rice into a baking dish. Set aside.

• Add butter to a saucepan. Let the butter melt over medium heat.

• Saute the remaining chopped garlic till fragrant.

• Add flour to the butter, stirring continuously till both are fully incorporated to form a roux.

• Add milk to the roux, stirring continuously till a thick sauce is formed.

• Add the fish fillet, prawns and squids to the sauce.

• Add the remaining 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper to the sauce. Stir.

• Pour the sauce with the seafood onto the rice in the baking dish. (You may stir and mix the sauce with the rice or you may just leave the sauce on top of the rice.)

• Sprinkle cheese on top and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 deg C for 25-30 minutes.

Clear Fish Soup

Clear Fish Soup is definitely one of the most delicious soups that we can easily cook in our kitchen. I usually use red snapper (jenahak), grouper (kerapu) or threadfin (senangin) to make my Clear Fish Soup. My family and I usually eat this with rice although at times I do serve it with the Penang laksa noodles. We will slurp up every bit of the noodles and the ingredients in eat and pick clean the fish meat from the bones. I like my soup to be a bit spicy. So I usually add some cut chili padi when I am boiling the soup.

Ingredients:

• 400 g of fish (either fillets or whole with head and tail)
• 6 big napa cabbage leaves
• 1 1/2 inch carrot
• 4 pcs Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 box of white tofu
• 1 inch ginger
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tbsp light soya sauce
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 cups water
• Cooking oil

Method:

• Frying the fish.
• Wash the fish fillets and use a kitchen towel to dry them.
• Rub them with salt.
• Heat cooking oil in a wok.
• When the oil is hot, add the fish to the oil and fry them till golden brown.
• Remove and set aside.

• Handling the ingredients.
• Wash the napa cabbage and cut them into 1 1/2-inch length. Transfer them to a colander to drain away any water.
• Peel, wash and cut the carrot into rings or any shapes that you desire.
• Soak the mushroom and when softened, slice them up as you wish.
• Remove the tofu from the box. To ensure that it is not broken up in the process, follow the following steps:
• Remove the plastic on top.
• Turn the tofu box onto a plate.
• Use a scissors to cut off the four corners of the box to let air into the box.
• Slowly tap on the box and remove the box.
• Cut the tofu into sizes that you wish.
• Remove skin of ginger and slice it thinly.
• Chop up the garlic.

• Heat up sesame oil in a wok.

• Saute the mushroom slices followed by the chopped garlic.

• When they are fragrant, add water to the wok.

• Let the water boil.

• Once it has boiled, add ginger and fish fillets to the wok. Cover the wok and let the fillets simmer for about 10 minutes.

• Remove the cover and add napa cabbage and carrot to the soup.

• Let the cabbage and carrot soften.

• Season the soup with salt, light soy sauce and pepper.

• Add tofu and let the soup boil to heat up the tofu.

• The soup is ready to be served.

Braised Fish in Dried Noodles

    

 

        

Braised Fish in Dried Noodles is another delicious 1-pot meal. The fishes that can be used to cook this dish are red snapper, grouper and white pomfret as these are flavourful and sweet. These fishes are filleted and deep fried before they are braised. I like to use long cabbage. However, we can also use round cabbage, bean sprouts and broccoli. Cooking this dish takes only about half an hour. It should be cooked just before meal time as it has to be eaten immediately after it is cooked. Otherwise, the noodles will soak up whatever little sauce there is in the dish.

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces of dried noodles of about 40 g each
• 2 pieces of red snapper (jenahak)
• 3 large pieces of Shiitake mushroom, soaked and sliced
• 4 leaves of long cabbage
• 1-inch carrot, grated lengthwise
• 2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp potato/corn/tapioca flour
• red chillies, cut
• 2 cups of water

Method:

• Boil a pot of water. When the water is boiling, add the dried noodles to it. Cook till the noodles are less than al dente. Do not overcook the noodles as we will be frying them with the fish.

• Remove the noodles from the pot and stir some oil to them to prevent them from sticking to each other. Set them aside.

• Slice the jenahak like as shown in the photo. Coat the jenahak slices with flour and deep fry them till they are golden brown. Remove and set them aside.

• Heat the wok with sesame oil. When the oil is hot, add the Shiitake mushroom and fry them till they are fragrant.

• Add the chopped garlic and saute them.

• Add the long cabbage and grated carrot fry them with the mushroom.

• Add water to the wok.

• Add salt, pepper and light and dark soy sauces. Stir.

• Add fish slices to the wok.

• Cover the wok and let the fish braised slowly for about 10 minutes.

• Remove the cover.

• Remove the fish slices onto a plate to prevent them from breaking up.

• Add the noodles to the wok and fry them with the vegetables till the noodles are softer.

• Remove noodles into a serving dish.

• Arrange the fish slices on top of the noodles and sprinkle the cut chilies on top.

• Serve the noodles immediately.

Braised Grouper

Braised Grouper is one of the most delicious dishes enjoyed by every member of my family. I cooked it very often, especially when I can get hold of fresh Grouper. Usually I buy mine at the pasar malam where there are only 1 to 2 stalls selling seafood. However, during the Movement Control Order, I bought mine online from one of the suppliers in Tanjung Karang. The fishes were very fresh. Of the different types of Grouper I love the Flower Grouper. Its flesh is smooth and very sweet.

Ingredients:

• 800 g of Flower Grouper
• 2 tubes of egg tofu
• 6 big leaves of napa cabbage
• 2-inch carrot
• 5 pieces of Shiitake mushrooms (medium size)
• 2-inch ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• Cooking oil
• Seasonings - light and dark soy sauces, salt and pepper powder
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• 2 - 3 cups of water

Method:

• Frying the tofu.
• Heat up a wok with cooking oil.
• Cut the egg tofu into cylinders of about 0.5 cm height.
• Add 1 tbsp of corn flour onto a plate.
• Place the cut tofu cylinders onto the plate of corn flour and coat them lightly with the corn flour.
• When the oil is hot, place the coated tofu cylinders into the oil.
• Fry till they are slightly golden brown.
• Remove and set aside the fried tofu when done.
• Frying the Flower Grouper.
• Wash and cut the fish into 2 cm thickness. (Keep the fish head for other use.)
• Heat up a wok with cooking oil.
• When the oil is hot, add the fish slices into the oil.
• Fry till the slices are golden brown.
• Remove and set them aside when done.
• Wash and cut the napa cabbage to about 2 inches long. Put them into a colander to drain off the water.
• Wash and cut the carrot into thin rings.
• Soak the Shiitake mushrooms and half them or slice them when they have softened.
• Peel the ginger and slice it thinly.
• Remove the oil used to fry the fish leaving about 2 tbsp in the wok.
• Add the ginger slices to the wok and fry them till they are fragrant.
• Add the garlic to the wok and also fry them till they are fragrant.
• Add the mushrooms to the wok. Fry them till they are fragrant.
• Add water to the wok.
• Add the fried fish slices to the wok. Let the water boil.
• Add the napa cabbage and carrots to the the wok.
• Cover the wok and braise the fish, napa cabbage and carrots till they are soft.
• Remove the cover and add seasonings to the wok:
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 - 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder.
• Or all to taste
• Add the fried tofu to the wok and let the sauce simmer for a while. The corn flour coating of the tofu will thicken the sauce.
• Optional - you may sprinkle cut green onions or coriander on top of the braised fish.
• The dish is ready to be served (with cut chilies).