Baked Teriyaki Cod Fish 照烧鳕鱼

One of my favourite fish--Cod fish! Now I will only eat either salmon or cod fish because they have rich omega 3 which is good for my heart. But cod fish is rather expensive so I will buy it in alternate weeks. If not I will buy the cheaper version of it which is from greenland. It is not as round as the cod fish we usually see, in fact it is rather flat and slim.

Besides steaming cod fish. I love to eat it teriyaki style. I have tried to make it several times but this time round it is more successful. For the previous attempts, it does not turn out as dark and as pretty as it is supposed to be. You can also do this dish pan fry style. But I prefer to bake it as it will be less messy. However the pan fried version will be more tasty.  I referred to this website http://wokkingmum.blogspot.com/2011/11/baked-cod-teriyaki.html for the recipe. If you want you can refer to http://rasamalaysia.com/salmon-teriyaki/2/ for another similar one.

Ingredients:
1) 1 cod fish
2) 1 tablespoon of soya sauce
3) 1 tablespoon of mirin
4) 1 tablespoon of sake
5) 1 tablespoon of sugar

Steps:
1) Pour all the marinate in a ziploc bag.
2) Put the cod fish inside and give the bag a little shake so that the marinate can be coated evenly.
3) Put the whole bag in the fridge and marinate overnight for best taste. If not marinate for at least 3-4 hours.
4) Place the cod on the baking tray lined with baking paper or aluminum foil. Pour some marinate on top of the fish before baking.
5) Put the fish in a preheated oven (around 200 degree C) and bake it for around 10 -15 minutes or until the fish turned darker.
6) Turn over, put some marinate on top and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes or till the fish is cooked.
7) Remove and you can serve.

If you still have some marinate left, you can heat it up in a pan until the sauce thickens and pour it on top of the cooked fish.

Baked Chicken with Curry Powder 咖哩鸡翅

My husband and myself love to eat chicken wings. He loved to eat fried chicken wings because of the crispy skin. I have been collecting various ways of cooking it. Most of them needs to be deep fried. But due to my diet and laziness of deep frying, I have not tried any except the Har Cheong Chicken Wings.  The other times I have tried the simple way of baking chicken wings with hoisin sauce, soya sauce and oyster sauce. But my husband says not crispy enough. So I have been trying to achieve crispy skin with the baking method.

After checking the net, I found a few tips in achieving the crispy skin. First one is to make sure you pat the skin dry. The second tip is to switch the oven to grill or broil function when the chicken is almost done. Well, I have followed the tips and this time round the skin is crispy! For this recipe, I learnt it from 吃饭皇帝大again! Hehe by now you should know I am a fan of this taiwanese cooking show. You just need a few ingredients and it turns out delicious! A great finger food (which is different from typical fried or baked chicken wings) for any party.

Ingredients:
1) 20 mid joints chicken wings
2) 3 tablespoons of curry powder
3) 2 tablespoon of ginger powder
4) 2 tablespoons of garlic powder
5) 2 teaspoon of masala powder (optional)
6) 2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
7) 4 tablespoon of oil (i use olive oil)

Steps:
1) Pour all the powder spices in a ziploc bag. Shake well so that they are mixed well.
2) Add in the oyster sauce and oil. Shake well so that they are mixed well.
3) Put the chicken wings inside the ziploc bag. Give it a good shake to distribute the seasonings evenly.
4) Put in the fridge to marinate overnight.
5) Put the wings on a baking tray and bake them in a preheated oven (around 200 degree C) for around 15 to 20 minutes. For the last 5 minutes, turn to grill or broil until the skin turns darker. Be careful not to burnt the skin.

Okonomiyaki 大阪烧

I am fortunate to get to know a Japanese friend who used to stay in the apartment where I stay. Her name is Ryoko. She is very friendly and adventurous in terms of food. The first time when we went out for lunch she brought me to eat Indian food. She says she love spicy food. She is so kind to cook Japanese curry and gave me some too. Frankly speaking, I have never tried Japanese curry but thanks to her now I love it. And she even introduced me to a Singaporean who stays in my area! Than this Singaporean introduced me to another Singaporean who happens to be the wife of my husband's colleague! What a small world! Now I have introduced my Shanghai neighbour to them. So we form a little group.

We will gather once in a while either to go out for lunch or a gathering in one of our places. So far we have met in Ryoko's place for a makan session. I taught her how to make Hainanese Chicken Rice and she taught us how to make Okonomiyaki! We have great fun that day. We are planning for another session soon. We have called this Culinary Culture Exchange gathering in short CCE haha!

I remember when I left Singapore this Okonomiyaki dish is pretty popular during that time. There is this shop in Old Daimaru where they have an open kitchen concept selling this. Have always wanted to try in that shop but never had the chance. Hehe now I can make my own!

This is a very easy to make pancake and very healthy too. It has lot's of vegetables which is cabbage. All of us love it at first taste at Ryoko's place. I have decided to get all the ingredients and make it! This became my dinner on Sunday!

Ingredients:
1) 1 cup of Okonomiyaki Flour
2) 2 eggs
3) 3/4 cup water
4) Shredded cabbage
5) 1-2 stalk of chopped green onion
6) 4 pieces of sliced pork belly
7) Chopped Japanese pickled ginger
8) Okonomiyaki sauce
9) Japanese Mayo
10) Bonito flakes
11)Roasted seaweed
12) Seafood mix (those frozen ones with shrimps and squid)

Some of my ingredients

Steps:
1) Mix the flour and water in a large bowl until there are no lumps.
2) Add in the eggs, cabbage, chopped onions, pickled ginger and seafood inside the batter. Combine them well gently.
3) Wipe some oil onto the non stick pan using a brush. Heat the oil using medium heat. Scope the mixture onto the pan and spread it evenly. For one cup of flour, we can make two Okonomiyaki using my 30cm pan. So divide out the mixture into 2 portions.
4) Layer the pork belly meat on top. Cook for approximately 5 minutes or until the bottom browns.
5) Flip the patty to cook the side with the meat layered on top for approximately 5 minutes or until fully cooked. One tip to flip the patty is to get a plate ready and scope up the patty onto the plate (cooked side on the plate) Than with one hand holding the plate, and another hand holding the pan,  "pour" the patty onto the pan to cook the uncooked side.
6) Flip the patty once more (meat side up) and cook approximately 2-3 minutes.
7) To serve, squeeze the mayo and Okonomiyaki sauce on top of the pancake (on the meat side). Than sprinkle the bonito flakes and seaweed on top.

Before Deco

Deco Part 1

Finished!

PS: My friend Ryoko added Sakura prawns in this dish. But I can't find it and I happen to have some frozen seafood mix that's why I have added that inside. If you like more cabbage please do add more. Next time I will try to add kimchi to add a spicy flavour ;p!

Steam Clams with Sake (Asari no Sakamushi) 清酒蛤蜊

Now there is always a small bottle of sake in my fridge. It is not only for drinking pleasure but more for cooking Japanese food! I will definitely add sake to my home made teriyaki sauce. Last time I will buy ready made ones, but after finding a recipe for teriyaki sauce, I have stopped buying the bottled teriyaki sauce. Home made sauces you can adjust the sweetness and saltines according to your taste. And adding sake really makes a big difference! So I will add some sake to most of my Japanese dishes especially those with sauces.


This clams with sake is another new dish I found on Rasa Malaysia website. Super simple and super delicious! I bought some clams which is already cooked and vacuum packed. If you are buying fresh live clams you can clean the clams and soak in brine (1 tsp salt in 2 1/2 cups water) for at least 1 hr than rinse them. I am pretty surprised that those frozen ones taste good too! I can taste the sweetness of the clams in the broth of the dish. Of course if you are using fresh ones, it will taste even better! Simply Oishi!


Ingredients:
1) 600g of Clams
2) 1 Spring onion chopped
3) Garlic minced 1 tablespoon (optional. I added this as you know lah I am a fan of garlic ;p )  
4) 1/3 stick unsalted butter

5) 1 1/4 cup water6) 1/2 cup cooking sake
7) 1/4 cup mirin
8) salt to taste

Steps:

1) Heat up a saucepan on medium heat and add the butter. Than add in the garlic and stir fry for a while.
2) As soon as the butter melts, transfer the clams into the pan and do a few quick stirs. 
3) Add the water, sake, and mirin into the clams and cover the pan with its lid. 
4) Turn the heat to high and bring the clams to boil. As soon as all the clams are open, add in salt to taste. 5) Dish out into a bowl, garnish with the chopped scallion, and serve immediately.

Miso Salmon 味噌三文鱼

This is another ultra simple way of cooking salmon. I learnt it from a TV programme. In the show it is used to marinate pork loin. But I have used it on my big piece of salmon. Actually the sauce can also be used to marinate other types of meat or any other fish. I have used the dark red miso this time round as I want to get rid of it as it had been sitting in my fridge for a long time. The original recipe uses the white miso. But after trying out with the red miso I think it tastes better as red miso has a stronger taste. If you are using red miso like me, be prepared to add more sugar as it is more salty than the white miso.

2 tips in doing this dish. First it is better to use a plastic or ziploc bag to marinate the fish. This way the fish will be evenly marinated. I use ziploc bags in marinating my meat too as it is very convenient and the marinate will be well distributed. The 2nd tips is that you cannot use high heat to fry the fish as miso will get burnt easily.You have to use medium low to medium heat and fry it slowly.

Give it a try and hope that you will like it!

Ingredients:
1) Salmon
2) Miso 1 1/2 tablespoon (you can adjust according to the size of the fish)
3) Mirin 3 tablespoon
4) Sake 1 tablespoon
5) 2 cloves of minced garlic

Steps:
1) Mix all the seasonings and garlic in a bowl. Give it a taste to see if you need any adjustment in adding miso or sugar. The miso has to be well dissolved in the marinate.
2) Pour the marinate in the ziploc bag, than put the fish inside. Shake the bag so that the fish will be evenly marinated. Put the fish in the fridge for at least 2 hours to be well marinated.
3) Heat some oil in the pan. Make sure that the oil is not too hot. Put the fish in it to fry. Use medium heat to fry it till cooked.
4) When the fish is done put it on a plate.
5) Pour the marinate into the pan and add a little water to it. When it is boiling remove from heat and pour the sauce over the fish.
6) If you want you can add some iceberg lettuce on the plate, than place the fish on top.

PS: You can bake the fish in the oven and skip the frying when you are too lazy to clean up the oily kitchen ;)

大姨妈嫁女 （毛瓜炒虾米粉丝）

这是一道我祖母、我妈妈都会煮的一道菜。 小时候听妈妈或祖母提到这道菜名就觉得很好奇为什么它的菜名是大姨妈嫁女。可是她们都说不知道，从小就听自己的妈妈这样叫。多谢科技的发达，我终于在网上找到这个名称的来源：
“大姨妈嫁女”是广东民间私房家常菜,做起來就像办起例行公事,它有三部曲:先放蒜泥,再放虾米,最后才放下毛瓜丝，红萝卜丝, 粉丝。这是一道家家必办的事情,大姨妈办起事來很熟练,因為她有很多女儿。做这道菜肴就像大姨妈嫁女儿那么熟练，容易哦! (http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/helen_blessings/article?mid=68&next=66&l=f&fid=8) 


上次我提到我会和老友WW聊到我们的广东妈妈会煮的家常菜。这也是其中一道。我妈会加入鱼饼，而她妈妈会加入甜竹（广东话叫甜竹。一种豆制食品）。这道菜其实很容易做，相当清淡及健康的菜肴。这次我忘了加入红萝卜，所以看起来颜色白白的不是很好吃的样子。但是，不要被照片所骗哦，问问你一些广东朋友，我相信他们会告诉你这是一道味道很好吃的菜。你可以把这道菜“升级”，加入黑木耳或云儿或其他你们喜欢吃的材料。




食材：
1  毛瓜 1条，切丝
2 粉丝 少许，泡软洗净
3 虾米 少许，洗净用绍兴酒泡一下备用
4 蒜茸 少许
5 蚝油
6 胡椒粉
7 水或鸡高汤


步骤：
1 用少许油，爆香虾米。再放蒜茸拌炒，然后放入毛瓜丝。
2 拌炒均匀，放入调味料。加入粉丝继续拌炒。
3 上菜了！

蚝油炒冬菇大豆苗 Stir Fry Mushrooms and Bean Sprouts Leaves with Oyster Sauce

这道菜又是我从“吃饭皇帝大” 那儿学来的。简单又健康！我很喜欢吃菇类，特别是香菇。还记得每次家里过年过节，妈妈一定会煮一道焖冬菇。不知道这是不是广东人的习惯。好像每一个广东人的家庭都要有人会煮这道菜。每次闻到焖冬菇的香味，就知道又是过节的时候。香菇的香味夹杂着家里拜神烧香的味道，是一股很另人怀念的气味。好想快点回家过年！今年回家我一定要向妈妈学习如何煮焖冬菇。现在，就暂时吃吃这道蚝油炒冬菇大豆苗来一解乡思之愁吧 ;p

食材：
1）冬菇10朵，泡水至软
2）大豆苗，把老叶去掉剩下嫩叶
3）蒜茸1茶匙
4）番茄酱半大匙
5）蚝油1大匙
6）酱油1大匙
7）糖一大匙
8）香菇水
9）太白粉水
10）麻油少许

步骤：
1）起油锅，爆香蒜茸。然后加入大豆苗快速拌炒，加入少许水，少许盐。大豆苗大火快速拌炒。大豆苗炒香起锅摆盘。
2）锅中加入番茄酱、蚝油、酱油炝锅，加入适量香菇水。加入冬菇烧至收汁，加入太白粉水勾芡，淋上少许麻油拌匀，就可以把香菇摆在豆苗上。将酱汁淋在冬菇上就完成了。