Steamed Leather Jacket in Hot Bean Paste

I found this paste being sold at the supermarket recently and used this to perpare a steamed fish dish. It is really convenient to use this as I just needed to get a fresh fish , put in 2 tbsp of oil, some sliced ginger pieces and added a quarter cup water to dilute the paste before pouring the paste onto the fish. I let the fish marinade in the paste for about an hour before popping the dish into the microwave oven to be steamed. For the fish, I used Leather Jacket cos the fish is meaty and smooth and has minimum bones.

Here's a pic of the fish. It is an ugly fish but the meat is very suitable for steaming. Usually it's sold in the supermarket with the head chopped off.

Baked Golden Pomfret

This is a simple way to bake a fish and it has a tasty gravy too. The family completely finished it up.

I used a 400 gm Golden Pomfret. Scored the body with a few lines back and front.
Seasoned it with salt and pepper and placed the entire fish on aluminium foil.
I added julienned ginger slices, 2 cloves garlic sliced and also sprigs of green onions on the fish as well as inside the fish.
I added 2 tbsps each of light soya sauce, Dom (or you may want to use Chinese wine instead), sesame oil , 1 tbsp of cooking oil and 1 tsp of sugar over the fish.
I then covered the entire fish with another piece of aluminium foil.
I let the tray of fish stand for about half an hour and the placed the tray in a pre-heated oven at 190 degree C for 30 minutes.

Fried Batang Fish in Plum Sauce

Fried batang fish in plum sauce mix.

Ingredients:

400 gm batang fish steak
Pound together 3 cloves of garlic and 5 slices of ginger
2 tbsp plum sauce
1 tbsp taucheo
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
quarter cup water

Method:

Marinade the fish with a tbsp each of sesame oil, chinese wine, corn flour and half tsp of salt for about half an hour.

Fry the fish steaks in about 4 tbsp of hot oil till cook. Remove and set aside.

Use 2 tbsp of hot oil to fry the pounded ginger and garlic mix, then add in the plum sauce and taucheo. Stir well.

Add in the fried fish, mix well and add in the rice vinegar and water.

Simmer for about 2 mins. and serve with white rice.

Braised Fish in Fragrant Sauce

My internet friend H shared this recipe with me. It has got quite a unique taste with the 5-spice powder on the fish as a seasoning. It's just nice and not too strong.

Braised Fish in Fragrant Soy Sauce
Adapted from Recipe by AMY BEH

Ingredients
400 gm Batang fillet

Combined seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp corn flour
a dash of pepper
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

2 stalks spring onion, cut into 4cm lengths
5 thin slices young ginger
2 cloves garlic, smashed

Sauce ingredients
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp thick soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp sugar
dash of pepper
1/4 cup water

Method
Rub the combined seasoning mixture over the fish fillet to coat it lightly; dust off excess.

Pan-fry the fish fillet until 3/4 cooked .

Discard the oil and place the fish fillet in the wok.

Pour the sauce ingredients over the fish.

Put in garlic, ginger and spring onion.

Reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer gently.

Cover the wok for 5–6 minutes.

Open the wok cover and turn the fish around, coating it with the sauce.

Dish out and serve.

SF Toman fish fillet with Shitake Mushrooms

Bought some Toman fish fillet intending to make fish soup. However I changed my mind and used them to stir-fry with fresh shitake mushrooms. The Toman fish fillet has quite a fair bit of tiny bones at the surface of the fillet. Just need to cut out the top part of the fillet and I threw the cut out part into a pot of Ikan Bilis soup that I was preparing.

Ingredients:
250 gm Toman fish fillet, sliced
1 tsp chopped garlic
4 slices ginger
3 tbsp oil
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp oyster sauce
5 pieces of fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced

Marinade the fish slices with .....
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Chinese wine
1 tbsp sesame oil
a dash of pepper
2 tbsp corn flour

Method:
Heat up 3 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and stir fry ginger slices and chopped garlic till fragrant.

Add in the fresh shitake mushrooms and 1/4 cup water and simmer for about 2 minutes.

Add in the marinaded fish slices and the oyster sauce and season to taste.
Simmer for another 2 minutes.

When fish slices turned white, dish up and garnish with chopped onions or coriander leaves.

Serve with white rice.

Steamed Nyonya Fish Fillet

I remembered someone shared her fish baked in a Giamson Nonya Sauce in a forum. I can't find the particular brand here but found this instead. It's Nyonya Sauce by Chef King. I used this as the seasoning and steamed the Batang fish. I liked the taste which is spicy and tangy. I would definitely use this again. Compared to the Tom Yum paste which I had used previously for fish, this sesaoning is less intense.

Ingredients:

400 gm Batang fish fillet

1 tbsp soya sauce

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 piece ginger, thumb-size, sliced

5 pieces Kaffir lime leaves, torn

1 packet Nyonya Sauce

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together in a steaming plate and marinade the fish fillet for about half an hour.

Put plate in a steaming steamer and steam for about 20-30 mins.

When the fish meat turns white, garnish with chopped spring onions.

Dish up and serve hot.

Fish fillet with Salted mustard green

Here's what I did with my Batang fillet.....

Ingredients:
300 gm Batang fillet, cubed
(Marinade fish cubes with salt, sugar, sesame oil, chinese wine and corn flour for about half an hour.)

100 gm Salted mustard green ( kiam chye),
(shredded after soaking for about half an hour.)

1 tsp garlic, chopped finely
1 tsp ginger, chopped finely
1 tbsp fermented soya bean paste
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 cup water

Method:
Heat up 3 tbsp oil and fry garlic, ginger and fermented soya paste till fragrant.

Add in the fish cubes and fry evenly and then add in the shredded mustard green.

Add in the water and simmer, covered for about 10 minutes till fish is cooked.

Season the dish with rice vinegar and sugar and mix well.

Dish up and serve warm.

Tom Yum Baked Snapper

I used this as a seasoning for the white snapper fish and baked it.
The result is a spicy and tangy kinda dish.


Ingredients:

1 packet tom yum paste
500 gm white snapper fish
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp fish sauce
kaffir lime leaves, enough to put into the fish cavity and also sprinkle a handful on the baking pan
1 no. yellow onion, wedged

Method:

Marinade fish with all the above ingredients for about an hour.

Place fish on aluminium foil and cover with another piece of aluminium foil.

Bake fish in a pre-heated oven of 210 degree C for 30 mins.

Serve hot with rice.

Pan Fried Selar Fish ...headless & tailless.

This is my ds's B favourite kind of fish. The Selar fish can be quite meaty but it has small bones so it takes quite a bit of patience to eat this kind of fish. I'm always very cautious when eating this kind of fish.

Here's sharing with you how I usually cook this fish.

Ingredients:

800 gms Selar fish (processed at the supermarket)
4 nos. ginger slices

Marinade fish with ..... (for about an hour)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chinese wine
1 tsp salt
a dash of pepper
1 tbsp shrimp paste powder
1 tbsp corn flour

Method:

Heat up about 8 tbsps of oil in a shallow frying pan.
Add in the ginger slices when oil is hot.
Add in the marinaded fish and pan fry till the sides are golden brown and the top slits of the fish whitened.
Turn the fish over and pan-fry the other side.
Dish up and garnish to serve.

Finesse .... Fish head curry without the head.

I managed to cook this today using the Sheen fish head curry paste. I prefer to use the tail section of the white snapper cos' it definitely has more meat to eat.
Instructions are easy to follow and I just needed to add in the onion, tomato and brinjals. This time round I used the coconut milk from the packet to make the gravy more lemak and the family loved it. Here's sharing with you the dish ...

Seductive ...Shrimp Paste Sutchi Fish Fillet

What else can I do with shrimp paste? I tried it on the fish next but pan-fried it instead. This was what I got ..... and it was nice eating the fish with Japanese mayonnaise.

Ingredients:
Sutchi fish fillet 2 pieces (400 gm) cut into cubes
Marinade fillet for an hour with ....
1 tbsp Chinese wine
1 tbsp sesame oil
half a tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp shrimp paste powder

Method:
Pan-fry in about 8 tbsp of hot oil and several pieces of ginger slices.

When fillet pieces turn golden brown, remove from oil and place on dish with shredded carrot.

Serve hot with white rice and a Japanese Mayonnaise dip.

Pan fried tumeric fish steak (Seri-Aji seasoning)

This is what I used to season 400 gm of batang fish steak. Add in a tbsp. each of cooking oil , chinese wine, corn flour and juice from a lime.
Marinade for an hour and pan fry the fish steaks in hot oil.

Rice and fish ...please.

So far, she never gets tired of eating rice and steam fish. She can eat this twice a day five days a week. Come weekends, she'll ask for chicken rice.
For variation, sometimes I fry fish for her cos I get tired of eating steam fish five days a week ;-)

For this simple dish, I'll use either sutchi or dory fish fillet and sometimes I'll also use threadfin fish. For 200 gm of fish fillet, I'll marinade the fish with a tbsp. each of chinese wine, sesame oil,cooking oil, light soya sauce and sprinkle with a dash of salt, pepper and sugar.

I'll also put three slices of ginger, juliened and smash a couple of garlic to put on top of the fish. Then I'll add about 6 to 8 tbsps of water to the dish and marinade for about half an hour. After that, just need to cover with a glass cover and pop the whole dish into the microwave.

Baked fish with dried prawns, onions & mushroom

I found a couple of baked fish recipes and this recipe gave a surprising nice taste. I adapted it and did it this way ....

Ingredients:
One sea bass 500 gm (washed and gutted)

Marinade fish with .....
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chinese cooking oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cooking oil

Fry together in 3 tbsp of cooking oil......till fragrant.....
1 large yellow onion (sliced)
3 handful of dried shrimps (softened & chopped)
1 tsp Szechuan peppercorn
10 pieces shitake mushrooms (cut into halves)

Put the fried mixture on top and below the marinaded fish in a baking casserole. Cover with aluminium foil. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degree C for 30 mins.

Fabulous Fish Dishes ....

Sharing with you some photos of the fish dishes that I've cooked in the course of the year....

Red snapper baked in hot bean paste.

Portugese style fish.

Baked fish in casserole.

Stir-fry fish fillet with salted vege. & shitake mushroom.

Fish curry.

Fish in lemak curry.

Fish Curry in Italian herbs.

Braised fish in taucheo.