Category: Seafood

Seafood, Snack, Western

Fish Pie

7shasha7

I’ve been wanting to make Jamie Oliver’s fish pie for the longest time. And last week I watched on his youtube channel his wife making the fish pie for the family. So I bought frozen salmon and cod and prawns and mussels, thinking I’d make my own version of fish seafood pie. This is his recipe.

This is my version. I made a basic white sauce, the roux with milk and seasoned with nutmeg and bay leaves and salt etc. And in my dish, I added prawns but forgot all about the mussels. I added also mini mozzarella balls. I also forgot to season the mashed potatoes with salt so that turned out bland. I topped the potatoes with breadcrumbs and grated cheddar. But overall I must say it is not bad. It’s a change from chicken and beef for us!

Because I was too greedy and dished it immediately, the sauce was runny but creamy. After a while when it’s cooler everything set nicely. And for this kind of creamy dish, the Asian in us needed hot sauces to wash the dish down!

Asian Dishes, Rice, Seafood

Fish Porridge

7shasha7

I am really lousy at cooking fish but occasionally I do get it right. Or, I take the easy way out. Like fish porridge!

At the market near home, I bought a few handfuls of white fish ready sliced and boneless (but with any fish you have to check and eat carefully. I found a teeny bit of bone in a slice). And so I decided to make fish porridge.

For porridge, you have to use normal rice with regular starch content. Thai jasmine is best. In a pot, I added two cups of rice to lots of water. For the fish, I seasoned with light soy, white pepper and sesame oil. For this, use white pepper. When the rice has been boiled  to porridge consistency, add the fish to the rice pot and stir carefully till cooked. I added slices of french beans for some crunch. When the porridge has reached a nice slightly thick consistency, season with lots of salt (all it’ll be totally bland!)

To serve, garnish with fried shallots, fried small ikan bilis and fresh coriander. Lots more of white pepper too! A satisfying dish that warms the heart.

season fish slices
boil rice “] add fish and beans
plain porridge for the kids

Asian Dishes, Seafood

Sambal Sardine

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This is a classic budget dish which a lot of Malay families turn to in times of crisis or, like in my case a few days ago, nostalgia.

Sambal is the Malay word for ground chilli. The basic sambal paste would consist of soaking dried chillies till soft and then blending it with water, onions and garlic. This basic chilli paste can then be used in a multitude of ways. Add belacan (fermented shrimp paste ubiquitous in Southeast Asia) and fry in oil to make sambal for fried noodles, asam pedas , sambal Tumis… The list is endless.

Here I’ve fried the sambal paste with oil over low heat together with lots of sliced Japanese yellow onions. Then i added a teaspoon of tamarind pulp. When it’s cooked, I added one tin of sardines in tomato sauce, a wee bit it salt and kaffir lime leaves.

Tamarind pulp can be substituted I suppose with line juice. I realise that since I will be vacationing in the States in a few months time, I’d better think like a Westerner, or someone who lives in the West. I doubt I’ll have such Southeast Asian ingredients readily available in Walmart or Target in Dallas! Oh, dear.

Anyway, this is a nice dish and it’s healthy too. I love the smell of kaffir lime leaves in a dish.

Anyway, this

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Seafood, Sides

Salmon and Kipper Fish Cakes

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I’ve been wanting to make some sort of fish patty but never did. Then one evening, I was watching The Delicious Miss Dahl on BBC Lifestyle. She (Sophie Dahl) was making a simple fish cake she grew up on. It was simply salmon with crab meat mixed with mayonnaise, Dijon mustard etc. You can google for her recipe like I did.

The reason I wanted to make a fish patty was the fact that I had one piece of salmon in the freezer and one piece of smoked kipper from months ago. We tried smoked kipper a few months ago after a trip to Mustafa  and although we liked the flavour of the smoked kipper, the countless bones was a big put off. But, aha, I had The Help who could help me get rid of the bones. And so she did. But when I wanted to make the fish patty, lo and behold, I found more bones. Tsk tsk. This kipper is full of tiny tiny bones waiting to choke the unsuspecting foodie.

For the salmon, I just put it in a pot of boiling water till just done. Do not overcook salmon. In the bowl, add mayo, mustard, sliced scallions. I added black pepper and my smoked paprika.
Shape into large balls and then flatten slightly. Because everything is cooked, all it needs is a few minutes in a very shallow pan of olive oil till the top and bottom get crispy browned.
Drain on paper towels and then serve. Sophie Dahl served with homemade tartare sauce. I used Heinz.

It was the best thing on the plate that day. And I had exactly four. The only thing is the next time, I will have to use all salmon as there is no way I am going to buy smoked kippers again.