Seafood – Page 8 – The Occasional Cook

Baked Mussels

October 7, 2010October 7, 2010 7shasha7

So I invited my family over for Raya and I wanted to make something simple yet delicious. As I was walking around NTUC, I chanced upon the frozen bin section and saw, in my opinion, the best deal of all time – mussels. These ‘ang moh’ mussels have already been cleaned and you can get them shelled or otherwise. I grabbed a box of green NZ mussels with half the shell on and a pack of thickened cream.

When I got home, all I did was defrost the mussels and once defrosted and rinsed clean, poured some cream over each individual mussel. Over the cream, I added a small slice of President’s Cheddar and chilli flakes. Bake till the top turns golden brown and then serve. The mussels were a hit with the guests and I’m so going to make these again as appetisers for future parties.

Asian Dishes, Chinese, Seafood

Fish Soup

October 6, 2010March 3, 2021 7shasha7

Ah, it’s finally time to update my blog. And soon, finally, I’ll have the time to cook all I want. 😀

There’s this place that The Hubby and I love to frequent for its fish soup. They’re found in a Muslim kopitiam called Mr Teh Tarik. Ha ha. For those of you who know this place, you might be raising your eyebrows somewhat. Mr Teh Tarik and fish soup? But yes, they serve lovely fish soup and the best outlet is the one at Geylang, though the most generous one is at Bedok North.

Anyway, one day while I was at the in-laws, brother-in-law made a rather shocking statement, for me that is. He said that the fish in the fish soup are Toman fish. I had no idea, seriously! He was surprised that I didn’t even know what fish I was eating. Well, Toman fish is cheap and so easy to get at NTUC! So one weekend, I decided that instead of spending $10 on fish soup, why don’t I make my own pot instead. And what do you know? It turned out great!

1. Bottled Ikan Bilis Stock (Maggi)

2. Slices of Toman fish

3. Tofu

4. Cai Xin (Green Leafy Vegetables)

5. Ikan Bilis (Achovies, Dried and Fried)

6. Tomato

7. Ginger slices (for the stock)

I even made a sambal of chilli padi slices and soya sauce. It’s a nice, economical dish and the good things was that The Little Girl ate a bowl of it. Try it on a rainy day. 🙂

Asian Dishes, Seafood

Fishball and Tofu Soup

July 5, 2010 7shasha7

When cooking for children, you can’t run away from making clear soups. I don’t mind because I love soups anyway. Nobody loves soup more than The Little Girl. So one day, when I had the time to cook a full but simple lunch, I decided to make fishball soup. But I also had silken tofu and then because I was feeling a bit extravagant, dropped in two eggs too. The result? A yummilicious hearty soup made the Asian way (read, economical).

Recipe

1. In a pot, add in some oil. Add a sliced onion, some minced garlic and a bit of ikan bilis.

2. After onions have softened, add water to desired level.

3. Season with salt (plenty of it) and white pepper.

4. Add in fishballs.

5. Followed by silken tofu.

6. And then lastly, gently drop in eggs.

7. Check seasoning. If not cooking for children, I would add a few slices of red chillies.

Noodles and Pasta, Seafood

Prawn Linguini in Cream Sauce

March 16, 2010March 17, 2010 7shasha7

Today I came back late and wanted to cook a simple dish. I had bought some thick cream and I already had a packet of cleaned, headless (?) prawns.

I boiled linguini in a pasta pot filled with salted water. While that was cooking, I cooked the prawns in olive oil and garlic. The correct way is to use butter, but as you may guess already, I am rather conscious of my fat, salt and sugar intake. After the prawns were nicely browned, I sprinkled some paprika over and then added the 200g of cream and about half a cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Add salt. By now, the linguini would have been al dente, so pour in the pasta into the pan. Stir and cook till desired thickness/consistency.

A good criticism is that the pictures posted do not look appealing. I really am bad at taking photographs and so I would like to assure that even though the pictures may look unappealing, the dish themselves do taste good (or as depicted in my commentary in the post).

Asian Dishes, Malay, Seafood

Sotong Mas Ayu (Squid in soya sauce)

March 16, 2010March 3, 2021 7shasha7

Other than the brinjal sambal, I also cooked squid that day for her. I used to cook this dish before and since the domestic helper was around, I asked her to go the market and buy some squid. The dish is from a very good cookbook I got from Malaysia. I’ve made several of the dishes in there and they worked out real good. I’ll post a picture of the two books at a later date, or in my pages section.

Recipe

1/2 – 1 kg of squid, cut into rings and seasoned with lime juice and fresh or powdered turmeric

1 onion sliced thick

1-2 thinly sliced garlic

garlic

Indonesian sweet soya sauce

ketchup

lime juice

Yes, it’s that simple but tastes wonderful.