So I am back in Batu Pahat armed with a bag o' beef, 2 bags of Kurau fish steaks (also known as Threadfin Salmon or May Yau Yee) and an assortment of veges, herbs and spices, all thanks to mommie. So now I'm currently wondering when on earth am I going to finish all of that this Ramadan? I cook for one and I get bored with the same reheated dish. Sometimes my housemates join in but they always prepare their own meal.
I know! I'll save the meat for later. I think the fish needs my urgent attention.
I'm thinking: I am going to tackle this as strategically as I can so that I'll be able to empty out my freezer efficiently before the fish turn to nothing but blocks of frozen, dried out slabs. The key I guess is to cook in small amount, rotating between meat and fish, varying the menu every time (ape aku dh takde keje lain agaknye nk masak byk2 kali?) This is me talking ambitiously ok?
By the end of this culinary-venture I might graduate to be a full-time house-wife with a TESOL degree framed nicely by the dining area.
Wish me luck!
Option 1: Simple stir-fry (bujang style)
This is the most plausible for my busy tuition night such as Mondays. I get this awesome recipe off www.mysimplefood.com
Ingredients:
- 5 tbsp oil for frying
- 1 sliced kurau fish (around 300gm), lightly seasoned with salt
- Sliced ginger
- Chopped garlic
- Dip for fish- chopped raw garlic, red chillis, and soy or fish sauce.
Steps:
Fry-em and eat -em. Owh, not forgetting to saute the garlic and ginger until golden and put on top of the fish steaks. Now, continue eating em.
Option 2: Kurau Tandoori
Err, not too sure of this coz of some of the ingredients. I might end up with stuff I wont need after cooking this one. Nevertheless it is an adventure! I found this on www.resepi4u.com. So now i only have to remember to swing by the local grocers after work fr some natural yogurt. I wonder if they sell in small measurement...
Ingredients:
- 3 slabs of Kurau
- 1 lime
- 1 tbs of ginger (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
- 5 tbs of yogurt
- 1 tsp of chili powder
- 10 gm (im guessing 1 tsp?) of coriander seeds
- 10gm of cumin
- some Coriander leaves / Cilantro (chopped)
- salt and pepper to taste
- ghee (which im either gonna skip or substitute with um, butter)
Steps:
Prep the cleaned fish with EVERYTHING (save the ghee) for about 3 hours. Lather it up with ghee before roasting for about 15 mins. (meh, im just gonna throw it in the non-stick).
Option 3: Fish curry
This is the first thing that crosses my mind. No Googling necessary. Cewah!
Ingredients: (eye it and wing it)
- those yum fish
- a small packet of fish curry powder (Alagappa's or Adabi are okay)
- a pinch of turmeric powder for enhanced colour
- a pinch of chili powder (or skip if you're a spice-wimp)
- Onion (I pound this in my mortar & pestle coz i don't own a blender
- Garlic (less amount than the onion, blended together)
- half an inch of ginger (smooshed)
- tamarind juice (either use Adabi instant paste or mix some yourself out of the 'with-seeds' version common at any Malaysian grocers)
- coconut milk (fr a single dish, about 1 half or 2 cups)
- quartered tomatoes (I like to dice some and throw it in after sauté-ing) for that Kari Penang touch
- greens (Okras/ peas)
- green chilies (them big ones) for deco
Steps:
Some recipes say just put in all the spices (item 2: curry powder allllll the way til coconut milk) in a pot and bring to boil.
Instead I often make a paste out of the curry powder, tamarind juice, chili powder, onion, garlic and ginger and sauté first til it smells yum.
Add diced tomatoes to pulp. Add in coconut milk, bring to boil stirring often on medium heat. Fish goes in next while veges go last. Salt to taste. Voila.
Option 4: Masak Asam Pedas (Sour and spicy)
Out of all my foodie adventures I have never ever neheheever tried making this ooh-la-la dish often famous as a local specialty in Malacca or Johor. I always leave it to the experts as the belacan (shrimp paste) kick can be deadly. Scrumptiously deadly i mean.
Ingredients:
- Fish
- Daun kesum / Vietnamese mint / knotweed
- 2 lemongrass (err, knock em lightly in your mortar pestle or using the butt of your knife:Rambo style)
- tamarind juice
- water
- grind up some onions, big red chilies and the infamous belacan (shrimp paste) preferably roasted beforehand.
Steps:
Apparently just put in the ground up paste, water and tamarind in a pot. Bring to boil, add in the leaves and fish and you are good to go.
Option 5: Sweet and Sour Fish
I just made this in the weekend and personally I think making Sweet n Sour fish out of other types of fish except Kerapu/Grouper is just not.nice. So I'm not even gonna go there.
Option 6: The Bazaar
Get your keys...
raw and ready to rummmble
