Oysters with Rice Wine Vinaigrette

During my recent trip back home, my Aunt decided to throw a quick dinner party together, and I was told that I'll be responsible for the Oysters.

I thought... Great. I can do Oysters. Au Naturale ... Kilpatrick .... Sorted :)

And then I found out she ordered 10 Dozen Oysters. TEN Dozen...! that's 120 Oysters!!!

My mother's oven would only be able to do 2 dozen Kilpatrick oysters at a time.

So I quickly googled around for something that would be quick and easy to put together (since I still had to whip up the Kilpatricks - my mother's favourites). This one that I came across from Not Quite Nigella stood out from the rest. It looked simple, fresh and very easy to put together.

After tasting the Vinaigrette however, I did kind of twitch the recipe a bit. I added a bit more ginger, light soy and reduced the amount of oil. So you may want to do the same and taste as you go and add or subtract as required. Basically, you want a vinaigrette that doesn't overpower the oysters, but still want to taste the vinaigrette and not just oil.

Oysters with Rice Wine Vinaigrette
As seen in Not Quite Nigella - Tetsuya's Oysters

Ingredients:

• 12 Large Oysters Shucked (I had Coffin Bays - but any large creamy tasting oyster will do)

Vinaigrette:

• 2 teaspoon ginger (finely grated)
• 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (Japanese brand preferred)
• 1 teaspoon castor sugar
• 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons grape seed oil
• 2 tablespoons light olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Garnish:

• 4 stalks of Chives (finely chopped)
• 3 tablespoons Salmon Roe

Optional:

• Rock Salt for Oysters to rest on

Method:

1. If using, place rock salt on a serving plate and arrange oysters to top
2. To make the Vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl, taste and adjust the amount of sweetness (sugar), saltiness (light soy) or tang (lemon juice) as required
3. Spoon about a tablespoon of Vinaigrette into each oyster
4. For each oyster, sprinkle a pinch of chive and divide the Salmon Roe between the oysters evenly.

Notes:

• I left the skin on the ginger, and used a lemon zester to grate the inside flesh of the ginger
• The Vinaigrette recipe from NQN was for 12 Oysters, but I found I had more than enough for about 4 dozen oysters.
  
  

Steamed Garlic Prawns (with Coriander)

Just realised I've been neglecting my blog a bit. Its nearly been two months since my last posting. I do have a good excuse though.. I've finally purchased my own apartment !!! Woot !

After sorting out the home loan, I've been running around trying to sort out the renovation work. Getting quotes from builders, and choosing everything from toilet, tiles to taps. So needless to say, I haven't been able to do much cooking.

I love my garlic prawns. I've had similar dishes to this at Chinese restaurants before, but I've only seen it cooked with garlic only and maybe some spring onions thrown over the top as garnish. Although I would agree you can never have too much garlic in a dish, I like to mix in some coriander to lighten it up a bit and add some extra freshness into the dish. The key with cooking this dish is to steam the prawns over simmering water for no more than 3 minutes. And to use hot oil to "pre-cook" the coriander and garlic mixture.

Steamed Garlic Prawn (with Coriander)

Ingredients:

• 1 Dozen Fresh King Prawns (vein removed, using scissors open the prawns up flat)
• 1/2 bulb garlic (finely chopped)
• 1/2 bunch fresh coriander (stem & leaves, finely chopped)
• 4 tablespoons of Grapeseed oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method:

1. Using a pair of scissors, cut through the shells and open up the prawns until they can lie down flat and remove the vein. Give the prawns a quick wash in some icy cold water and then leave in a colander.
2. Prepare the garlic and coriander mix, and add in the 1/2 teaspoon of salt. And set aside in a ceramic, glass or heat proof bowl.
3. Bring a wok with some water for steaming to boil.
4. Using a separate saucepan, heat up 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil until the pan starts to smoke.
5. Pour the hot oil into the garlic and coriander mix. Work slowly and pour a bit at a time into the bowl. The garlic and coriander should be cooked by the hot oil.
6. Lay out the prawns on a plate, and smear a spoonful of the garlic and coriander mix into each prawn's exposed flesh
7. Place a rack into the wok
8. Place plate over the rack, cover and let steam for about 2-3 mins (depending on the size of the prawns used). My prawns were about my hand's length long and I steamed them for just under 3 mins.
9. Once done, remove the plate from the wok and set aside.
10. Heat up the remaining 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil and lightly drizzle the hot oil over each prawns.
11. Serve immediately with some steam rice.

Enjoy.. :)

Whole Fish Baked in Chilli Salt

I remember seeing this method deployed by Jamie Oliver on one of his cooking series. At the time, all I could remember was that a vast vast amount of salt was used. With the fish buried in salt, I had wondered how the fish wouldn't come out too salty. I later realised it might have helped if I had asked my local fishmonger to leave the scales on. But if you push away the skin, the underlying meat isn't that salty at all. In fact, the fish meat turned out incredibly tasty and moist.

The chilli plant I was given a while ago, had finally produced enough chillies for harvest, so I was eager to test out the recipe for making some chilli salt (another thing I learnt from Jamie). Baking and hopefully infusing the fish with the chilli from the salt seemed to be a good idea at the time. Although I wasn't sure how much of a chilli kick I would get, so I only used 4 chillies. This gave it a slight hint of a chilli kick, the next time I try this again, I would probably add a couple more.

Whole Fish Baked in Chilli Salt

adapted from Jamie Oliver's cooking show

• 1 Whole Snapper (about 600g)
• 2 Bay leaves
• 3 Sprigs Thyme
• 3 Egg whites
• Lemon wedges
• Olive oil

For the Chilli Salt:

• 1kg of Coarse Salt
• 4 Fresh Chilli (I used small chinese chillies).

Making the Chilli Salt:

1. Working in small batches, use a pestle mortar to grind the fresh chillies and the coarse salt together. The chilli gives the salt a pinkish tint and at the same time infuse the salt with that chilli kick. Using a sieve, pass the grounded salt through to catch the chilli seeds and repeat until all the salt has turned a pinkish colour.

To Bake the Fish:

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Place chilli salt and egg whites in a bowl and combine. The mixture should have a consistency like damp sand.
3. Spread a layer of salt mixture over the base of a oven baking tray. Place fish on top and top with remaining mixture, while sticking in the bay leaves and thyme.
4. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove fish from oven and cool for about 5 minutes then, using a knife (with the help of a small hammer), break off the salt crust and discard.
5. Scrape off the fish skin and remove the flesh from the bones. Serve with the lemon wedges and a drizzle of olive oil.

caking the fish with chilli salt.. :)

Otak Otak (Grilled)

Otak Otak is a parcel of spicy fish coconut custard. Which is sometimes referred to as 'Fish Mousse'. I was introduced to these little babies when my old Uni friends took me to the Bedok night market place in Singapore. Back in Australia, by chance I happened to find Otak Otak being sold at one of the stalls in the South Sydney market. But it wasn't really the same. Sure.. I could go to Malaya (A top notch Malaysian cuisine restaurant in Sydney) and order Otak Otak there. But there's something about paying $15 for two pieces of Otak.. it just doesn't feel right.

So I decided to make my own. :)

That's when I realised there are two versions of Otak Otak. The steamed version which seems to originate from Malaysia - which I found many recipes for online. Then the Grilled Singaporean version - which I found many pictures of online, but no recipes.

So I took the recipe for the steamed version, changed bits and pieces of it according to what I could recall consuming and came up with this.

I changed the fish fillet slices to mince fish paste, since I don't remember there being any individual slice pieces of fish. A lot of recipes recommend getting Spanish Mackerel, but there wasn't any available at my local fishmonger, so I settled for some Red Snapper fillets instead. I also don't recall there being any whole betel leaves in the grilled Otak parcel. Also, being in Australia, I'm not actually sure where you can actually buy these. So I left them out also.

If you like, you could substitute spinach leaves for the betel. I tried this with the first couple parcels, but ended up leaving the leaves out.

Otak Otak

recipe adapted from Nonyafood.com

Ingredients:

• 1 banana leaf (cut into 12-15 cm wide rectangles and soak in hot water to soften the leaf)
• 500g fish fillet (minced with a food processor)
• 20-30 wild betel leaves (daun kaduk) - If you can find any

Spice Paste:

• 10 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 6 fresh red chilies
• 5 dried red chilies (soaked in water)
• 2 stalks lemon grass
• 1 inch galangal
• 1 inch turmeric
• 20g shrimp paste (toasted)
• 2 teaspoons palm sugar (pounded into a soft powder)

Custard ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons rice flour
• 3 kaffir lime leaves (finely sliced)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Roughly chop up the spice paste ingredients and then place in a food processor and blend until fine.
2. Remove spice paste from the food processor and set aside in a large bowl, add fish fillets to the food processor and blend until it has turned into a minced fish paste.
3. Transfer the fish paste into the spice paste bowl and stir well to combine.
4. Add in the custard ingredients and mix well.

1. Cut out the banana leaves into 15cm wide rectangles.
2. Soften the banana leaves by soaking them in hot water.
3. Take 1 piece of banana leaf and place 2-3 betel leaves (if using) in the center of a banana leaf. Then add 2-3 tablespoons of the Otak mixture into the middle of the leaf.
4. Form a bundle by folding one side of the banana leaf over the mixture, and then turning it over once to use the remaining side. Secure the ends with staples or toothpicks.
5. Heat up a grill pan (I used my cast iron grill pan) over high flames. And grill for about 10 mins, turning every 2-3 mins. If you have a charcoal grill bbq, use that instead.
6. Serve immediately.

And the finished product...Ta Daa..!

Although I remember these being a bit darker in colour. The taste was very close though. I mean, the taste and fragrance of the spices were all there, but it wasn't totally the same, I think the texture was slightly different. P thinks the difference was because we didn't cook it over a charcoal grill. I think he might be right, as the Otak would have dried out a bit more if we had cooked it over a charcoal grill. And that might help to intensify the flavours and get the texture we wanted.

So with some time still left before the shops started to close (Its Australia..Shops close 5pm on Sundays), we drove to the nearest Barbecues Galore store and bought ourselves a small charcoal barbecue. :)

After getting everything setup and the charcoal beads burning.. We finally made this..

Mission accomplished.. :)

Green Papaya Salad - Som Tum Thai

Green Papaya Salad or Som Tum Thai consists of mainly dried shrimp, peanuts, cherry tomatoes and of course green papaya. Snake beans are also added, but I didn't have any on hand. But the reason why green papaya salad is one of my favourite Thai dishes is the dressing that ties all the ingredients together. Its a combination of smashed garlic and chilli with fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar. The end result is a salad that tastes equally sweet, sour and spicy....which I find really addictive. :)

Its the palm sugar that makes all the difference. I've tried substituting with white sugar before, but it just didn't taste the same.

I also prefer to pound up the dried shrimp until its light and fluffy. I'm not really a fan of munching on small bits of harden dried shrimp. Also P usually avoids anything that resembles the shape of a prawn, but with the shrimp pounded, its all good. Its not like he doesn't know I'm slipping shrimps into the dish, he is the one pounding it.

This is a salad you can just have on its own, or as an side dish with other red meats or seafood. I like to serve it on top of a whole Snapper or any other white fish that has been pan fried until the skin is crispy. The tanginess and spices from the salad transforms the simple pan fried fish into a totally different dish.

Green Papaya Salad - Som Tum Thai

Recipe adapted from Chez Pim's Green Beans Salad

• 1 tablespoon Dried Shrimp
• 1 1/2 Cups Shredded Green Papaya
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 Thai Bird Chilli
• 1 tablespoon Roasted Peanuts
• 8-10 Cherry Tomatoes (about a handful - big ones sliced into halves)
• 2 tablespoons Palm Sugar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 4 Long Beans (Cut into 1/2" Lengths) - Optional

Method:

1. Slice Green Papaya into fine strips and place into a glass or ceramic bowl
2. In a mortar, pound and grind the dried shrimps until they turn into fluffy flakes, remove from the mortar and set aside.
3. Gently mash up the garlic cloves in the mortar, then add the chilli and continue to grind until its turned into a chilli\garlic paste.
4. Add in the tomatoes and gently press down on them to burst and bruise the cherry tomatoes.
5. Add in the peanuts and pound them with the pestle until the peanuts are lightly crushed.
6. Using a spoon, remove the mixture from the mortar and place into the bowl with the green papaya strips
7. Add the palm sugar into the mortar and grind into a thick paste, remove from the mortar and mix into the bowl of papaya.
8. To the bowl, add fish sauce and fresh lime juice and continue to stir until the contents are well mixed.
9. Pour in the reserved shrimp flakes, stir and toss well to combine.
10. Taste to check the seasonings, add palm sugar, lime juice or fish sauce as needed.

Notes:

• If you only have blanched peanuts, just lightly toast them in a dry pan prior to using.

Steamed Minced Tofu with Dace Fish Paste

Ok. So after the Agedashi Tofu and Steamed Tofu with Fish Paste & Black Bean Topping, I still had leftover fish paste and about 1/4 pack of the tofu sitting in the fridge.

Fish paste can be kept in the freezer and defrosted when required. To prolong the life of the tofu, change the water the tofu is sitting in daily. The tofu should be able to last about a week after first open.

This dish is great when dealing with leftover bits of tofu and fish paste. Basically, you just mince and mix both ingredients together, add some seasoning and steam it for about 10 mins and your done.

I remember having it at my Aunt's place and she had jokingly told me this was a dish that was for toddlers and old people only. When I had asked why, she replied that this dish was designed for people with no teeth. Great. Still not sure who on the table this dish was aimed at, but I do recall it to be really tasty.

Steamed Minced Tofu with Dace Fish Paste

• 250g of tofu
• 250g of fish paste
• Pinch of Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Pinch of White Pepper
• 1 Egg white

Topping:

• 1 teaspoon Re-hydrated Dried Shrimp (finely chopped) - Optional
• Cooked oil
• sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
• Spring onion (finely sliced - for garnishing)
• Coriander (top half with leaves only - for garnishing)

Method:

1. Using a fork, mash up the tofu and mix well with fish paste.
2. Add in a pinch of salt, sugar, white pepper and egg white and continue mixing until its all combined and smooth.
3. Scoop out the contents and set in a shallow dish. Gently level the surface with a spoon.
4. If using, sprinkle about a teaspoon of finely chopped dried shrimp over the surface
5. Cover the dish with some cling wrap, ready for steaming
6. Bring some water to boil in a wok with a steamer tray. Using the wok as a steamer, place the dish in to steam for about 10-15mins on medium heat.
7. Remove from the steamer and carefully remove the cling wrap (watch for the hot steam here), garnish with some spring onions and coriander leaves.
8. Place a saucepan with about a tablespoon of oil on high heat
9. Drizzle with some sesame oil and light soy sauce over the garnish
10. Carefully pour the hot oil over the garnish, they should sizzle and cook immediately. The hot oil helps to bind the flavours of the soy, sesame oil, coriander and green onion together.

Steamed Tofu with Fish Paste & Black Bean Topping

Fish paste is available at most Asian grocery stores and most Asian fishmongers would actually make their own 'ready to cook' version. If you want to make your own fish paste at home, then this post by Red Cook would probably be what I would recommend.

The fish paste I buy from the fishmonger is already seasoned. If you aren't sure if yours are, drop a teaspoonful of the paste into some hot boiling water and taste it. If it isn't seasoned, then add in about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and mix well.

The cling wrap used while steaming helps to keep the water from the condensation out of the tofu. This is an optional process as you can always just pour the water out. But after the time when I lost one of the tofu pieces.. it fell into the sink as I was trying to pour the water out.. doh!.. I've just used the cling wrap method instead. If you are employing this method, use a good quality known brand cling wrap, like GLAD or something similar, so that it wouldn't break and will survive the steaming temperatures.

This dish is like a steamed version of 'Yang Tau Foo' - which is like a fried tofu stuffed with fish paste - that I've had in Singapore before.

Steamed Tofu with Fish Paste & Black Bean Topping

makes 6 pieces

For the Tofu:

• 6 pieces of silky tofu (usually 1/2 the packet)
• 300g fish paste
• dash white pepper
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

For the Topping:

• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 heaped teaspoon fermented black beans (coarsely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine recommended)
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili (finely chopped) - optional
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Fresh Coriander and Spring Onions (finely sliced diagonally) - Optional

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix the fish paste with the white pepper and cornflour.
2. Place a piece of tofu on your palm, then using a butter knife or a small spatula, take some of the fish paste mixture and spread it over the top of the tofu.
3. Repeat until all the fish paste has been evenly divided amongst the pieces of tofu. Arrange on a plate and cover with cling wrap ready for steaming.
4. Bring some water to boil in a wok and place a steamer rack inside.
5. While you are waiting for the water to boil, prepare the black bean topping.
6. In a small bowl, add the garlic, fermented black beans, light soy, sugar, Chinese rice wine and chilli (if using) and mix well.
7. Once the water in the wok is boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and place the plate of tofu on top of the steamer rack. Steam for about 10 mins, until you can see the fish paste is no longer transparent and is cooked.
8. While the tofu is steaming, in a small saucepan, pour in 1/2 of the oil and turn the heat on high.
9. Once the oil from the saucepan is steaming hot, pour it over the garlic and black bean mixture. This will cook the black bean and garlic.
10. After 10 mins, remove the plate from the wok and discard the cling wrap.
11. Pour in the remaining vegetable oil back into the same saucepan and place it back on high heat.
12. Carefully spoon on top of the fish paste about 2 teaspoons of the black bean and garlic mixture. Drizzle the remaining soy sauce over the tofu pieces.
13. Garish with coriander and some finely sliced spring onions.
14. Once the oil is hot, remove from the heat and carefully pour (bit by bit) over the coriander and spring onions so that it sizzles and cooks. This helps to release the aroma and also makes the strong flavour of fresh coriander a bit more subtle.

Mussels, Pork & Leek in Parsley White Wine Cream Sauce

This is something I put together for brunch the day after Christmas. We had leftovers left right and center. The mussels were originally purchased for consumption as part of the Christmas dinner, but about 3/4 way through the cooking we decided to 'save it for later' because we already had too much food on the table. I used the off pieces from my pork belly confit mostly because it took me 26 hours to make the confit and I didn't want to throw any bits of it away. :)

This can be substituted with leftover pork roast, ham, turkey or even just slices of good ol' bacon.

Mussels with Pork and Leek in Parsley White Wine Cream Sauce
serves 4

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic (mashed then chopped roughly)
• 2 anchovy fillets
  
• 1 leek (sliced thinly)
• 1 bay leaf
  
• left over pork belly confit (roughly chopped ...substitute with bacon)
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 150ml thicken cream
• 1 kg live black mussels (scrubbed, debearded)
• 1/2 cup of parsley leaves (roughly chopped)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• lemon wedges to serve
  

Heat olive oil in a deep saucepan then melt the butter in the oil. Add garlic, anchovy fillets and when everything starts to sizzle and melt, add the leek, bay leaf and the leftover pork belly confit (or bacon) to the saucepan. Saute until the leeks start to soften. Season with a couple of grinds of black pepper. Pour in the white wine and let it simmer for about 3 mins to boil off the alcohol and to reduce the liquid then add in the thickened cream.

Pour in the washed mussels. Turn the heat up high and keep stirring the contents in the pan around until the mussels start to open.

Once the mussels start to open, add in the chopped parsley (reserve about a tablespoon for garnish) and stir the contents around until the mussels are coated with the cream sauce. Serve immediately and garish with the remaining chopped parsley leaves and lemon wedges.

Notes:

• The anchovy fillets will provide the saltiness to the dish. Taste and season with a bit more salt if required.
  
• Toast up some garlic bread to soak up the cream sauce. Or use the leftover cream sauce to toss in some hot pasta for a quick meal.
  

Steamed Sea Urchin Egg Custard

This creation is probably a by-product from watching too many episodes of Iron Chef (Japanese version). I picked up a packet of Uni - Sea Urchin at the Sydney Fish Market for $11.50. I used about 1/4 of the packet for the mix sashimi platter that we devoured during the day. And for the remainder, I turned it into a Steamed Sea Urchin Egg Custard, that I had vaguely remember seeing one of the Iron Chefs do. Straining the Uni through a fine sieve and then incorporating it into an steamed egg like custard. This recipe is based off my chinese steamed egg dessert. The only difference is that I added uni, omitted the sugar, used a dashi broth base, added mirin, light soy and used cream instead of milk.

I have had something similar in Japan before, but that was with a whole sea urchin that was steamed with some sort of cream custard. The result was something that was surprisingly light and delicate with the sweet taste of uni.

Steamed Sea Urchin Egg Custard
Serves 2

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup Dashi broth (1 tablespoon of dashi granules with 1/3 cup of hot water)
• 1 tablespoon of full cream
• 1/2 pack of sea urchin (strained through a sieve, reserve a couple for decoration).
• 1/2 tablespoon of Mirin
• teaspoon of light soy sauce

Method:

1. In a bowl, beat the egg and combine with the dashi broth and cream. Add the Mirin then the teaspoon of light soy.
2. Strain the sea urchin through a fine sieve placed on top of the bowl. Discard any stringy parts.
3. Pass the egg and sea urchin mixture through the fine sieve again.
4. Bring a wok with some water to boil to be used as a steamer. Place a plate on top of the steaming rack.
5. Divide the egg and sea urchin mixture between two ramekins.
6. Remove any foam that may have formed around the rims.
7. Once the water starts to boil, move the wok to the smallest stove top and keep the heat on the lowest setting.
8. Cover the ramekins with some glad wrap. Place on top of the plate and steam for about 25 minutes or until the egg custard wobbles when you move the ramekin.
9. Uncover the glad wrap, and place a couple of the reserved whole sea urchin roe on top of the egg custard.
10. Cover, turn the heat off and let the ramekins rest for about 3 mins.
11. Serve immediately.

Steamed Jumbo Oysters with Black Bean Sauce

Its actually hard to tell how big these oysters were from the photos. I picked these up from my local Asian fishmonger store. They couldn't exactly tell me where these were from (probably because they couldn't understand my broken mandarin), but on the sign it said they were called 'Jumbo Oysters'.

These are probably about triple the size of the usual Sydney rock oysters I pick up from the Pyrmont fish market.

They were only $8 per half dozen, so I thought.. if I screwed them up, then it was only just an $8 lesson anyway. Its not like I'm playing around with a lobster or something like that. :)

With the oysters this big, the shell made a perfect sized container for the glass noodles, shallots and black bean sauce.

Steamed Jumbo Oysters with Black Bean Sauce

• 1/2 Dozen of Jumbo Oysters
• 1 packet Glass Noodles (soaked in cold water for about 8-10 mins then drain)
• 1 stalk chinese green onion (thinly sliced diagonally)
• 12 coriander leaves (handpicked)

Arrange the drained glass noodles on top of the oysters then add the sliced up green onions and the coriander leaves.

Mix together in a bowl, using a spoon to mince up the black beans:

• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh fermented black beans (rinsed through water)
  
• 1 small red chilli (finely sliced)
• 1 teaspoon of white sugar
  

Add about 1/2 tablespoon of the black bean sauce mixture over the oysters. And bring some water to boil in a wok, place the oysters on top of a steamer stand in the wok and let steam for about 3-4 minutes.

Place about 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a saucepan on high heat. After a couple of minutes, pour a couple of drops of the hot oil over each oyster. This will quickly cook the green onions and black beans.

Notes:

• I buy the individually packed glass noodles. If you aren't able to get the individually packed ones, then just break off about a handful of noodles.
• Fermented black beans can be found at Asian supermarkets. One packet will last forever in your fridge if you place it an airtight container after 1st open. You do need to rinse through the black beans with some water prior to using it. This takes away some of the saltiness and also removes any sand or grit that maybe present.
  

Stuffed Capsicum & Black Bean Sauce

I remember posting up a similar dish, but using eggplants instead of capsicum. I'm usually not a capsicum fan, but we had quite a bit left over in the fridge after our recent thai curry escapade. The boys seemed to enjoy it a lot more than the eggplant version though. They managed to finish all the steam rice I had cooked for the night (I usually have enough leftover to be able to make fried rice the next day !!) with just this dish alone.

To key is to be able to get your hands on some fresh fish paste. I've tried using frozen ones from the Asian groceries and it never really taste the same. Most Asian fishmongers will have fish paste. Or you can use a food processor and make your own with some inexpensive white fish. If you are making your own, after processing it through the food processor, you need to grab the paste in one hand and throw it down into a large bowl so it makes a 'spat' sound for a couple of minutes. This process, which my daddy taught me (and he is a chef), makes it turn in a fish paste that he calls 'sticky' and it holds together better. And also according to him.. I quote: 'Has a nicer texture when eating it'.

I have only made my own fish paste once (before I discovered it was readily available at my local Asian fishmonger at $5 a packet), after that I've never really bothered to make my own. It was just a bit too much work. >.<

Stuffed Capsicum with Black Bean Sauce
Original recipe passed to me from my grandma

• 2x Capsicums (seeds removed, sliced into 1/4 lengthwise, then halved again crosswise into chunks)
• Small bowl of Cornflour (to be used during the 'stuffing' process)
• ~300g White Fish paste (from chinese grocery shops)
• 2 tablespoon of dried shrimp (soaked in water, finely chopped - water reserved)
• 3 tablespoons of coriander (roughly chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt & a pinch of ground white pepper

Sauce:

• Dash of vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves (smashed and finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon of fermented black beans (fresh or use black bean paste from chinese grocery shops)
• 1 fresh red chilli (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons of white sugar

Method:

1. To prepare the capsicum, remove the seeds and slice into quarters lengthwise, then crosswise into half. You should have 8 pieces from each capsicum.
2. Mix together the fish paste with dried shrimps and coriander. Season with salt and white pepper.
3. Rub some cornflour on the insides of the eggplant piece and place about 1 tablespoon of the mixed fish paste into the eggplant. (The cornflour helps hold the fish paste in place).
4. Shallow fry the stuffed capsicum pieces in some hot oil.
5. Remove the pieces as the capsicum pieces start to blacken a bit and set aside.
6. In a medium hot wok, add the oil then stir in the garlic. Add in the stuffed capsicum pieces and pour in the mixture of black bean, chilli, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. Keep on stirring the contents around so it wont burn too easily.
7. Add a couple of tablespoons of the reserved shrimp water in and continue stir frying the stuff capsicum pieces around. Each piece should have a coating of the black bean sauce.

Serve with some steamed white rice. Enjoy :)

Steam Scallops with Garlic & Glass Noodles

Glass noodles .. vermicelli noodles or green bean thread noodles is what I've heard these noodles been called before. They can be found in most Asian grocery stores and are really easy to prepare. All you have to do is to soak the dried noodles in some cold water until they soften and turn kinda limp when you try to pick them up with chopsticks. This should take about 8-10 mins.

In my last few posts, I did mention I was trying to get my hands on some fresh scallops still on the shell. Well, it took a trip to the Fish Market in Sydney to be able to source some. And at $1.50 each, they weren't exactly too expensive.

I also tried a different take on the fresh garlic this time. Instead of adding light soy sauce to the garlic in the beginning, I decided to just drizzle the light soy over the scallops after steaming but before the hot oil went on.

Steam Scallops with Garlic & Glass Noodles

• 1/2 dozen fresh scallops on shell (quickly rinse through water to ensure there's no sand)
• 1 packet Glass Noodles (soaked in cold water for about 8-10 mins)
• 6 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• freshly grounded salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

While the noodles are soaking, place the chopped up garlic into a china bowl (or something that is not reactive to hot oil). Add sugar and a couple of grinds of salt to the garlic, and mix it together with a spoon. Heat up the oil in a separate saucepan until its starts to steam. Pour the hot oil onto the garlic mixture. This should immediate cook the garlic. This part is really done to make sure the garlic is cooked, as the time required to be able to steam the scallops is not enough to make sure the garlic is cooked also. And I don't think anyone wants to have a mouthful of raw garlic...

Bring water in a wok to boil to be used as a steamer.

Arrange scallops on a plate to place into the steamer. Drain the glass noodles, then split them between the scallops. Arrange it so the glass noodle covers the raw scallops. Spoon a teaspoon of the garlic on top of the noodles. Once the water has boiled, place the plate of scallops into the wok to steam on medium heat. Turn the heat off after 3 mins, and leave the lid of the wok off. Sprinkle the following toppings onto the scallops (all except for the oil).

Toppings:

• 1 stalk chinese green onion (thinly sliced diagonally)
• 12 coriander leaves (handpicked)
• light soy sauce - enough for drizzling over the scallops
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Doing the same as before, heat the oil until you can see steam coming off the saucepan. Carefully drizzle the oil over the green onion slices and coriander leaves. The heat from the oil should immediately cook the greens and release the fragrance from these herbs.

Serve immediately.


Notes:

• I tried omitting the last drizzle of heated oil, but it just doesn't taste the same. After all, Chinese food is supposed to be rather oily.... :)
  

Mussels in White Wine Bacon & Cream

One of the things I miss the most from Perth since I've been living in Sydney, is the lack of restaurants that serve mussels. In Perth, most Italian restaurants have it on their menu permanently, with tomato based chilli mussels being the most popular. Since I was at the fish market today picking up some scallops, I saw some pre-packaged fresh mussels (which states that its been cleaned and debearded) for $6.99 a kilo. I've never used packaged mussels before. For $6.99 .. I thought ... well why not ??

They tasted the same as the last time when I had used fresh mussels, in fact I think I had less mussels left over that didn't open properly. And lets not forget the fact that I didn't have to spend 30mins++ over the sink scrubbing barnacles off the shells and debearding the mussels.

Mussels in White Wine with Bacon & Cream

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 cloves garlic (mashed)
• 1 onion (sliced thinly)
• 2 slices bacon (sliced about 1cm wide)
• 1/2 teaspoon of thyme
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1kg black mussels (scrubbed, debearded)
• 150ml cream
• 2 green onions (sliced)
• juice of 1 small lemon

Heat olive oil in a wok then melt the butter in the oil. Add garlic, onions then the sliced bacon to the wok. Saute until the onions start to soften. Add thyme and season well with freshly grounded salt & pepper. Pour in the white wine and let it simmer for about 3-5mins to boil off the alcohol and to reduce the liquid.

Add in washed mussels. And cover the wok with a lid and let the mussels steam on medium-low heat for about 3 minutes.

Once the mussels start to open, take the lid off and pour in the cream and green onions, then continue to stir the contents around and let the sauce cover the mussels. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over the mussels, give it a couple of stirs to make sure everything is combined then serve immediately with some bread to soak up all the broth. :)

Steamed Oysters with Fresh Garlic

Lately, I've been craving for steamed scallops..like the ones they serve in Cantonese restaurants. For today it was enough for me to head to the fishmongers straight after work to try and pickup some scallops. Unfortunately they didn't have any. The only scallops they had were already shelled and look somewhat greyish. I decided to give those a pass. I really needed them to be ...

a) fresh, and
b) still attached to one of the shells
c) definitely not have a dull greyish tint !!!

The reason for the shell, is that I wanted to use the shell as a plate to cradle the garlic sauce and glass noodles.

I still really wanted to test out my fresh garlic sauce, so I opted for some pacific oysters instead. Although with the size of the oyster shells (and the pacific ones were the largest available already), I couldn't use the glass noodles. I guess I will just have to save them for next time... :)

Steamed Oysters with Fresh Garlic
As found in many good chinese restaurants, however this recipe is my own

• 1 dozen fresh oysters
• coriander (leaves only - 1 per oyster)
• spring onion (thinly sliced diagonally)
  

Fresh Garlic Sauce:

• 6 large cloves garlic (chopped finely - roughly about 1 per two oysters)
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of white sugar
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, and more for later

Mince\chop garlic finely, place into a bowl add soy sauce then mix in the white sugar. Heat up the oil in a clean saucepan. When the oil is really hot, pour the oil over the garlic mixture. This process should cook the garlic instantly. Try to have the saucepan facing away from you when doing this.

Bring some water in a wok to boil with a steaming rack. This will be used as the steamer.

Prepare the oysters on a plate. Spoon about a tablespoon of garlic mixture on top of each oyster. Try to leave the oil behind and scoop out the garlic and soy sauce mix only.

Once the water starts to boil, place the plate of oysters into the wok. Steam for about 4 minutes on medium-high heat.

Place a leaf of coriander on each oyster then top with spring onions. Heat some more oil in the saucepan used before. When the oil is really hot, pour the oil over the oysters. This should sizzle and cook the coriander leaf and spring onions.

Serve immediately

Even though I had to substitute with Oysters, it did turn out quite well and was very yummy. I must try and source out some scallops with shells and try this again with glass noodles.. :)

Thai Style Chilli Mussels

This is a different take on my usual tomato, basil with white wine sauce based chilli mussels. This Thai style broth is actually based on a recipe I use to make Thai coconut milk and chicken soup - Tom Ka Kai. The method of cooking and ingredients used does change a bit, and the chicken is substituted with the mussels.

Try to buy the small black mussels and not the big green lip mussels.

Thai Style Chilli Mussels

• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 5 shallots (quartered)
• 5cm piece fresh Galangal (thinly sliced)
• 1 stalk of lemongrass (sliced diagonally)
• 5 Kaffir lime leaves (torn in 1/2 down the spine)
• 3 whole dried chillies
• 1 fresh chilli (sliced diagonally)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3cm piece palm sugar
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 kg mussels (scrubbed clean and debearded)
• 1/2 cup of fresh Coriander (leaves - roughly chopped)
• Juice from 1 kaffir lime

Method:

1. In a large wok, heat up the peanut oil and add in shallots, galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Stirfry the spices around for a about a minute.
2. Add in the chillies then the coconut milk. Turn up the heat on the wok and bring the broth to boil, then reduce the heat down to a slow simmer.
3. Add in palm sugar and fish sauce.
4. Add in the cleaned mussels, place a lid on the wok, and let the mussels 'steam' and cook in the coconut milk broth.
5. Remove the lid as the mussels start to open. The mussels should cook in about 3 mins.
6. Add in the coriander leaves and squeeze in a the juice from 1 lime.
7. Stir the contents in the wok around and make sure everything combined and the sauce gets into the opened mussels.
8. Taste the broth. Add fish sauce if its not salty enough, more sugar if its too sour and more lime juice if its not sour enough.
9. Serve immediately with rice or with some warm bread to soak up the broth.

Notes:

• If you don't have any fresh limes, you can use 1 teaspoon of tamarind pulp (diluted with a bit of water) as a substitute.
• Discard any unopened mussels.
• Try not to overcook the mussels. 3 mins is all that is needed for the steaming process. Overcooked mussels tend to shrink and become chewy.

Stuffed Eggplant with Black Bean Sauce

Stuffed Eggplant is usually one of three pieces that make up a dish commonly found at Yum Cha. The other two is traditionally stuffed pepper and stuffed tofu. The dish is called 'The three treasures' (or something close to that). I'm not a huge fan of the stuff tofu or pepper, so when I'm cooking at home, I usually just make a dish with only the stuffed eggplant pieces.

sliced eggplant pieces soaking in water

Stuffed Eggplant with Black Bean Sauce
Original recipe passed to me from my grandma

• 6-8 Asian Eggplants (sliced diagonaly in 4cm pieces, with an incision sliced 3/4 way through, soaked in cold water for 1 hr)
• Small bowl of Cornflour (to be used during the 'stuffing' process)
• ~300g White Fish paste (from chinese grocery shops)
• 1 tablespoon of dried shrimp (soaked in water, finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons of corriander (finely chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt & a pinch of ground white pepper

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 garlic clove (smashed and finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon of fermented black beans (fresh or use black bean paste from chinese grocery shops)
• 1 fresh red chilli (finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 1 cm piece of yellow block sugar (smashed)

Method:

1. To prepare the eggplant, on an angle, slice into 4cm pieces. Then make another incision in between the 4cm piece for the filling.
2. Mix together the fish paste with dried shrimps and corriander. Season with salt and white pepper.
3. Drain the eggplant pieces after they have been soaking in the cold water for 1hr.
4. Rub some cornflour on the insides of the eggplant piece and place about 1 tablespoon of the mixed fish paste into the eggplant. (The cornflour helps hold the fish paste in place).
5. Shallow fry the eggplant pieces in some hot oil.
6. Remove the pieces as they start to turn a golden colour and set aside.
7. In a medium hot wok, add the oil then stir in the garlic, black bean, chilli, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. Keep on stirring the contents around so it wont burn too easily.
8. Add in the eggplant pieces. And carefully stir fry the content around the wok, until each piece has a coating of the black bean sauce.
   

Serve with some plain steam rice.

Notes:

• Soaking the eggplant in cold water beforehand helps to stop the eggplant pieces turning brown (discolouring).
• Sliced eggplant pieces diagonally to get more surface area
• If using fresh black beans then rinse the beans well through some water, then mince them together using the back of a spoon in a small bowl.
• The cornflour is used to hold the fish paste together after the eggplant has been cooked. Just rub a bit of the cornflour on both sides of the incision made in the middle of the eggplant piece.
• If you don't have yellow block sugar, then just substitute with white sugar - about 1 teaspoon.

Salmon with Soy Mirin Sauce

I'm a sucker for crisy salmon skin and raw\rare cooked salmon. I've been trying to find a way with pan-cooked salmon, to have both the tasty crispy salmon skin with a nice medium-rare interior. Basically I wanted my salmon to still retain some of it's raw salmon freshness, with a bit of taste from some soy and mirin (so its not too bland), with a crispy Salmon skin top.

With past experiments, I tried marinating the piece of salmon in the soy marinade, although the salmon was really tasty, I couldn't get the skin to crisp. The other alternate method I tried was with pan-frying the salmon skin (salted) side down first, then turning it over and adding the marinade to the pan as the salmon cooked. I found with this method the marinade burnt too easily.. I think .. Something to do with the sugar content in the marinade.

So.. this is the method that works for me. To prep for the crispy skin, I tried to dry out the salmon skin as much as possible with a piece of kitchen paper towel. Seasoned it with a generous amount of freshly grounded salt, then place onto a plate (curved sides) with the skin side up, ready for the marinade. Make the marinade and pour the contents around the salmon. Make sure you don't pour the marinade on top of the salmon (if you do, the skin won't be crispy). Marinate for about 30-40 mins. Moving the salmon piece around every 10 mins or so. Just before cooking, drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top of the skin.

Heat up the pan until its hot. Place salmon skin down first and cook for about 2 mins. Then turn the salmon over and continue to cook for another 3-4 mins on medium-high heat.


Pan-fried Salmon with Soy Mirin Sauce
The salmon & soy mirin combo is no newbie...but the method of preparing\cooking is my own

Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• couple of dashes of sesame oil
• 1 thumbsized piece of ginger (smashed)

1. Take a piece of salmon fillet, make sure all scales are removed and pat the skin dry with a paper towel. Season generously with some freshly grinded sea salt.


2. Prepare marinade. Pour marinade around the piece of salmon. You may need to lift the corners of the salmon to let the marinade into the middle. Let sit for 30-40 mins, while doing some lifting\moving of the salmon every 10mins or so.


3. Preheat the pan to high heat. Drizzle some olive oil over the salmon skin. Place salmon skin down onto the pan and cook for 2 mins on high heat.


4. Flip the salmon over and after 1 min turn the heat down to medium-high. Continue to cook for another 3 mins. You should see the sides of the salmon flesh turn opaque.


5. Remove from the pan and let rest on a plate for a couple of minutes before serving.


6. The leftover marinade can be added to be pan after the salmon has been removed. Add about 2 tablespoons of water to the marinade, bring to a light simmer on low heat and the marinade will turn into a 'soy mirin' sauce you can drizzle around the plated piece of salmon.

Serve with some steamed baby bok choy .... :)

Oysters Kilpatrick & Mornay

These are definitely one of my favorites to cook up when I have Oysters available, and have already gobbled down too many raw ones.

For Oysters Kilpatrick:

• 4 Pieces of Bacon (sliced and chopped up finely)
• 1 Tbl sp of Butter
• 6 Tbl sp of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tbl sp of HP Sauce
• 1 Tbl sp of Tabasco Sauce
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan, add in Worcestershire, HP & Tabasco sauce. Once sauces are combined add salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle bacon over oyster and spoon sauce over the bacon. Place under hot grill, and leave until bacon starts going crisp. Usually about 3-4 minutes.

For Oysters Mornay:

• 1 Cup of Milk
• 2 Tbl sp of Butter
• 2 Tbl sp of plain flour
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp French Mustard
• 1/2 Cup of grated tasty cheese
• Cayenne Pepper

Make a roux by melting butter in a saucepan then slowly adding flour, then milk until a white sauce forms. Add mustard then cheese, salt & pepper to taste. Add cheese sauce to oysters, sprinkle with Cayenne pepper and extra cheese. Place under hot grill for about 3-4 min, until cheese topping starts to brown slighly.