Fried Fish With Ginger

Sauce for fish



I used fish fillet to cook for Dad when he was hospitalised and his eyes never failed to light up when he saw the dish. I was sad and happy to see him chuffed so quickly too.

Whenever I have the opportunity to cook at my sister's house, she will remind me of this dish as both she and my brother-in-law love it too.

This is my style and hope you will enjoy it as well.

Ingredients:

1. One medium sized whole fish about one and a half lbs, scaled, gutted and washed.
2. Sprinkle some salt in cavity and inside the fish head. Leave for about five minutes, rinse and pat dry.
3. Dash of sesame oil

For garnishing
1. One spring onion, sliced including the white part.
2. One or more thumbs of ginger according to taste, sliced into very thin strips.
3. One fresh sliced red chillies or more (optional).

Sauce:
1. Two tablespoons of Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chew.
2. Three tablespoons of light soya sauce or more depending on your taste.
3. Two tablespoons of warm water and a very small pinch of castor sugar. Mix together with item '2'.

Method:
1. In a medium hot frying pan, fry ginger till crispy, set aside.
2. Fry fish and set aside in a warm serving plate.
3. Drain oil but leave about one tablespoon, reheat pan till high, add in spring onion and chillies, quick stir for a very few seconds. Top fish with garnish.
4. Reheat same pan to high heat, splash Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chew, stir in sauce and dash of sesame oil. Quick stir and pour over fish. Top with crispy ginger.
5. Serve hot.

Number of Breaths

'Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath away.'

'Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together.'

Chicken with Ginger in Black Soya Sauce

Three meals were created from one chicken. This dish was a balance from the poached chicken cooked on the previous day.

Ingredients:
1. Left over chopped up chicken pieces
2. Thumb of ginger, diced into cubes
3. One spring onion or coriander, sliced at an angle
4. Two cloves of garlic, roughly chopped.
5. One shallot, sliced thinly
6. Three tablespoons of black soya sauce
7. One tablespoon of light soya sauce
8. One teaspoon of Cheong Chan Caramel Sauce (optional)
9. Dash of white pepper
10. Pinch of castor sugar
11. ¼ cup of hot chicken stock
12. Splash of Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chew or dry sherry
13. One tablespoon onion oil
14. Dash of sesame oil

Method:
1. Heat up frying pan, when hot add onion oil and lower flame to medium heat.
2. Lay chicken pieces skin side down first at side of frying pan and fry ginger till slightly golden, add shallots, garlic, stir round then add spring onion/coriander. Add dash of white pepper and pinch of sugar, when aromatic, mix ingredients well with chicken pieces.
3. Add chicken stock, stir and cook for about five minutes or when stock had reduced by half.
4. Add light, black and caramel sauces if used. Stir well. Scrape bottom of pan to prevent skin from sticking.
5. When sauce is about to dry up, increase flame to high, splash wine into pan, stir well. Add a dash of sesame oil before dishing up.
6. Serve hot with plain rice.

Note:
1. If you prefer dish with more sauce, adjust stock accordingly. I prefer just the sauce sticking to the meat pieces.
2. It's delicious cooking left over roast pork with this method too.
3. It's tantalizing for the taste buds when biting into a piece of ginger

Poach Chicken

Vegetables cooked in chicken stock after poaching chicken


HBH is into chicken breasts whereas I am not. HBH is also not into chicken rice. In order to satisfy both parties, I always debone the breasts from the whole chicken. It's cheaper to debone your own chicken as opposed to buying different parts of the chicken. The breasts are kept separately for a different meal for him. See recipe for Baked Chicken with Garlic and Potato in a separate posting.
Corn fed chicken was used in this recipe. Can you appreciate how yellowish the skin was?



The word 'calories' was not in my vocabulary as the skin was not wasted.
I am not into cooking chicken rice for myself but yearning for the soft juicy texture of poached chicken.
Poaching chicken leaves the meat more delicate and moist thus retaining the true essence of chicken flavour. There is a quicker way of cooking chicken but that will be a separate posting entirely.

Main Ingredients:
One chicken about 1.5 kilos washed and patted dry with kitchen papers.
Rub all over chicken including cavity lightly with a tablespoon of sea salt.

Stuffing for cavity of chicken
1. One spring onion tied into a knot
2. Two cloves garlic, skin on and lightly bruised
3. A knob of ginger, lightly bruised


Poaching Ingredients:
1. One spring onion, white stem lightly bruised.
2. Two thumbs of ginger, skin on, lightly bruised
3. Six whole cloves of garlic, lightly bruised with skin
4. One tablespoon Tio Pepe dry sherry or Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chew (optional)
5. Chicken stock – I am using Knorr chicken cubes. See amount under 'To Poach item '3'.

To Poach
1. Place chicken in a pot just large enough to hold chicken.
2. Add poaching ingredients.
3. Fill pot with chicken stock to immerse chicken completely by a minimum height of half an inch. This is important for even cooking. You may need a plate or bowl to weigh chicken down.
4. Bring pot to a rapid boil and when scum froths on the surface, skim and discard.
5. Lid on tightly, ensuring no steam escapes and simmer gently for about 20 minutes, depending on size of your cooker ring.
6. Turn off heat, remove pot to a rack and let it stand for between 45 minutes to an hour, depending on size of chicken.
7. To check if chicken is cooked, poke a chopstick into the thickest part of a chicken. The juice should run clear.
8. Remove chicken and rub gently with a mixture of one tablespoon sesame oil and a tablespoon of light soya sauce.

To Serve:
Chop chicken into bite size pieces. Optional to garnish with sliced spring onions/coriander.

Suggestions for uses for the Stock
1. Make chicken rice.
2. Skim chicken oil for Hainanese chilli sauce
3. Soup base for wanton and vegetables stir fry etc
4. Soup base for winter vegetables


Note: For poached chicken, I am not into cooling it in a bath of iced water.

Oolong Tea

I have had this canister for close to twenty years now and am wondering are the tea still drinkable or should I discard it?
I value your opinion and will be grateful for any advice you can give me.
Many thanks, HB

Love is ....

"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.” ...
Albert Einstein

Braised Duck Tongues

With fermented chilli bean paste
Normal braised


My first experience in appreciating duck tongues was at Lei Garden Restaurant, Orchard Shopping Centre, Singapore.

I am a glutton and very adventurous in experimenting with food. I have been in love with this dish ever since. Fortunately it was a good experience and duck tongues, if available on the menu, was a must order for me.

Unfortunately, the same restaurant and many others have yet to be at par with my first experience in terms of taste and texture. That had formed a yardstick in concert with my own cooked version against those served when dining out.

My worst experience in eating duck tongues was in London, the smell was a real put off.

In one of the famous hotels back in Singapore, the chef agreed with my findings, apologized, rescinded the order but served us complimentary double boiled soup of the day. I offered to pay for the substituted dish as the price differed greatly but the Manager refused as they were extremely appreciative of my diplomacy and constructive criticism without being rude.

I was happy with the end result of my dish as most served outside are unbearably salty to the extent of not being edible for me.

The success of this recipe is due to the many contributions by forerunners from Makansutra on other braised dishes, namely Eslim - http://www.makansutra.com/forums/singapore/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=16 and Tiantianchi - and a few others. Apologies if I have not mentioned you. Due credit shall be accorded if I remember later or please do remind me. Many thanks.

Ready for braising

Stock ready for adding duck tongues

Duck tongues simmering away gently
End result


Ingredients:

1. One packet of frozen duck tongues (More than 100 pieces in a packet)
2. Two tablespoons of black sesame oil
3. Two tablespoons of vegetable oil
4. One or two pieces of fermented bean curd - red or white
5. A few slices of ginger, sliced into rings for blanching duck tongues
6. One small piece galangal or blue ginger, lightly bruised if available
7. A few whole garlic cloves, skin removed
8. Half a Spanish onion, sliced into quarters
9. One star anis, a few pieces of cloves and a cinnamon stick
10. A few stalks of spring onions, halved lengthwise and lightly bruised the white stems
11. One teaspoon of 5 spice powder
12. Two whole chillies (optional)
13. One teaspoon of brown sugar
14. Black soya sauce
15. Oyster sauce
16. Salt, if necessary
17. One small cube of rock sugar
18. Splash of Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chew

To Prepare Duck Tongues
1, Defrost, wash and rinse well.
2. In a small pot, add cold water and ginger slices. Water level about an inch above duck tongues. Bring to a boil. Cook duck tongues for about two minutes or till scum froths on the surface.
This is very important in order to get rid of the blood, impurities and 'smell'. Remove from heat immediately, strain, rinse and wash in plenty of cold water. Make sure duck tongues are very cold. Set aside.

To prepare the Sauce or 'Lor'
1. Medium heat, add oil, brown galangal or ginger slices and whole garlic, fry till fragrant, add star anis, cloves, cinnamon stick and 5 spice powder, stir gently till aromatic.
2. Add onions, spring onions, coriander roots, chillies if used, and fry gently for about two minutes without browning onions. Add fermented bean curd, smear into rest of ingredients for a minute.
3. Lower flame, add brown sugar, mix ingredients well till sugar caramelised.
4. Add dark soya and oyster sauces, fry gently for about a minute.
5. Increase flame to high, splash Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chew and stir ingredients together.
6. Add water (amount is just slightly below duck tongues) and rock sugar into stock, stir, bring to a boil and leave it to simmer gently for about 30 minutes or more. Be patient as this is paramount to the success of the duck tongues since it does not take long to cook the tongues. Best is to cook the sauce or 'lor' overnight and to add duck tongues the next day. Adjust seasoning accordingly.

To Cook the Duck Tongues
1. Bring sauce slowly back to a boil. If sauce is too watery, take a few tablespoons of sauce into a small bowl, when cold, stir in about ¾ tablespoon corn/potato flour, mix well before drizzle gently into sauce. Give it a good stir.
2. Taste stock and adjust seasoning according to your taste.
3. On medium heat, add few stalks of fresh coriander and duck tongues.
Cook for about five minutes and increase heat to high for balance of next five minutes. Stir gently occasionally. Sauce will adhere somewhat to duck tongues on high heat and sauce thickens. Lower heat, if necessary.
4. Taste a piece of duck tongue. I like it with a bite. Prolong simmering if you prefer a softer yield.
5. Serve immediately.

Second Version
On very gentle heat, add fermented chilli bean paste in a small frying pan with sesame oil. When it's aromatic, increase heat, add warm water (just enough to cover duck tongues ) into pan, mix well. When sauce is reduced by half, increase heat, stir in cooked duck tongue to warm through. Serve immediately.

Third Version
It's very yummy deep fried too.

Note:
1. The recipe given is not exact in measurements. You need to adjust according to your own palate.
2. Amount of water just enough to cover duck tongues is determined by the quantity you are cooking. Estimate when you are rinsing the blanched duck tongues. *One way to estimate how much water will be required is, once you have finished rinsing the tongues, put them in a dish similar to the one you will use to cook the sauce and pour in the requisite amount. Then save it till needed
3. Do not discard the precious sauce. Freeze for cooking other ingredients of your choice. Strain sauce before freezing.
4. It's very addictive. I can eat about 40 pieces in one sitting. :))