Thai Steamed Fish With Garlic And Lime Juice

"I feel like I'm in Thailand!" chirped my elder son, as he sipped another spoonful of the sauce.

He was referring to my new recipe - Thai style steamed fish. I have always steamed fish using
Chinese methods, e.g. Cantonese (soy sauce, tomatoes, ginger, preserved salted vegetable, mushrooms and others), or simply with bean paste.

Using kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, lime juice as the main ingredients, they add a tangy taste to the dish which immediately tantalizes your appetite.  For the more daring friends out there, add more sliced chilli padi to bring up the  flavour one notch.

The preparation is not tedious and ingredients are easy to get.  I must admit this is another one of my family's dinner favourite.


Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 whole fish  about 600 g to 700 g   (sea bass or red snapper or any fish you like)
1 stalk lemon grass, torn

Sauce:
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6 chilli padi (you can put more if you want more spicy)
4 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2.1/2 to 3 tablespoon fish sauce (adjust to your taste)
2 teaspoon fine sugar
4 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
1/2 cup chicken stock

Method:
1) Clean the fish, score the fish with 3 to 4 diagonal incisions on each side of the fish.

2) Place the fish onto a deep dish and steam over rapidly boiling water for 10 minutes (or 80% cooked)

3) Make the sauce while the fish is seaming.:
      Boil chicken stock and sugar till just boil.  Remove away from heat. Add in the sauce ingredients except coriander leaves.

4) Open the lid pour the sauce over the fish and continue to steam for 5 to 8 minutes or the fish is fully cooked. Sprinkle coriander leaves and more chilli padi ,serve.    


ENJOY

蒜茸白肉 Poached Pork Belly With Garlic Sauce

Ate this dish at one of the famous restaurants in Singapore. The price is not cheap at all for 6 small pieces. Today  I had the desire to make it myself  so  I decided to  give it a try.  I am quite happy because it turned out  better than I expected.

Recipe:

500 g pork belly

1 to 2 cucumbers, cut into thin slices or shredded

Garlic Sauce ingredients:   Mixed together

2 tbsp garlic paste  (use a grater)

2 tbsp spring onions (diced)

2 to 3 tbsp soy sauce paste (if you can't get may replace with oyster sauce)

1/2 to 1 tsp sugar 

2  tbsp chilli oil

3 tbsp cooked cool water

1/3 tbsp vinegar

Method:

1)  Wash and clean the pork belly.  Place it into a pot with boiling water, cook till it cooks through.

When cool, cut  them into thin slices

2)  Place one piece of cucumber on a plate, lay one slice of pork belly over it, roll outwards to form Swiss roll shape.

3) Serve with the garlic sauce.

食谱：

材料：

A）500 克 三 层肉

B）1 至2条黄瓜，切成长薄片状或者丝条状

C）

2  汤匙蒜泥

2  汤匙葱花

3 汤匙酱油膏
1/2 茶匙白糖
2 汤匙辣椒油
3 汤匙凉开水
1/3 汤匙白醋

制法：

1）把肉洗干净，然后放进滚水煮熟。 提出肉待冷。切成薄片。

2） 把（C）料搅拌均匀。

3）把一片肉片放在黄瓜片上，然后向外卷起来就成。吃时沾上醮料。

Lamp Soup with Chinese Herbs - 药材羊肉汤

第一次做这道汤，味道很香也带一点甜。不妨一试。

This is the first time we made this soup. We felt that the soup was quite sweet.   This is worth a shot as it is very simple  and delicious too. You can  tweak the recipe depending on your preference.

Recipe: source from ONE DAY ONE DISH

Ingredients:

500 g lamb

20 g astragalus (bei qi 北芪）

20 g codonopsis (dang shen, 党参）

20 g Chinese angelica root (dang gui, 当归）

25 g Chinese wolfberry ( 枸杞）

25 g dried longan (龙眼干）

1 small piece of dried tangerine peel (陈皮）

Method：

1）Wash lamb, scald in boiling water for a few minutes, rinse under running water. Drain and cut into big pieces.  ( I used leg of lamb as the bone enhances the flavour)

2)  Rinse the ingredients  (Herbs) and drain.

3)  Bring  1 litre of water in a claypot to a boil. add in the lamb and the ingredients .

Cook over low heat for about 3 hours.  Add salt to taste before serving it.   Add pepper and chopped fresh coriander leaves if desired. 

     Note :  if you find the soup is too concentrated at the end of cooking,  add some hot water.

               you can use a slow cooker  instead of claypot