米粉被谁骗了？🐟 因为鱼骗米粉！

Two of Dad & lil bro's prized fish. After my fingers have been sliced, stabbed, pricked and my nails ruined to the moon and back, all while trying to gut, clean and fillet fish, I have newfound respect for all fishmongers! 

And I'll pay any amount to have fish soup outside.

But for now,

this was what came out of a whole arvo spent in the kitchen from 11am till 4pm.

Just to make things clear though. 

I've never cleaned or filleted a fish before.

So this could all possibly be done in a fraction of the time for the more skillful chefs.

Or really, just get the fishmonger to do it for you. :)

Bubble, bubble. Toil and ALOT of trouble.

But it was all worth it!

Presenting fishhead rice vermicelli soup UPSIZED! :)

• One fish of 1-2 kg (Slice the fish flesh in thick pieces and set aside fish head, bones and tails)
• 5 stalks of spring onion – White portion
• Few stalks of choy sum (Chinese flowering cabbage)
• 5 cm of ginger, sliced into thin pieces)

• 250 grams of rice vermicelli – blanched and set aside.
• 3-4 leaves of salted vegetable (sliced into thick pieces)
• 2 fresh tomatoes (cut into 4 quarters each fruit)
• 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons of anchovies
• 1 cube of chicken stock
• 1 – 1.5 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1/2 cup of Chinese cooking wine
• Dashes of white pepper
• 1 tablespoon of XO alcohol (optional)

I added slices of bittergourd. Sliced thinly. :)

Fish meat marinate (depends on the quantity of fish meat that you have)

• Some sesame oil
• Chinese Shaoxing Wine
• Kikkoman Soya Sauce
• White pepper

• Marinate the fish meat with white pepper, sesame oil, corn flour and salt for about 1 hour. I skipped the deep frying part so I just left it to sit in the fridge after marinating.

• Use the same oil to deep fried the  fish head, bones and tails for 2-3 minutes or until the exterior is cooked. This step is optional and the main purpose of this step is to remove some fishiness of the fish and to preserve the exterior texture of the fish. You can deep fried these either with flour or without flour. Dish up and set aside.

• In another stock pot, put 1-2 tablespoons of oil and the sesame oil above, Sauté the ginger slices until fragrant, add the anchovies, the white part of spring onion, add water gradually just adequate to cover fried fish head and bones earlier. You can always adjust the water later.

• Put in the fish head, fish bones and tails. (Note that at this stage, you can add in the salted vegetables if you want to. However, it will be very difficult to serve the  vegetable as it will mix with the fish bones. Therefore, I have advised to add it at a later stage though adding the salted vegetables at this stages will yield a tastier soup). Bring to boil and let it simmer at medium heat for at least 30-45 minutes. Add water gradually if you find that the water level is low.  In this process, you will witness the fish stock will become cloudy. *Achievement unlocked! Once done, sift the stock from the first pot to another pot. Throw away the fish head and fish bones.

• In the new pot, add the chicken stock, Chinese cooking wine, salted vegetable, diced tomatoes and bittergourd. Bring to boil and add seasonings of your choice (fish sauce, dashes of white pepper). Once boiled, off the heat, add the XO (if any) and set aside for assembly. Meanwhile, have a pot of water, blanched the choy sum with some drops of oil and followed by the bee hoon. Drained and set aside.

• For assembly, have a bowl, put some bee hoon in the serving bowl and followed by some gravy adequate to cover the bee hoon,  put some blanched choy cum, tomatoes and fish meat on top of the rice vermicelli. Garnished with deep fried shallots, dashes of white pepper and chopped coriander or Chinese celery if preferred.  Best served with red cut chilli and some light soya sauce and usually served as a standalone noodle dish. If you do not like rice vermicelli, it can be served as a soup dish that goes well with white rice.

Credits to : https://kwgls.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/fish-headfillet-rice-vermicelli-soup-%E9%B1%BC%E5%A4%B4%E7%89%87%E7%B1%B3%E7%B2%89%E6%B1%A4%EF%BC%89/

Yam rice with pork belly, chinese black mushrooms, dried scallops and dried shrimps :)

I'm glad to say that my first attempt at yam rice was a yammy-licious success! :)

•  Half a purple yam, peeled and cubed *1 whole purple yam, 450g
•  5 garlic cloves, chopped
•  5 shallots, sliced
•  1 dried scallop (conpoy) *8 large dried scallops
•  100g dried shrimp *150g small dried shrimp
•  4 dried mushrooms *8 dried mushrooms, sliced
•  1 Chinese sausage, skin removed, sliced *not used
•  300g pork belly, sliced *200g lean pork
•  1 tsp salt
•  2 tsp sugar *1.5 tsp sugar
•  1 tsp dark soya sauce *2 tsp dark soya sauce
•  1 tsp light soya sauce *0.5 tsp concentrated chicken broth
•  5 rice cups of rice
•  6 rice cups of water *1 extra cup of mushroom reserve water, 20ml of scallop reserve water
•  5 tbsp of cooking oil *1 tbsp of sesame oil

1. Wash the rice and set aside.

2. Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water until soft. Rinse and slice.

3. Rinse the dried scallop, then soak in a little hot water.

4. Shred the scallop.

5. Rinse the dried shrimp and soak in water.

6. Heat two tablespoonfuls of oil and fry the yam until lightly browned. Set aside.

7. Heat one tablespoonful of oil and 0.5 tbsp of sesame oil and fry the sliced pork belly till brown. Set aside. *Pour reserve oil into prewashed rice.

8. Heat two tablespoonfuls of oil and 0.5 tbsp of sesame oil, fry the garlic and shallots until golden brown, then add the scallop, dried shrimp and mushrooms.

9. Add in the washed rice, fried yam and pork.

10. Add in one teaspoonful of salt and 1.5 teaspoonfuls of sugar. Add in one teaspoonful of light soya sauce, two teaspoonful of dark soya sauce, 0.5 tsp of concentrated chicken broth

11. Remove the mixture from the wok and transfer into the rice cooker.

12. Add six cups of water + 1 cup of mushroom reserve water and 20ml of scallop reserve water. Use the rice cooker to cook the rice until done.

13. Serve with chopped coriander and dried shallots .(optional)

All my adaptations of the recipe have been indicated with an asterix * next to the ingredients list. We love our rice with a chockful of ingredients :) Dad loves sesame oil so he suggested the addition of sesame oil. I didn't want to just add it into the rice. So I've incorporated it into the frying of the ingredients. Just a little sesame oil does bring up the fragrance of the rice!

Cook happy. And eat well. From my kitchen to yours! <3 br="">

Credits:

http://www.soshiok.com/recipe/yam-rice-recipe-hed-chef

Nonya Chap Chye

Tried and tested. 

This was such a crowd pleaser that I've cooked it the very next week after my first attempt.

What a happy myriad of colours!

This week's edition was same same but different.

Using some deep fried pork belly instead.

And I added black moss (not in picture) this time :)

•  8 large dried mushrooms
•  1 litre of water, or more if necessary
•  100g haebi or dried shrimp
•  10g dried black fungus or cloud ear fungus
•  100g black moss
•  10g dried golden lily buds
•  20g tung hoon or bean vermicelli
•  20g tau kee or sweet beancurd skin
•  5Tbs cooking oil, and more oil for deep-frying the tau kee
•  200g pork belly, sliced into thin strips
•  1Tbs garlic, finely chopped
•  2 1/2Tbs tau cheo or fermented soyabean paste
•  1kg cabbage, washed and cut roughly into pieces
•  100g jicama, peeled and cut into strips about 4cm long and 1cm thick
•  10g beancurd skin
•  1Tbs concentrated chicken stock
•  Salt to taste
•  Oyster sauce to taste

1. Wash the dried mushrooms and boil in a small pot with about 400ml of water for about five to 10 minutes, until they have softened. Drain but keep the liquid (mushroom water) for use later. Cut the mushrooms into strips. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, soak the dried shrimp, black fungus, black moss, golden lily buds and tung hoon in separate bowls of water for about 10 minutes. Drain each item and set aside. Tie the lily buds into knots and trim the ends. Set aside.

3. Wipe the sheets of tau kee with a damp cloth, then cut them into 5cm squares. Deep-fry in hot oil until brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

4. Heat 5Tbs of oil in a large wok on medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the dried shrimp and fry until fragrant.

5. Add the strips of pork belly and continue to fry until cooked.

6. Add the garlic, then the tau cheo and fry for about one minute.

7. Next, put in the cabbage and jicama and stir. Add about 200ml of water. Cover and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring intermittently.

8. Add the mushroom water that you had set aside earlier, followed by the mushrooms, black fungus and golden lily buds. Stir. Add just enough water to submerge most of the ingredients.

9. Bring the liquid to a boil. Add more water if necessary. The vegetables should be cooked and soft, but not mushy.

10. When boiling, add the tau kee and black moss. Stir gently and simmer for about five minutes. Add the beancurd skin and tung hoon.

11. Add the concentrated chicken stock, salt and oyster sauce to taste.

- See more at: http://www.soshiok.com/recipe/nonya-chap-chye#sthash.rAi3exL2.dpuf

Credits:

http://www.soshiok.com/recipe/nonya-chap-chye

Adjustments:

I used some of the reserved water from soaking the dried prawns as well.

Taking the healthier (less mess too!) option, I didn't deep fry the tau kee so I've added it in together in Step 8 to let it cook for longer.

Since I was using fermented soybean instead, I mixed the oyster sauce, salt and chicken stock cubes together before adding it in to the simmering vegetables.

If you're using chicken stock cubes instead, you'd need one to one and a half cubes.

I added in two tablespoons of oyster sauce and a quarter teaspoon of salt.

And if you're wondering if sio bak or regular pork belly is better for taste, I'd say it's really up to your own personal preference.

But if you left it to me, I'd cook with pork belly and top it off with sio bak! :)

Happy cooking!

From my kitchen to yours,

Brenda x