1. Stir fried bean sprouts. Stir fried veggie (those of more leaves) is of 2 key points. High heat but cool oil and dry the veggie as much as possible. So prepare some chopped garlic (BTW garlic is now 3 times more expensive because of the saying in Guang Zhou garlic kills swine flu.), put some sea salt (1/3 tea spoon, 1/3 tea spoon of sugar and 1 tea spoon of yellow wine for the portion of half catty of bean sprouts). So brown the garlic on a high heat wok in cool oil. Turn to super high heat. Quickly stir fry the veggie. Until half of the veggie get a bit softened, cover it for half minute. Then quickly stir fry it for a few seconds. Then done. So don't cover it for too long as it would make the veggie a bit too yellow. A perfect stir fried veggie shouldn't be with too much juice left on the wok. 2. Steamed beef patty 沖菜牛肉餅. The key to this one is to select the preserved veggie Chung Choi as not the one in our old Chinese saying 生骨大頭菜 which has the hard-to-chew stem parts. Better cut that out if unavoidable. Slice the Chung Choi and soak in water to lessen the salty taste (at least 10 to 15 min., but not not too long. Otherwise, the original flavour will lose much). Then chopped it finely. Soak a coin sized dried tangerine peel. Wipe out the white part. Cut it in ultra thin slices. Then finely cut it into very very tiny bits. Mix it, the Chung Choi and ground beef with some sesame oil, more sugar (1 tea spoon), corn starch (about 1.5 tea spoon), oyster sauce (3/4 tea spoon) and cooking oil (1.5 tea spoon). Use your hand to stir it until you feel the sticky feeling, and even spank it onto the plate. This way it will give it a tangy texture. Then steam it at medium heat for about 8-10 minutes.
3. All right, the key points for a non-smelly steamed fish are: 1. lively killed fish. 2. clean all the blood vein and fat/dark stuff inside the tummy and fish head. Clean the fins by stretching the fins. Then dry the fish body inside out. So to cope with someone who don't eat fish much, I chose a happy swimming pomfret at a weight close to 1 catty. Fish at a size close to 1 catty is the best. Then pomfret is easy to eat without the bone problem. First you need to check in the tank for a fish without fighting scars or wounds on body and mouth. Choose the one swimming at steady pace. Don't choose those hyper-active as their meat would be a bit too tight, nor those who are sleepy... (I think you should know why). So I prepared some soaked sliced dried tangerine peel. No need to put too much. Just a size of a dollar coin, as too much would take away the original flavour of pomfret. Tangerine peel is very good with pomfret as it will balance the "milky muddy" smell of pomfret. Then beneath the pomfret, put some thick scallions. This way it would get some steam in beneath the fish. Sprinkle very little sea salt on the fish. Steam it at high heat for 8 minutes. Prepare some sliced scallions. Put on the fish when it's done. Put 1.5 table spoon of boiling oil. Put 1.5 tea spoon of soy sauce and 1.5 tea spoon of 'steamed fish" soy sauce. Done! So I got a testimony for my friend to eat half of it with 2 bowls of rice with fish soy sauce. Hurray! It's not my winning but at least I need to show fish is not smelly if you handle it well! Fish is so good in every way. It just keeps me, from not getting short-sighted, think fast and live lightly (less weighted).
13 comments:
I think I may not remember all the steps you say. even soy sauce use 2 soy sauces. very details.
Your friend is so lucky and privileged eating the home made food cooked by you.
You are more detailed than Ah So(Ah So only used one kind of soy sauce and she does not teach in details.)
It is hard to do steamed fish, especially pomfret as pomfret is very smelly. The only pomfret not smelly one was the one we ate together at Hua Hin. Other than that even the pan fried one is smelly(I mean in LA where we don't have live pomfret).
I have to tell all the C9 to take your cooking class here in the blog.
SS, the one we had in Hua Hin was cooked with salty plum - quite Chiu Chow style in cooking pomfret. To some extent, that would take away the smelly.
OK, re frozen or not lively killed pomfret, try to clean the tummy and head well or even cut off the tummy and head. Dry it as much as possible. Cut the fish body in a half inch depth. Use some yellow wine and little sea salt to marinate it a bit. Then dry it again. Heat the pan. Use some refined peanut oil. spread very light corn starch on the fish body and right away put it in the wok. Corn starch can take away the smelly part of frozen fish. Pan fry it at high heat first, until it's light to medium brown, turn to medium heat. Prepare some garlic and black bean paste (smash it together). Then put it in the wok on the 2 sides of the fish. Put some 1 inch length scallion slices and some ginger slices. Let the bean pas be brown a bit. Then sprinkle some yellow wine on the fish body and the sides. Immediately put around 2/3rd water into the water, 1.5 tea spoon of sugar, very light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Turn over the fish. Cover it for 20 to 30 seconds. If you like some sesame oil, put a few drops. Done!
i think Stella really enjoy the cooking class and she would like to sample some SEA cooking
TC
Oops.. some typo error on last comments posted 11:22pm - the last 4th line should be "... put about 2/3rd bowl of water into the wok...", and last 6th line "let the bean paste be browned...".
Mmh... ok... if we have a party at BKK for some home cooking, it should be at a serviced apt. Let me check if AG's kitchen has enough utensils on my next stay.
Thank you Master Chef SEA. Your cooking class is better than Ah So's as yours is very detailed and thorough.
Yes, I would like some home cooking at BKK next time from Ah SEA Restaurant. You made all the C4 look bad.
No wonder the magazine said now all the good chefs are men. C9s are for Jade Channel or shopping or Ma Chong only.
Oh, my chef friend Lily Mo said you know Chinese cooking more than she does. She is only good at making dessert/bread/ cookies/pastries/cakes(her mom said she is "Ah Mou"). :)
Actually those chefs at restaurants are mostly men because men need to withstand high heat and hold the heavy wok. Remember the professional wok in a Chinese restaurant is very heavy.
The only thing I miss in my kitchen is a professional oven, but the kitchens in HK are not spacious enough to have a nice oven. So I still didn't get any chance of making pastry and some baked/roasted food.
well make use of the roof, make it a roof-top open kitchen with oven :) hehe
btw, AG doesn't hv enough utensils to conduct a decent cooking show, only the Centre Point can :) hehe
Oops... how can I forget our lovely Center Point - shame on me! I think I may pre-cook some food in HK an bring over to BKK, such as abalone (dried ones). I need to have 3 day for cooking abalone and also need a very nice granny chicken plus a nice five-belly pork. SS, let me know when you will plan for a trip to try my abalone. Then what we need is some nice steamed rice and some lettuce (to dip with the abalone sauce like a hot pot). :)
Madam Fa did have the same idea as you quoted. We even talked about making Chinese rice dumpling. BTW, my rooftop BBQ party will be available after Christmas after a 3/4 year of my building external wall fixture - can't believe they have now made the whole building of my apt. like a brand new building. I know why Taikooshing is still at a very high price. Swire does have a very professional property management.
Master Chef SEA, abalone cooked by you huh, that sounds better than Ah So's.
But I don't want you to cook on your vacation. If you do, I need to extend my stay to 2 months for all your cooking.
Thank you SEA in advance. :)
The key to cooking nice abalone is time and patience. I can cook it before the trip and then bring it to BKK for re-heating. BTW, my Taiwanese friends packed my BBQ chicken wings back to Taipei for other colleagues' trying.
Thank you Chef SEA.
My friend Lily Mo said she would like to try your food too. I told her she has to go to BKK with me then.
:)
Even it's a "Tsai" talk, it's still fun like we had the dinner.. :) Anyway, let's see if there is such a chance coming across. I think next time if if you go to BKK, I can prepare something...
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