Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Steamed Cod with Garlic 蒜茸蒸鳕鱼



I learned this really simple dish from a friend. I like how she uses fried garlic to steam the fish. You can smell the aroma of the fried garlic when you open the lid of your steamer.


Ingredients:
  • A piece of Cod
  • 2 - 3 tbsp chopped Garlic
  • a pinch of Salt and a dash of Pepper

Seasonings:
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Chicken Powder or Salt to taste

How to do it:
  1. Wash and pat dry cod.
  2. Deep fry 1/2 portion of the garlic till lightly brown. 
  3. Drain and set aside.
  4. Stir fry the remaining garlic till fragrant. 
  5. Add in seasoning and fried garlic and mix well.
  6. Arrange fish on dish. 
  7. Top with seasoned garlic.
  8. Steam for 8 minutes or till cod is completely cooked. 
  9. Drizzle some sesame seed oil if desired.
  10. Served immediately.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Grilled Salmon with Lime Butter 烤三文鱼绊青柠蒙牛油


Some of you might know that I make dinner twice a day. The first dinner is for the kids and me and the second dinner is for my husband.

He has long working hours and usually reached home after eight, sometimes after nine! I didn't like the idea of serving cold food or reheated food (personally I wouldn't like having it either), I rather cook again. However, it's usually something really fast and easy to cook dishes, like what you see here.

The salmon is paired with blanched broccoli here. I prepared the lime butter ahead and I blanched the broccoli the same time I grilled the salmon. It only took me less than 10 minutes to get the dish done.

10 minutes for a hot dinner. How's that?


Ingredients:
  • 1 piece Salmon
  • A pinch of Salt and a dash of Ground Black Pepper
  • Zest of 1 Green Lime (optional)

Lime Butter:
  • 5 clover Garlic, chopped
  • Juice of 1/2 Green Lime
  • 1/4 tsp Black Ground Pepper or to taste
  • 30g butter, softened
  • Salt to taste

How to do it:
  1. Prepare the Lime Butter by blending all the lime butter ingredients till smooth.
  2. Clean salmon and pat dry.
  3. Rub salmon with salt and ground black pepper before pan grilling.
  4. Sparingly spread some butter on salmon for grilling.
  5. Pan grill salmon till just well done.
  6. Sprinkle zest on salmon, if desired, and serve 1/2 tbsp of soften lime butter.

Note:
  • The lime butter is enough to serve 4-6 slices of salmon depending on the size of each piece. 
  • The green lime referred here is the lemon look-a-like, not Kalamansi.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Chinese Old Melon Soup with Barley 老黄瓜薏米汤


One of the soup I make quite often. The soup is rather sweet and my kids who don't drink barley water like this too.

Ingredients:
  • 2 Chicken Breast Meat
  • 1 medium Chinese Old Melon
  • 100g Chinese Barley, washed
  • 6 Dried Dates
  • 1.5 litre Water
  • Salt to taste

How to do it:
  1. Blanch chicken breast meat to remove the scum.
  2. Put all ingredients excluding salt in a pot of water.
  3. Bring to a boil and reduce a simmer.
  4. Remove any scum that surface.
  5. Simmer for 3 hours.
  6. Add salt to taste.
  7. Serve.