There's something fishy about this - good fishy

I love seafood. Well, fish, prawns and crab. I'm not keen on molluscs or squiddy things.

Anyway, steamed fish was always one of my favourites growing up. It's refreshing (coriander and ginger - always a winning combo), delicious and er..well, it can be healthy.

So, let's have it. I'll tempt you with a photo first.



I'm going to give the ingredients to serve 2. It's generally used as a central dish Chinese style. You can use any white fish (cod, bream and sea bass are the most popular) I use about 150g per person and tend to go for cod loin fillets. They're good if you don't want to deal with heads and tails and de-boning.

Ingredients:
300g white fish (obviously)
1 tab soya sauce
coriander
2 tabs water
1" piece of ginger - finely shredded
about 1/4 of a stock cube
a dash of sesame oil

Place the fish in a heatproof dish (I often use one of those pyrex things). Place the shredded ginger and half of the coriander on top. Place the dish in a large shallow pan (with a lid) and add some water to the pan (but OUTSIDE the fish dish). You'll then need to put the lid on and turn the heat on. The aim of this is to steam the fish. Some of the steam will condense and settle in the fish dish but that's ok. You may need to experiment a bit, but this amount of fish should take about 15 mins to steam. When the fish starts to flake, it's ready. Don't overcook it or it'll be dry and a bit rubbery.

In a small separate pan, add the oil, stock cube, water and soya sauce. You'll need to heat this up on high. It only needs about 3-4 minutes to get super hot. Time it so it's ready just when the fish is done.

Pour the sauce over the fish, sprinkle the remaining coriander over it and serve immediately. Serve with rice and perhaps some braised pak choi or stir fried veggies.

Enjoy!

Food for those who don't want it

As I've mentioned (read moaned about) before, I've had problems with eating lately thanks to lovely drug side effects (that's medicinal drugs, not recreational - I've never even tried any of those). I know from also having suffered from awful awful morning sickness that sometimes you WANT to eat, but the fear of boomerang food means that you just go hungry.

Anyway, today is one of those days I'm hungry and NEED to eat, but nothing takes my fancy. This is my go-to recipe for a nutritious and non-offensive, filling meal for the sickly. It's also packed full of veggie-bubble goodness.



Ingredients
3-4 potatoes
1 onion
1-2 carrots (depending on how carroty you like it)
2 sticks of celery
2 garlic cloves
2 stock cubes
water
a splash of soya sauce (optional)
cabbage (optional)

Step 1: Boil about 1 litre (2 pints) of water
Step 2: Peel and quarter the potatoes, throw them in the pot
Step 3: Peel and slice the carrots, throw them in the pot
Step 4: Crush and dice the garlic, throw in the pot
Step 5: Dice the onion, throw in the pot
Step 6: Throw the stock cubes in the pot
Step 7: Chop the celery into 1-2 inch pieces, throw in the pot
Step 8: Add boiled water and soya sauce, then cover
Step 9: Allow the pot to boil, then turn down the heat to a brisk simmer
Step 10: Add cabbage if you like it. I love it and add lots, but I realise that my love of cabbage is actually quite freaky.
Step 11: Allow the stew to cook for 20-30 mins or until the potatoes are soft (but not crumbly).

Serve with rice. I like to ladle it up (with plenty of the soup) into a bowl, mash it a bit, then mix the rice in. It's nutritious, very satisfying and very easy on the tummy.

These amounts should serve 2-4.

Ready to eat!


The beauty of this recipe is that you've got quite a few different veggie groups in there, you can add/change/substitute other things as you fancy, you don't have to prepare things very much, just peel, chop and throw them in. It's simple to make too, which is just what you need when you're feeling a bit under the weather.

Photos to follow.

More recipes

Ok, ok, I'm cheating a bit because I've dug out some recipes I posted on a (cloth nappy) forum I frequent. But as they are my recipes and I'd like to keep them all somewhere central as well as share them with a wider audience (currently 1, I believe!)..here are two more I've adapted/created.

Now, despite my very sciencey background (I have a degree in Pathology), it is against my religion to follow instructions. Thus, cooking is very much an art (for me) rather than a science. I love cooking books, don't get me wrong. I love recipes. But I will leave out anything I don't like/don't have/don't feel like adding and throw in things I want to put in. My other half, on the other hand, will follow recipes to the letter (although if he sees mushrooms on the ingredients list, there is no force on earth that will make him put them in). Anyway, so yes..cooking is quite experimental for me. But if we didn't do that sort of thing then we wouldn't have new stuff.

I also don't hold to the notion that people who are sciencey cannot also be arty. I was first introduced to this idea during my first week at University when, as I was decorating my door with my collages and drawings, my flatmate told me that this should not be! Obviously the previous 18 years of my life - spent happily drawing/painting/sculpting etc AND enjoying Science and Maths - had all been a big mistake.

Yes, so..random tangent. I do that, you know. Well, if you know me, you will know. Perhaps this blog should have been called "Musings of the Barking.." Too late now.

So, without further ado, not one, but TWO recipes for you. One will come as no surprise to you - it features nooooooodles. But the other is rather..fishy.

Kway Teow (or fried ho fun if you don't speak Cantonese - I don't)
1 packet of ho fun (the packs are about 454g or 1lb of dried noodles)
2 eggs
whatever veg/meat you'd like to add
soya sauce
some oil
bean sprouts

soak, drain and fry the noodles with some soya sauce (as with the Chub Bwee Chow Hor).
put the noodles on a plate/dish
fry your beaten eggs and either slice or just rougly chop with your spatula. Plop on the noodles.
fry the ingredients, slowest to cook first - sprinkle some soya sauce on top
once the slow things are done, put the noodles and egg in, mix it up quickly, then serve up and eat.




Smokin' hot Salmon
1 piece of salmon (per person)
1 stick of celery
1 handful of beansprouts
1/2 a red chilli (more if you can take it - I can't *gasp pant*), deseeded
sprinkle of bonito fish stock powder (or you can use chicken stock if you need to)
few tablespoons of water
some seseme oil

Heat up the seseme oil
Fry the salmon quickly, about 2 mins on each side. Set aside
Fry the celery, then add the beansprouts
Sprinkle with a bit of the fish powder (or add your chicken stock here)
Add the water and the salmon back in. Sprinkle with finely chopped chilli.
Put the lid on, turn the heat off and leave it for 5 mins.

Serve on a bed of rice, with miso soup on the side. Mmmm

Let them eat VEG!

This is one of those recipes I made up when I needed a substantial lunch while also needing to use up a load of veggies - not to mention fill my little one with something nutritious.

It's a pasta sauce, but would work over potatoes too..or maybe a rice bake?

1 clove of garlic
1 onion
1 leek (smallish)
1 pepper (I used yellow, but I can't tell the difference in taste)
2 sticks of celery
2 tablespoons of tomato paste (I use the double concentrated one)
loadsa grated cheese
teensy weensy bit of stock cube (I used a bit of veggie and a bit of chicken)
glug of olive oil

How to:

Heat up olive oil in a saucepan.
Add chopped garlic and onions.
Enjoy the yummy smell.
Add chopped leek, pepper and celery, pop on the lid and allow to simmer for a bit. Do make sure you stir and don't let things burn!
Add the stock cube with a leeeeetle bit of boiling water.
Add the tomato paste.
Stir.
When you think it's done, whizz it with a stick blender if you have one (it's also ok non-whizzed, but tis easier for feeding children/men if it's pureed).
Stir in the cheese.

Pour over pasta/potatoes/whatever and enjoy.

There's no fun like ho fun...noodles that is

One of my favourite foods is the humble noodle. They come in so many delicious forms - ho fun (rice noodle), mee hoon (vermicelli), chow mein (egg noodle), udon, ramen, soba - everyone is sure to find a noodle to please. My favourite is probably the ho fun noodle, that is, the white tape-like noodle made of rice. It's simply glorious either fried kway teow style or with an eggy sort of gravy. Of course, it can also be fried Pad Thai styleeeee, which is also scrumptious.

Stopit, now I'm drooling. I'm posting here, now, to put the recipes for Kway Teow and the gravy Ho fun (I've heard this alternatively called Wa Dan Ho Fun or Chub Bwee Chow Hor at restaurants I've been to - that spelling being my attempts at recreating the phonetics). I promised my friend Mellama that I would give her my recipes..so here we go. I've not found a recipe for the latter (which has been my ultimate noodle heaven for many years) on the web, but have experimented until I have developed something that ..well, that I like.

For future note, unless I state otherwise, all recipes posted here are either heavily adapted from other recipes or completely made up by me.



Chub Bwee Chow Hor
1/3 - 1/2 a packet of Rice Noodles (Ho Fun)
1/2 a stock cube (chicken or veggie are best - I use knorr)
some boiling water, about 250mL
soya sauce
1-2 tsp cornflour
oil for frying - something bland like sunflower is best
1 egg (optional - if you don't like 'em, don't add them)
some veggies (pak choi or bok choi would be ideal, otherwise I go for cabbage and carrots)
optional meat/s* (prawns are good)

1. If you've bought dried ho fun, you will need to soak these in boiling water for about 5 mins. Drain. If you're lucky enough to have fresh, you'll just need to rinse them in boiling water.

2. Heat the oil. Set your heat to max.

3. Once the oil is hot, plop your noodles in the pan. Splash some soya sauce all over them (not huge amounts, they should just go a faint brown). Fry them for 2-5 mins.

4. Put the noodles on a plate, then put the pan back on the heat. Put the ingredients which will take longest to cook (e.g. carrots or cabbage) in first, then add the chicken stock cube plus water (you could just mix up half a stock cube's worth beforehand, but I just throw things in and mix it about). Turn down the heat to medium. Cover if you have a lid, and leave it for 5 mins to soften. Add any other ingredients (other veg, quick cooking ingredients if you're adding them).

5. Mix up the cornflour with a little cool water. Stir.

6. Beat your egg (if you're adding it), then turn off the heat. Add the egg and stir your mixture and let the egg cook in the existing heat. Add a little splash of soya sauce.

7. Once the egg has just cooked through, pour your sauce mix over your noodles. Serve immediately.

Note, ho fun doesn't really reheat well, so eat up! The quantities here are for one greedy Sonata-sized portion (so maybe 1.5-2 normal people). People who know me will understand this.