Salmon Fish Head Curry

One dish meal.......curry again....Salmon Fish Head Curry, added a fillet piece for the Meat Eater. He walked into the kitchen and asked why the curry  smells so good today. I pointed to  the Screwpine leaves knotted together simmering in the hot spicy coconut milk. That's the reason why it is so fragrant.  He is one happy man now that I am back as a full time home Chef. Tonight's dinner is just this Fish Head Curry and I know I have to cook extra rice . Curries are appetising dishes no matter how you cook them. Dry curries are also delicious but I have yet to master it. So for now, it is just wet curries for now.

the addition of Screwpine leaves to the curry enhanced the flavour and aroma

I added a fillet piece for the husband

the salmon head and fillet piece were fresh

Ingredients

Half a Salmon Fish Head

1 salmon fillet

2 cloves garlic - sliced thinly

5 shallots - sliced thinly

4 tbsp of curry powder

2 tbsp of Khasmir Red Chilli powder *optional, I added for extra heat and color

1 large egg plant- cut into cubes

6 okras

2  large tomato- cut into wedges

3 Screwpine leaves - tie into a knot

2 sprigs curry leaves

4 tbsp oil

100 ml coconut milk

750 ml water

Method:

1. Mix curry powder and Khasmir red chilli powder with some water till it come a paste.

2 Heat up oil in pot and saute the sliced garlic, shallots and curry leaves and curry paste till fragrant.

3. Add in the cut  egg plant, okras and tomato till they softened. Add in water and Screwpine leaves and allow to simmer over low heat till the veggies has softened and cook through. Add in coconut milk and the fish head and fillet . Cook over low heat till fish head and fillet are cooked through. Add salt or seasoning to taste. 

4. Off heat and serve with hot rice.

Enjoy!

Katsu Curry

I really don't know what to cook for dinner. Search into the cupboard, found a box of Japanese Curry Mix, bought sometime back from MIDORI . And since I have chicken breast. I decided to just cook out of box  Katsu Curry/Japanese curry for dinner. Katsu Curry with Chicken Cutlet....the rich thick curry sauce with the rice is so yummy good  ! Crispy Pan fried Chicken cutlet as a side completes the whole meal. Meat Eater is happy, I am happy too. He loves it when I come back full time Chef in the kitchen 

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I used S&B for the Japanese Curry Mix

Seriously good, tasty and medium hot

just perfect for the husband

I cooked the curry with vegetable only as I have the crispy chicken cutlet to go with the curry and rice

One box can serve 12 servings, so I cooked half box for 6 servings but between the two of us, we can two meals from one satchet of curry roux.

Recipe link for Katsu Curry

https://www.justonecookbook.com/katsu-curry/

Bak Kwa For CNY 2022

Its time to make these finger licking good Chinese Meat Jerky/ Bak Kwa in Hokkien and 'Long Yok' in Cantonese. I make them almost every CNY for the husband. This year I am thankful I could make them for him to enjoy, once a year affair. Lol, so pitiful . It is not hard to make but considering I had a recent hamstring injury and just recovered, I tried not to overdo and thus make a small load for him. Oven grilled is much easier than grill them over charcoal fire. Of course the later , is authentic and smell good. But just the same oven grilled taste good too. And making them yourself is more economical and we can control the sweetness too. I used the recipe which I took from Sonia in 2017. Recipe link is at the bottom of this page.

 

so happy that they turned out great

Pizza cutter is best tool to use for cutting them after the first 25 mins of grilling

Preferably to marinade them overnight in fridge for richer flavour

Recipe link

Bak Kwa

Crispy Tofu

This is a very delicious tofu dish. Using Japanese egg tofu with fish paste, egg, green onions, ham, carrots, water chestnuts and some seasoning salt ,white pepper. Mix them together and steam. Once cool, cut , coat with potato starch and deep fried. You will get the most delicious crispy tofu just like how they serve in restaurants. You can serve this crispy tofu for the coming CNY. I am sure the old and young will love this flavourful and crispy tofu. Give it a try and you will add it to your family dinner menu. I make this very often since 2013, the year I learned to make this dish.

Using potato starch as coating gives the tofu the lasting crisp until the last piece

Dust off extra potato starch before deep frying

Cut into desired sizes, either square or rectangular shape

Cool the tray of Steamed tofu before cutting into desired sizes

Crispy Mashed Tofu - adapted from Wendy 

3 pieces Japanese egg tofu

125 gm fish paste

1 large egg

2 rbsp carrot shreds

2 tbsp finely sliced spring onions and parsley ( can use coriander )

2 waterchestnuts, finely diced

1 slice sandwich ham (30 gm) finely diced

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt and pepper to taste.

Coating

1/2 cup potato starch

1. Mix everything together with a mixer ( or by a hand, but I was laseeee)

2. Line a 7 inch squarre pan with heat safe plastic wrap

3. Pour mixture into lined pan.

4. Steam on medium heat for 8-10 minutes 

5 .Let the steamed tofu cool down in the pan.

6. When tofu has totally cooled, lift tofu up from pan and remove from plastic wrap.

7. Cut into cubes or diagonal pieces, whichever way you like.

8. Heat a wok with sufficient oil for frying.

9. Coat tofu pieces with potato starch and deep fry until golden.

10. Drain tofu pieces well and serve with chilli sauce.

Homemade Wanton Skin

Since the pandemic started in 2019, I have learned to stay home and make dishes from stratch. First I learned how to make pasta with pasta maker. Later down the road, I bought a pasta maker since I love fresh pasta more than the dry ones and there is no stopping me from making fresh noodles and pasta with the pasta maker. And today I used the same pasta maker to roll out the wanton skin to the right even thickness. Makes it so much easier than using a rolling pin to roll out to even thickness. I guess practice makes perfect if using a rolling pin. But since I have a pasta maker, and following the step by step from YouTube, making these wanton skin will not be a problem. I am glad they turned out looking legit 😀 I will post up the link to this wanton skin tutorial from you tube at the bottom page of this post.

 love this homemade version of wanton skin

 shrimps and pork mince fillings

Link for the step by step tutorial for making this wanton skin from scratch

https://youtu.be/FOlalQ9zpkc

Dough ingredients

1.5 cups AP Flour

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp sodium bicarbonate/ baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Roast Pork Rack

Taught by my son @pharmaskitchen ( Instagram account) on how to prepare the rack for roasting. I prepared my own BBQ sauce by mixing smoked bbq seasoning powder, oyster sauce, tomato sauce, chilli sauce ,olive oil, brandy and roasted garlic herbs and not to forget the Korean Corn Syrup. Stir them till well combined. 

After 2 hrs on slow roasting @130c, open up the alumium foil and brush on the homemade BBQ sauce. Further roast the rack for another 15 mins at 230C. The aroma is fantastic. Thanks SL for sharing your signature dish .

Fingers-licking good Pork Rack