Tomyum Koong Seafood Otah-Otah

Was inspired by many in a cooking group. They were using Dancing Chef - Thai Seafood Sauce. But I don't have that sauce.  I tried with Hollyfarm - Original Tom Yum Koong paste.

I wrapped them up in banana leaves for the BBQ. My French friends enjoyed these little parcels very much ! :p

Here is how they were prepared. 

Ingredients:

200g white fish ( I used tilapia ) 

400g prawn meat

3 tbsp tomyum paste 

2 small eggs 

50ml coconut milk

1 red onion

1 tbsp sugar 

2 tbsp fish curry powder

A few kaffir leaves - thinly sliced

1 tbsp fish sauce 

Salt & pepper to taste

Banana leaves

Fresh chili / chili powder ( optional )

Preparation steps : 

1. Put all the ingredients into to a food processor & blend until you get a fine paste.

2. Place it on a lightly oiled banana leaf, just around the center. Wrap it & secured with toothpicks at both ends. Trim off excess banana leaf at the ends. 

3. Bake / grill until they are cooked. You can also pan fried with some oil in the pan. A few mins on each side until they are fully cooked. 

Bon appétit ! 

Chin's notes:

1. I pan fried one ( without the banana leave ) with oil to make sure the taste is good before I wrap them in banana leaves. Adjust accordingly to your preferred taste. 

2. You can also add some fresh chili if you like them spicy. ;) 

3. The other otah-otah recipe that I have tried with all the raw ingredients. http://fromchinshome.blogspot.com/2015/07/otah-otah.html

Prawn Otah-otah

Adapted the recipe from theMEATMENsg's recipe. I replaced all the fish meat with prawns. I prefer the prawn's version ... :p

Mixture of all the ingredients in the food processor.

All wrapped up in banana leaves.

Chin's notes: 

1. Here is the link to original recipe

Video tutorial by theMEATMENsg

http://youtu.be/aRS73J1NLDk

Recipe from jiaksimi.sg

http://jiaksimi.sg/index.php/recipe/otah-otah/

2. My first attempt with tilapia fish & prawns. http://fromchinshome.blogspot.fr/2015/07/otah-otah.html?m=1

Otah-otah

Can't wait until we are back in Singapore to have these. Looked up YouTube for recipes & decided to try the recipe from video below.

Video tutorial by theMEATMENsg

http://youtu.be/aRS73J1NLDk

Recipe from jiaksimi.sg

http://jiaksimi.sg/index.php/recipe/otah-otah/

The ingredients in summary:

30g dried chili

30g lemongrass

4 kaffir leaves

250g shallots 

10 candlenuts 

1 tbsp turmeric powder 

25g galangal 

20g belacan / prawn paste

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp sugar 

1 tsp salt 

400g fish meat & 200g prawn meat 

2 eggs

100ml coconut milk 

They turned out very yummy & not enough to go around. ;)

Chin's notes:

1. I used tilapia fish meat instead of mackerel / batang. 

2. I used fish curry powder mix instead of turmeric powder. 

3. I will try with calamari / crab meat in the future. 

4. Added on 26/07/2015. Made some prawns otah-otah, by replacing the fish meat with prawns. ;p I prefer the prawn's version.

Mussels with Chinese Cooking wine

Moule in French for mussels. They are smaller than the usual green ones. These are yummy just with some simple seasoning.

Here are the ingredients that I used 

Mussels with Chinese Cooking Wine

Ingredients 

1.4kg mussels - cleaned

1 big / 2 med size onions

5 cloves of garlic

A few stalks of coriander (cut thinly) 

Ginger ( same amount at the garlic or more) 

3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine ( I used shaoxing wine) 

50 ml / 1/4 cup of water 

Salt ( optional ) 

pepper & some sugar to taste.

1.5 tbsp cooking oil 

Preparation steps:

1. Thinly sliced the onions / cut into small cubes. Lightly crushed the garlics. And finely chopped the ginger. 

2. Heat up the oil in a pan/wok, add the onions, garlic & ginger when the oil is hot enough. Fry until fragrant. 

3. Add in the mussels & give a few good stir. Then add the cooking wine & the seasoning, water & coriander  . A few good stir then cover with a lid for 2 - 3 minutes. 

4. Once all the mussels opens, they are ready to be dished out for serving. Do not over cooked them as they will turn tough. 

Voilà & bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes: 

1. You can omit the salt, or just very little salt because the water from the mussels can be salty. 

2. Chili slices can be added if you prefer a little spicy. 

3. Scrub the mussels shells when you are cleaning them. Sometimes there are mud on the shells. 

French Beans with Prawns

We love French beans. I normally fried them with dried shrimps, ginger, garlic, oyster sauce & shaoXing cooking wine. Add a little sugar. Today decided to add some prawns.

Preparation steps:

1. Fry garlic & ginger with some oil in the wok until fragrant. 

2. Add in the dried shrimps & fry until fragrant. Add in French beans & prawns. 

3. Give a few good stir, add in some cooking wine & a few good stir then cover with a lit for a few minutes. 

4. Season with oyster sauce & some sugar to taste. 

5. Dish out & serve with steamed cooked rice. 

Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Here is another way to prepare the the French beans. 

http://fromchinshome.blogspot.com/2015/01/fried-french-beans.html

2. They taste as good without the prawns. 

Simplified PenCai (盆菜)

All yummy food in a pot.  Last minute decided to prepare PenCai (盆菜). Normally it will take a long time, even days to prepare this dish. A popular dish during the Chinese New Year's celebration / reunion dinner.

A quick check into my stocks, I don't have frozen scallops :( I'll just have to make do with what I have available in my kitchen. 

Phew! I found 2 cans of braised abalone! 

Lay the ingredients neatly on the vegetables. 

After 1.5hr, voilà! a simple PenCai is served. 

We had it with Beehoon today. Yum! 

Simplified PenCai Recipe:

Ingredients

2 cans of braised abalones - I used Skylight

1 can of limpets 

Some dried mushrooms - soaked 

Some prawns 

1 Chinese cabbage - cut into big pieces. 

Some fish maw 

Other seafood of choice 

Fresh mushrooms of choice 

Some canned abalone 

Roasted pork / chicken ( optional ) 

Preparation steps: 

1. Separate the canned ingredients & the broth. 

2. Pour broth into a pot & bring to boil. 

3. Add in the Chinese cabbage. 

4. Add in the soaked dried mushrooms. Bring to boil for about 10 mins & let it simmer.  

5. Slowly arrange all the canned ingredients, seafood of choice & other ingredients neatly on the Chinese cabbage. Put on the lid & let it simmer until all ingredients are fully cooked. 

6. Served hot. 

Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Use any ingredients that does not require a long cooking time. Normally I like to use fresh / frozen seafood. Fish balls are ideal too. 

2. Any choice of canned seafood are ideal, pacific clams are ideal too.

3. No additional seasoning is required as I find the braised abalone's broth is quite tasty. After the vegetable is cooked, it enhanced the broth.  Can add some oyster sauce if you like. 

4. No additional water is required as the Chinese cabbage will release some fluid during the cooking process. 

5. Idéal to eat this dish the following day. But I find that they are quite tasty on the day it was prepared. 

Quick Easy Hot Pot

The Chinese in South East Asia, will normally called this "Steamed Boat", maybe in the past we used a special pot that used charcoal to cook all the ingredients.

l

Special brooth is used to cook all the wonderful ingredients. Any seafood, vegetables, meat all cook in one big pot of soup. 

Today, gas stove or electric stove is commonly used. 

Whenever I'm lazy, I'll just prepare with knor chicken cubes. Add all the ingredients in & bring it to boil.  Perfect for a cold weather too!!! 

Voilà !! Lunch or Dinner is served! :)