Cod fish with miso paste (pan-fry)

When I started introducing fish to my son, I steamed fish fillet. It is less risk for him to get choke with fish bone. Even now, I still prefer to steam fish for the family because it is easy, healthy, no-messy and will bring out its original flavour. Usually, I select fish fillet instead of whole fish which can be easily fitted into my electrical steamer. (This steamer can be used to cook rice and reheat food too!). Sometimes, for a change, I will pan-fry salmon and cod fish. I made this dish during my mother-in-law’s current visit and she loved it very much.

Ingredients:
1 cod fish fillet (180g)

For marinating:
2 ½ tsp miso *
2 tsp mirin (Japanese sweet sauce/ wine)
¾ tsp sugar

Methods:
1) Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl.
2) Clean the fish. Pat dry with kitchen towel. Place on a ceramic dish.
3) Spread (1) over the cod. Cover with cling wrap. Set aside in the fridge for 1 - 2 hours.
4) Lightly scrape off (using a spoon/ butter knife) or wipe off (using fingers) any excess miso mixture on the cod.
5) Heat up ½ tbsp oil in a non-stick frying pan. Use a kitchen towel to spread the oil evenly on the pan.
6) Pan-fry the cod fillet with medium heat for about 3-5 mins, turn to another side to pan fry for another 3-5 mins or until it is golden brown. Dish up and serve.

Note: I must make a confession. I have very little knowledge about miso. Most of the miso sold in the supermarket is written in Japanese. When I bought mine, I chose the one with lighter colour and less sodium. After reading this, I realized that miso can be categorized into white miso, light-coloured miso and red miso. I guess mine is fall under light-coloured miso. Different type of miso is used in different cooking methods as mentioned in this link.

Other references for miso:
- Wikipedia
- The Cook Thesaurus
- About.com

Other recommended pan-fry dishes:
- pan-fried salmon with teriyaki sauce
- zucchini cakes
- tofu and crabstick patties

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Sushi rolls 寿司卷

I always love to admire those beautiful sushi rolls posted by other food bloggers but have never attempt to make it myself. Until recently, when my son started to crave for Japanese food especially sushi, I decided to give it a try. It took me quite a while to learn the “theory” before proceeding to the “practical”. As compared to baking, the risk of “disaster” is definitely lesser. No matter what disaster you face, you will still manage to “salvage” all the ingredients.

For this posting, instead of writing in details, I am going to share with you all the relevant links I had used before so that you will not miss any great tips from the original source. Below is a simple guide for you to go through these links.

Prior to making sushi, these are “the theories” I learnt:
a) Watch online sushi-making video. (You can find many at Youtube)
b) Register for an online free course at About.com (Sushi Lessons for Beginner).
c) Shop for ingredients.

Basic ingredients:
Japanese rice (short grain)
Sushi vinegar or DIY (refer to step 2)
Sushi rolling mat or DIY mat (refer here )
Clip wrap (to wrap the mat)
Roasted seaweeds
Fillings (based on personal preference: Japanese omelets (tamago), crabstick, prawn, salmon, fish, unagi, Japanese cucumber, avocado, carrot, green onion, lettuce)
Dressing: mayonnaise or wasabi (optional)
Sharp knife

Methods:
1) Cook Japanese rice (refer here). I personal prefer to use konbu dashi during cooking as it adds flavour to the rice
(For konbu dashi, refer here)
2) Prepare sushi rice (refer here)
3) Prepare all basic ingredients and fillings (refer to pic below)
4) Making your Japanese sushi rolls (refer here and here)
5) Enjoy!

Fillings I used: crabsticks, tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette), avocado, cucumber & mayo

A close up of tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette) and crabsticks

In summary, these are the most useful sites for beginner like me:
~ Sushi making
~ 果味山的小湯匙 - 酪梨蝦生菜壽司
~ About.com - Introduction to sushi

Other variations of rice rolls:
~Special egg rolls with rice, salmon & spinach
~Not my usual lunch
~小小米桶的寿司类

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Teriyaki chicken skew (Yakitori)

This teriyaki chicken skew (Yakitori) is a very simple and easy dish. You can even marinate the chicken the night before and grill it the next day. It is our family latest hit. I hope my special visitor who had requested for this recipe (when I put a picture of this dish at my previous posting) will enjoy making it for her children from a Japanese cookbook shared by my cousin in Japan.

Servings: 2-3

Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken thigh approx 250g (or chicken breast)
Other vegetable: capsicum, cucumber & leek
Bamboo skewers (trim to the desired length, cleaned & soaked into the water for a while)

Sauce:
3 tbsp light soya sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee Superior Light SS)
3 tbsp mirin (Japanese sweet sauce/ wine)
3 tbsp Japanese cooking wine (sake) (or Chinese Shaoxing cooking wine)
1 tbsp (slightly rounded) sugar
1 tbsp honey (I used no water added honey) – for grilling

Methods:
1) Cut chicken into ¾ inch squares. (For chicken breast, chop it with the back of the knife several times to make the chicken tenderer.)
2) Cut other vegetables roughly the same size.
3) Prepare the sauce and bamboo skews.
4) Marinate the chicken with the sauce for about 1-2 hours. (The longer the better. It is to allow the sauce to absorb into the chicken)
5) Drain the sauce and set aside.
6) Skew all the ingredients on the bamboo skewers.
7) Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Grill the skewered food under medium low fire.
8) Brush the leftover sauce (from step 4) and honey on top of the skewered food. Turn the skewer occasionally until the chicken is cooked and turned slight brown. Arrange on a plate and enjoy!

Tips: You can make some dipping sauce or gravy using those caramelized sauce from the pan. Pour a little bit of hot water over the pan and leave it for 1-2 mins. Then reheat the pan and stir well. Simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened. _______________________________________________________________

Updated on 25/11/08

This was how I grilled my skews. This photo was taken by my wonderful hubby. Hope you will have a clearer picture of the cooking method. Thanks to the suggestion by Alice of Bits of Life 'n' Taste.

If you like teriyaki sauce, you may be interested in these recipes:
- Mushroom rice
- Kiddy "mushroom rice"
- One-dish meal
- Super fast meal

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SUPER FAST MEAL (超级简单快餐)

Sometimes, I really don’t favour the idea to dine out. If I go to Ikea, under normal circumstances, I need to spend around 20 minutes for traveling and another 20-30 minutes to find a place and order my food (during peak hours). The total time spent is actually equivalent (or maybe more) to cooking a simple one-dish meal at home. This is why I love one-dish meal so much. Among the entire one-dish meals I had tried before, I personally find that this recipe is the best - easiest and fastest. No special cooking experience required. You just need to make sure all the ingredients are available and read the steps properly.

This super fast meal is adapted from Mitong’s recipe. If you can read Chinese, check out her website which has featured many great recipes. Her steps-by-steps illustrations are also very useful for me as a novice to understand the cooking process. Hehehe!

Ingredients:
2 small chicken thighs (de-boned) (I used chicken breast)
1 sweet yellow onion ( ½ for small size) – sliced (切丝)
1-2 leeks – sliced (斜段) (Refer to pic below)
2 eggs – lightly beaten
Mocked vegetarian barbecue pork/ char siew (optional)
Cooked rice – 2 rice bowls
Coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Seasonings:
¼ cup cooking wine (I used Chinese Shaoxing cooking rice wine)
¼ cup light soya sauce
¼ cup mirin (Japanese sweet cooking sauce/wine. Ref to pic)
– You can substitute with cooking wine and sugar of the equal amount
¼ cup water
1 tbsp sugar

Methods:
1) Cut the chicken into equal bite sizes. For chicken breast, use the back of the knife to chop for several times so that the breast meat will be tenderer. Use light soya sauce, cooking wine and cornstarch to marinate the chicken for 10 minutes.
2) Prepare seasonings and ingredients. (Ref to pic below)
3) Pour chicken, onion, leek, seasonings into the cooking pan. Simmer until the chicken is cooked. Do not cook for too long. (Ref to pic below)
4) Add in beaten eggs. Cover lid and simmer for 15 seconds. Turn off heat.
5) Pour over cooked rice, garnished with coriander leaves and serve.

If you find that this recipe is too easy-peasy, try my other one-dish meal recipes:

- no frying noodles
- claypot chicken rice
- yam rice
- pesto pasta
- Indian vegetarian rice

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Mushroom rice

Ingredients:
Cooked rice for 2
350g assorted mushroom (enoki bunch, shittake, white button mushroom)
20g butter
1 tbsp sugar
4 cloves garlics, diced
Coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Seasonings:
4 tbsp terriyaki sauce
3 tbsp Chinese cooking rice wine
Dash of sugar and pepper

Methods:
1) Heat up butter in a wok. Put in chopped garlic when the butter is half melted. Stir-fry the garlic until fragrant.
2) Add in assorted mushrooms and sugar, saute until the mushrooms are fully coated with butter. Add in seasonings, cook until the gravy has thickened.
3) Stir in chopped coriander, turn off heat. Add in cooked rice, stir until combined with mushrooms, serve.

Recipe adapted and modified from Piggy's Journal

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