I confess. I love fishballs. When they come fresh and springy, I can take about a dozen in one go. So, what’s this obsession with fishballs then? One thing is – it is cheap. I can get them for 10 cents each from the wet market. It is quite healthy though it may be processed fish meat. And it is easy to cook. You can fry them or use them in soups. When using fishballs in soups, it can either be as an accompaniment or as the highlight of the soup itself.

This recipe highlights the fishballs. I use chinese mustard greens (choy sum) to make this dish one step healthier – what with the fibres and nutrients from the vegetables. For the soup base, I use ikan bilis stock prepared fresh and not the instant granules. Ikan bilis stock is easy to prepare and you can even cool it and store them in the freezer for future use. Handy especially when you want to whip up a quick soup.

This is my simple but delicious recipe for Fish Ball Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 20 fishballs
• 100 grammes of chinese mustard greens (rinsed throughly and cut into smaller (halved) pieces)
• a pinch of chinese salted vegetable (tung chye)
• 600 ml ikan bilis stock (boil 700 ml water with a handful of ikan bilis for 30 minutes. strain and remove ikan bilis)

Seasoning

• 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• salt to taste
• a pinch of msg (optional)

Method

Bring ikan bilis stock to boil. When boiling rapidly, add fish balls and allow it to cook till the fishballs float to surface.

As soon as the first fishball floats to surface, add the vegetables. Add seasoning.

Dish up when all fishballs have floated to surface. Sprinkle chinese salted vegetable before serving. If you prefer, you can drizzle a teaspoon of shallot oil.

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Fish Ball Vegetable Soup

This is my second attempt with the General Tso’s glaze sauce and this time around, I experimented with fish fillet – Ikan Tenggiri (also known as the Spanish Mackerel). The first attempt was General Tso’s Pork Chop. I know that the General Tso’s sauce is not easily found in Malaysia but you may have better luck in other Asian countries like Singapore. As for the fish fillet, you can use any other type of fish. This recipe is basically a no-brainer and one so simple which you can whip up in 30 minutes (including marinating time). As for the snow peas which you see in the picture, just add them for a little colour contrast and to add some dietary fibre to your meal. You can pre-steam the snow peas or blanch them. They actually taste quite good with the sauce.

This is my quick recipe for General Tso’s Fillet of Tenggiri

Ingredients

• 1 slice of Ikan Tenggiri (or any other fish fillet)
• 2 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 5 tablespoons cooking oil
• 50 ml warm water

Seasoning

• 1 1/2 tablespoons General Tso’s glazing sauce
• Salt
• Sugar

Method

Marinade fish with a light sprinkle of salt for about 20 minutes and rinse it slightly before patting it dry for frying.

Heat oil in wok / pan till hot and fry fish till golden brown. Remove fried fish and set aside.

Remove oil from wok / pan. Reduce heat to low, add garlic and saute till aromatic. Add General Tso’s glazing sauce and water. Add salt and sugar to taste.

When sauce starts to boil, return fried fish into wok / pan, coat it with sauce and dish up.

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General Tso’s Fillet of Tenggiri

Stir fried fish slices with ginger and spring onions (scallions) is a simple yet delicious dish to prepare. You can use fresh fish or frozen fish such as dory for this dish. White fish is preferred. The key to this dish is having a stove with really hot flame so that you can cook this dish fast. Cook it a little longer and it will turn a tad too soggy.

There is essentially two parts to cooking this dish. Firstly, to marinade and lightly fry the fish till it’s cooked or almost cooked. Secondly, to cook it with ginger and spring onions. Though it is usually found in commercial eateries, you can try it at home just like what I did.

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Fish Slices with Ginger and Spring Onion

Ingredients

• 200 grammes white fish (sliced to not more than 1 cm thick, marinade lightly with salt for 10 minutes and dust with corn flour)
• 5 cm ginger (sliced thinly)
• 3 stalks spring onions (cut to about 5cm lengths)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 150 ml hot water
• corn starch (prepare by mixing 1 teaspoon corn flour with 3 tablespoons water)
• 200 ml cooking oil (palm oil preferred)

Seasoning

• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
• a pinch of msg
• ¾ tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder

Method

Heat oil in wok till smoking hot. Fry fish slices for about 30 seconds on each side taking care not to break them. Remove fried fish slices and set aside.

Remove oil, leaving approximately 1 tablespoon or lesser in the wok. Saute garlic and ginger till aromatic. Add spring onions next. Stir evenly before adding fried fish slices and hot water.

Add seasoning followed by a teaspoon or two of corn starch to thicken the gravy.

Dish out and serve hot with steamed white rice.

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Stir Fried Fish Slices with Ginger and Spring Onions

My sister loves asam (also spelt as assam) -based dishes, be it Asam Ikan Kembung (Tamarind Indian Mackerel) or Asam Laksa. In fact, mum said that my sister would most likely be drooling if she were to see this dish up on this site. My sister is currently residing in Singapore and on her trips back to Kuala Lumpur, she would usually cook this or ask mum to cook this.

There are two parts to cooking this dish. One is to prepare the chilli-based paste and the other, to cook the fish. For the chilli-based paste, you can actually prepare in advance and keep them in the fridge for future uses (which is what we usually do at home). Asam Ikan Kembung is sour, sweet and spicy in taste and is an excellent dish to whet the appetite. It goes well with plain steamed white rice. You can actually use other types of fish but Ikan Kembung tastes good here. A word of caution though. Take care when eating the fish as the bones might get to you.

This is mum’s recipe for Asam Ikan Kembung

Ingredients

• 4 pieces ikan kembung (cleaned and gutted)
• 1 large onion (sliced)
• 4 to 8 pieces ladies finger (whole or halved)
• 2 large tomatoes (quartered)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup asam juice (soak 1 tablespoon of asam / tamarind paste in 1 1/2 cup water for 15 minutes, squeeze and then strain juice)
• Corn starch (mix 1 teaspoon corn flour with 100 ml water)
• Cooking oil (palm oil)

Chilli paste (pound / blend)

• 2 slices of tumeric (kunyit)
• 5 pieces of dried chilli (pre-soaked in hot water and remove seeds)
• 4 garlic
• 8 shallots

Seasoning

• Salt and sugar to taste

Method

Pat dry the ikan kembung and shallow fry it till semi brown. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons palm oil in wok and saute chilli paste on medium heat till aromatic and beginning to brown. Add onions and continue frying for 30 seconds. Pour asam juice and warm water and bring to boil.

Once asam juice starts to boil, add ladies finger and tomatoes and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Add pre-fried fish and seasoning to taste. Allow fish to cook under boiling asam juice for at least 1 minute.

Before dishing out, stir in preferred amount of corn starch to thicken and smoothen the gravy to your liking. This dish is excellent if you garnish or top it with chopped chinese parsley.

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Asam Ikan Kembung

Otak-Otak (some call it Fish Mousse) must rank as one of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever tasted. Usually, I would not stop at 10 sticks of this fish mousse (this is what some call it). The most famous otak-otak in Malaysia is sold in the town of Muar (where PB hails from). So, if and whenever I go to Muar on Court duty, I would pack a big bundle back.

The usual way of cooking otak-otak is to wrap it in coconut leaves followed by grilling it over an open flame. At home, however, it is not easy to find coconut leaves or even an open flamed grill. Hence, my mum decided to steam it instead. It was actually her first attempt and we loved it. Some of the recipes for otak-otak sounds very complicated and comes with a bewildering array of ingredients. Mum’s otak-otak is a simplified version and good enough for a home-cooked meal.

This is my mum’s recipe for Otak-Otak

Ingredients

(A)

• 250 to 300 grammes of fish flesh (spanish mackarel aka tenggiri, use a spoon to scrape flesh from the fish and place the flesh in a bowl)

(B)

• 5 pieces dried red chilli (pre-soaked to soften and remove seeds)
• 3 cm lengkuas
• 1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
• 2 stalks serai (lemon grass), sliced thinly
• 5 shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 limau purut leaves, finely sliced

(C)

• 1/2 tablespoon rice flour
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup santan (coconut milk)
• 2 large eggs (beaten)

Method

Blend (B) and place in mixing bowl. Add (C) and mix well followed by fish flesh and form into a dough-like mixture. Let it stand for 15 minutes. Then place it on suitable steaming plate and flatten it.

Steam over rapid boiling water for about 5 to 10 minutes. To test whether it is thoroughly cooked, take a toothpick and poke into the otak-otak. If the toothpick comes out relatively clean, the otak-otak should be cooked. Serve hot.

Alternatively, place mixture on a piece of pre-cleaned banana leaf followed by an outer layer of heavy-duty aluminium foil and grill over charcoal fire.

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Otak-Otak

One of the commonest fish found at wet markets in Malaysia has got to be the black pomfret (the cheaper cousin of the usual silver pomfret). The black pomfret, however, usually has a slightly more “fishy” taste / smell and therefore, it is not usually steamed compared to its more expensive cousin. At home, our usual way of cooking the black pomfret is to fry it after marinating it with a little salt. In case you are wondering whether I eat fish, yes I do. Just that I usually have them fried with simple salt marinade and I thought it is TOO SIMPLE a dish and that’s why I don’t post them up on this blog.

Anyway, with black pomfret, some cook it with assam-based gravy and some with tau-cheo based gravy. Mine here is more a simple chilli sambal which is “pasted” on top of the fish. The chilli sambal can also be considered a dip and you can serve it using another sauce plate in case you don’t want to spice up the fish (if you have little kids around) by smearing it with the chilli sambal.

Oh, the picture looks kinda pathetic without garnishing or “restaurant” look. After all, this is supposed to be home-cooked food. No time for all that. I just wanted a quick meal and this is what was served on the table Sprinkle some coriander leaves or julienned carrots / chilli or whatever you fancy to make it look more presentable

This is my recipe for Black Pomfret with Chilli Sambal Paste

Ingredients

• 1 black pomfret (rinsed and cleaned. Sprinkle a little salt and marinade it for 15 minutes. Rinse the salt very quickly before frying. If the pomfret is very thick in flesh, make a cut across the flesh till the bone so that it will cook faster)
• Cornflour (lightly dust the pomfret before frying)
• Oil for frying

Chilli Sambal

• 3 to 5 red chillis (remove seeds)
• 5 bulbs shallots
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 cm galangal (lengkuas)
• 2 cm ginger
• 1 large onion
• Juice from 3 pieces of lime
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Method

Blend chilli sambal ingredients (except cooking oil) together till it becomes a paste.

Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil on medium heat and lightly saute chilli sambal paste till fragrant (about 3 minutes or more) taking care not to burn the paste. Add salt and / or sugar to taste. Set aside.

Fry the pomfret in a clean wok till golden brown.

Place fried pomfret on serving plate and “paste” the chilli sambal over it.

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Fried Black Pomfret with Chilli Sambal Paste

Plain fried fish is a common fare in Chinese homes in Malaysia. With a simple seasoning of salt, fish like mackarel, kurau and promfret is fried and eaten as it is for its natural sweet taste. Problem is, sometimes you can’t finish the fish in one meal and you need to re-fry it for the next meal. Re-frying makes the fish meat tough and less appealing. One of the ways to overcome this would be to cook some form of sauce to “soften” the fried fish. Of course, you can always use fresh fish fried for the first time and cook it this way so that the fish is not overly dry.

Any block of fish would do. Over here, we used a portion of snapper. As for the leek, it imparts a sweetness to the dish and is good chewing as it is quite tender by the time the whole dish is cooked. Give it a try.

This is the recipe for Fried Fish with Stir-Fried Leek Sauce

Ingredients

• Fish (any type you fancy, preferably less bones)
• 1 stalk of leek (sliced thinly)
• 1 red chilli (sliced thinly)
• 3 slices of ginger
• some water
• Cooking oil

Seasoning

• Sprinkle of salt (to marinade fish)
• Light soya sauce to taste
• Sugar to taste

Method

Marinade fish for 30 minutes with salt. Give it a quick rinse thereafter and deep / shallow fry in wok till cooked. Remove and place on plate.

Clean wok and heat up 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil. Saute ginger, leeks and chilli till ginger starts to brown. Add some water (about 4 tablespoons or more) and bring to boil. Add light soya sauce and sugar to taste and cook leeks till desired softness. Add water if sauce is too dry to your liking.

Pour sauce over fried fish and serve hot with steaming white rice.

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Fried Fish with Stir-Fried Leek Sauce

Ikan Bilis Snack is not really the original name of this dish. Actually, I don’t have a name for this dish because for as long as I can remember, mum merely said “Tau Yu Kang He” (meaning “Dark Soya Sauce Anchovies / Ikan Bilis”). As the name connotes, this bunch of ikan bilis is given a coat of dark soya sauce for the colour and taste.

This dish is great for snacks (that’s why I name it Ikan Bilis Snack) and is also a suitable condiment for plain porridge or even white rice. It tastes sweet (from the sugar and onions) and salty (from the ikan bilis). It is so simple to cook that it shouldn’t intimidate any beginners. Try it will ya?

This is my recipe for Ikan Bilis Snack

Ingredients

• 3/4 bowls of ikan bilis (rinsed very quickly)
• 1 large onion (cut into rings
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil (palm oil)

Seasoning

• At least one heaped teaspoon of sugar (or to taste)
• At least one teaspoon of dark soya sauce (or to taste)

Method

Heat oil and fry ikan bilis till crisp using high heat. Remove ikan bilis and leave discard oil.

The wok should still be coated with oil at this moment. Add onions and saute till aromatic. Return fried ikan bilis to the wok, add seasoning and stir well to coat evenly prior to serving.

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Ikan Bilis Snack