Lovin' the new grill pan

Here's what I made tonight for dinner -




















Grilled Red Snapper (about 150g each here)

Let's start with the marinate - 2 tablespoons of melted butter goes into a mixing bowl with one chopped shallot, a dash of EVOO, 2 crushed cloves of garlic, juice and zest from half a lemon, sprinkle of pepper and chopped thyme leaves, and a pinch of salt to taste.

Once that's done you mix it around and then add to the wash, de-boned and de-scaled fillets of snapper. Set aside for 45 minutes.

When it's time to cook, fire up the grill to medium heat and drop it in skin side first for about 5 minutes of until the lower half starts to cook. Turn and finish up till the meat flakes when pressured.


Paprika Prawns (I used about 9 big ones here)

I realized that it's all about the marinate when it comes to grilling. Not much to do except watch it cook, so the marinate is key. Here's the one for the couple of tiger prawns I got. Be sure to devein the prawns and cut a nice slit along their spine to make the marinate sink in more.

You'll want a medium-sized shallot diced up along with a moderate amount of chopped garlic (about 2-3 cloves). Toss in about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and about 1 tablespoon of paprika. Mix in the juice of about half a lemon and last but not least chop up two chili padis and toss them in with the prawns. Mix.

Fire up the grill to medium heat and toss in till both sides are cooked with that nice charred look that we all love.


Garlic and Herb Potatoes

This is easy. And everyone loves potatoes. I used about 2 Russets for this one. Clean and scrub them potatoes and put them through the boiling salted water treatment for about 15 minutes or till they go soft (we need them cooked for the grill). Cool and wedge them.

Crush up 5 cloves of garlic and put them through a dry pan to roast them. About 10 minutes in medium heat will do. Extract and chop them up very finely. Commit this to about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and mix it with the potatoes.

Once the potatoes are nice and oily, put them into the grill and let em char on one side before turning over to reveal the nice burnt lines down the sides. Remove from grill when satisfied and toss in a pinch of parsley to serve.


Peppered Grilled Asparagus

These guys are really nice when you put them to the grill. Cut off the muddy bits and give them a nice wash before you throw them into a tub of icy water. Wait 30 minutes and then put them diagonally to the grill so they won't fall through and give you that nice charring down the sides.

When they go soft, that's what you remove em. Toss with ground pepper and salt to taste.

From the Kitchen of Mama Wong - Part 6

Sea Cucumber with Pork and Mushrooms

Mmmm.. Sea cucumbers! This disgusting little sea slug is filled with goodness, and for the ladies - they've no calories! I've been in love with them since my first bite, and if you're afraid of eating badly prepared ones, give me a call.

Ingredients -
Sea Cucumber (1kg)
Dried Mushrooms (preferably the Japanese ones, about half a bag)
Ginger (about 2cm)
Garlic and Shallots (2 cloves each)
Pork Belly (三辰肉, sliced to cubes of about 2cm)
Fatt Choy (grab a bunch)

All set? Fire up.

Mario Would Be Proud
Before we start, my first experience with dried mushrooms is worth a mention. I've been hungry again and thought of making some instant noodles (couldn't cook that well then so anything goes). There was nothing to go with the noodles so I decided to cook me some mushrooms! I took a bunch out of the packet and threw them into hot water so I could hasten the process. Big mistake.

Back to reality, and you'd want to soak the mushrooms for at least 2 hours in tap water. Throw in a little sugar. Once that's done, give the mushrooms a little squeeze to get out the water and nip off a little of their base before setting them aside.

Set aside the water as well. You won't regret it.

Tip: You can set aside the base for soup! Just wrap em in a cooking bag and toss em in.

My Sister Thinks It's Hair
Fatt Choy is like algae. It is, actually. Soak these in water and wait for them to soften. They will be useful in the last step of the recipe.

Squish
I can't stress this enough - clean the sea cucumbers. You need to scrape the stomach walls off the inside. if not it'll be a disgusting bitter aftertaste for you.

Once that's done, slice up some ginger (only about 1/2 of the total though - you'll need the rest for the next step) and fire up the wok. Heat up some oil and fry the ginger till you get that nice ginger smell in your kitchen. Throw in the sea cucumber after and play around. Next add a sprinkle of 花雕酒 (Hua Diao Wine) and cook till the wine becomes essence.

Once that's done remove everything and run it under a cold tap. Set aside and heat up the wok again.

The Rest of the Bunch
Oil, garlic, shallots, ginger till fragrant, and then throw in the pork. Cook that a little and then add in the mushrooms to the mix. A dash of oyster sauce (about 1 tablespoon) and dark soy sauce (about 2 tablespoons) to add some color, and then into a good pot.

Remember the water you saved when soaking the mushroom? The one with the sugar? Pour it into the pot with the mushrooms and pork, and then bring to a boil before stewing it for about an hour and a half till the mushrooms turn mush. Throw in a small cube of rock sugar while you're at it.

Once that's achieved, add in the sea cucumber and continue stewing for 30 more minutes. 20 minutes after the sea cucumber goes in, throw in the fatt choy.

Be sure to give it a stir once in awhile so they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Enjoy.

From the Kitchen of Mama Wong - Part 5

Steamed Sea Bass with Mushrooms and Pork

I'm a big fan of fish, but sea bass isn't one of my favs. It isn't one of the tastiest fish, but eat it the with mushrooms, pork and salted vegs and you'll end up loving it.

Ingredients -
Sea Bass (1 whole)
Pork Belly (三辰肉; 1 strip about 5-6cm long)
Salted Vegetables (1-2 leaves)
Dried Mushrooms (5-6; I like to those from Japan coz they've the best fragrance)
Ginger (3-4 slices)
Coriander (1 batch)
Spring Onions (1 batch)
Light Soy Sauce
Corn Flour
Pepper
Oyster Sauce
Pre-Cooked Oil

All set? Let's get cooking.

Always Be Preparing
I hope you've never had to try to eat dried mushrooms without soaking them properly first. My first experience with them was pretty bad - I wanted to add them to instant noodles and decided that they will pretty tun soft after I throw them in hot water for about 5 minutes.

I've since discovered that you need at least 2 hours of soaking before the mushrooms can be used, so do that; no need for warm water. When the mushrooms are all soft, take off their stems and slice them up.

Next up in the ginger. Scratch off the skin and then slice them up FINELY. My mum does a really good job of it (she doesn't hide that fact too); the ginger's gotta be really fine for it to work... like hair.

After the ginger comes the pork (seriously it doesn't matter which comes first really... you gotta do em all in the end). Wash and clean the excess fats off the belly strip and then slice them FINELY. They should look like little slimy maggots in your bowl after you set em aside. Makes for better 口感.

The salted vegetables should also be cut finely, but you need em to crunch down well so ease up on the fine-as-hair requirement on the ginger.

Spring onions are like the ginger. Keep the stalks (the thick lower half near the roots) for the fish.

Coriander's sparingly cut into 2cm segments, ready to be sprinkled onto the finished product along with the spring onions.

Last but not least (I must say this is my least favorite part of the dish), the fish. Descale it (the monger usually does a kindergarten kid's job of it) and clean out its guts.

Side Story: Selecting a good sea bass
When you're going to the market to choose fish, always look out for certain traits. Just remember that they all used to be alive, so by keeping out for signs of decay, you'll be pretty safe.

The Chinese call sea bass 金目鱸, literally translated into Golden-Eyed Fish. So you're gonna want to choose one with bright silver eyes. Its flesh should also have a certain bounce to it.

Once all that's done, take a break by firing up the wok in preparation for steaming.

Let Em Soak
The next step would be to marinate the meat and the mushrooms. Let's do the mushrooms first.

Take the mushroom slices and throw in corn flour (about a teaspoon), oyster sauce (2 teaspoons but you might like it saltier), ginger slices, pepper (a dash), and the pre-cooked oil (about a table spoon). Mix and set aside.

For the pork, you'll need light soy sauce (about 1 cap full), corn flour (1 teaspoon) and pepper (a bigger dash than the mushrooms; let's call it TWO dashes). Mix and set aside.

Into The Fire
Lay the spring onion stalks on a ceramic plate and place the fish on top. Sprinkle pre-cooked oil over the bass and then decorate the plate with the mushrooms, pork and salted vegetables. If you like your fish salty, you might wanna stuff a few salted vegs into the belly.

Put the fish to steam for about 10 minutes under high heat and when it's done, sprinkle on the spring onions and coriander before serving.

From the Kitchen of Mama Wong - Part 4

Pork Chops in Ketchup

Feeling kinda low right now, so I've decided to bring this dish to the table in a bid to cheer myself up. This is the first dish Mama Wong taught me, and it's kinda the longest dish to prepare. Trust me, it'll be worth it when you're done.

Ingredients -
4 - 8 Pork Slices (五花)
Potatoes (4-5 depending on how much you love em)
Onions (2 whole)
Garlic (2 cloves)
Tomatoes (2 whole, quartered)
Ketchup (about a half bottle)
Oyster Sauce (like 2 tablespoons I think)
Light Soy Sauce (1 cap full)
Pepper (a pinch)
Sugar (to taste, but definately less than the pepper)

All set? Here we go. It's gonna be a three-stop process.

Dunkin Pork Chops
Wash the pork and slice em into thin slices about 5mm thick. Alternatively you can ask the butcher to slice em up for you. Next thing to do would be to tenderize the pork by smashing them up. Now's a good time to release all your frustration and anger onto the pieces of meat coz you want them as tender as possible. One and two and pound and four!

When you're done beating the crap out of the pork, raid your cupboards for oyster sauce, pepper, a single egg (we're only going to use the white), and a little soy sauce. Mix em up with the pork and throw it into the fridge for an hour.

We'll get started on the potatoes now.

I like Em Soft and Salted
Wash and peel the potatoes. Sharpen that knife and prepare to wedge em. You'll probably get 3-4 wedges per half. Once you've gotten the wedges done, fire up the wok.

Well, a deep fryer would do as well, but I like em soft so that they'll mix well with the sauce later. No point getting them all fluffy and crunchy just so you can soak them later.

Bring the oil to a boil (skip this chapter if you're using a deep fryer. I promise not to make fun of you), and then plop in the wedges under a medium heat. Be sure to dry them before they enter the oil if you want to prevent splatter (hah, guess I should've told you that earlier huh). In about 5 minutes you can flip em over. Once they all done you should be able to catch the distinctive smell - that's the smell of potatoes turning into wedges.

Once they're all done, we move on to the pork. Get your protective gear if you're afraid of oil splatter. And this one's for those using fryers - chicken.

If You Can't Stand The Heat
Take the pork out and have a whiff - they've been basking in the marinate for a good hour and should be smelling divine. Keep the image of the finished delicacy in your head coz you're gonna need an initiative to get the next step done.

For people with deep fryers, you're getting away from this one. Time to face the (oily) music.

Fire up the oil once more and throw in the pork. I'm gonna give an oil warning here - a lot of splattering will happen, especially if you're using frozen pork.

Cook the porkers till one side is done and then flip for the other half. Once all's done, set aside and we'll move on to the sauce. We'll talk about cleaning the floor later.

Orange, and Warm, and Poured All Over
With a lot less oil this time, fire up the trusty wok for one last time. Throw in the onions and garlic and toss em around till you're fragrant. Oh, the garlic before the onions, sorry.

Next we add in the ketchup - half of the bottle. Mix in about half a cup of water to your desired viscosity. Cook to a boil and add in the sugar. Do a little taste test to make sure it's good (you can add in more water, more sugar, or more ketchup), and then throw in the pork.

Mix well, and then throw in the potatoes.

Mix weller, and then serve.

Tada! Now all you have to worry about is the oily floor and the filthy kitchen top.