Affair with Prata

The week was more eventful than normally since my brother is living with us now. Since my parents are here to visit for a while, we have been eating out a lot for the past couple weeks to show the food heavens in the GTA. Last week we were invited to eat the famous crab at Saigon Star .What very interesting about this always full seating restaurant,they presented pratha and french baguette for dipping the crab sauce, an unusual trade for a bowl of rice in a Vietnamese restaurant. 

Eversince I have been wanting to eat those delicious fluffy Prata. During his days in Malaysia, my brother said the norm is to eat Prata/ Roti Canai with sweet condensed milk. Although he did not get to satisfy his sweet tooth, he got a fair share of Prata for dinner ( maybe next time). I took out a bag of frozen Shana Paratha and toast it with a little butter in a pan untill those layers of flour and fat is bubbly and turned golden brown.

To accompany the Prata, chickpea dipping is the way to go. Some left over cherry tomatoes can serve the dipping well too. I bet its not the most authentic Indian style of eating prata with a dal , since my chickpea dipping is thicker almost like hummus. But it was faster to cook and bursting with flavor!

My husband is a carnivore, so does my brother. The meal is incomplete without a piece a meat on their   plate. I decided to make a simple pan seared garlic basa fillet ( if it counts as meat, since I already defroze them). So a meal is complete with a last touch of apricot syrup. I give the sweet portion for my brother sweet tooth ( part of it), well not really. It would be  a perfect marriage of sweet earthiness.

Chickpeas Dipping

A can of chickpeas

1/2 red onions diced

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of turmeric

a handful of cherry tomatoes/ 1 tomatoes if you will

1/2 tbsp of cumin ( if you like more it more spicy you can add more)

salt and cracked pepper to taste

In a pan heat up the olive oil and throw in the red onions untill it softens, put in the spices, tomatoes ,add the chickpeas with the juice. Simmer untill the water is absorbed. You can use a fork to mash the chickpeas, and serve!

Pan Seared ( Garlic) Basa fillet

2 Basa fillet

2 garlic cloves minced,

1 tbsp of butter

Flour , cayene peper, and salt for coating

Make the basa fillet into 4 portions each. Pat dry the the fillet with towel. In a bowl mix flour, cayene pepper, and salt for coating. Coat the fish uniformly ,set aside. Warm the butter in a pan, if the heat gets too hot, add some canola oil so the butter will not get burned. Sautee the garlic so the oil is infused with flavor.Take out the garlic and pan fry the fish 3-5 minutes per side untill cooked. Assemble the meal, dont forget the apricot syrup!

and Have a good Eat!

Pan Fried / Baked Fish with Edamame Salad and Kecap Manis ( Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce)

     The past two three months have been hectic and crazy for me. Its a lot of things going on all at once. First the training for Loblaw grad program, and then last month somehow I injured myself at work. This past week I have been on and off work depending how bad my bulging disk is treating me. Most of the time it’s pulling me down and so far it’s not looking good (boo!) I want my speedy recovery!!!

    However, on the brighter side, since I have been home a lot and bed resting in between push up reps ( it really is the only good exercise to heal and soothe the muscle spasm and pain according to the physiotherapist),I am thankful that I can day dream about cooking and fancy meal, or put a quick lunch. This is almost a good break for me although its not really in the best terms. Nevertheless, I have my hours of contemplation. Food and food it is...
    I love thinking about what to cook, how to cook it, and play around with my food. Sometimes I am too silly and excited to even think about it which in turn creating me a hard time to decide. So maybe, if you are kind enough ( I know you are a darling!)...will you give me some suggestion please, about an ingredient of interest?

    Oh and please stick with a reasonable budget...I mean someone wrote one of the ingredient as “love” . Man! That ingredient is way too priceless!( joking Redy if you read this:p, I agree tho...the labour of love will make the most meaningful food), but I need to show ma love in something something good you know! So I need your help!
   Meanwhile you are thinking hard... I will entertain you with my dinner tonite! Maybe you will be interested to come and join us for dinner sometimes?
I cooked a super delish pan fried fish with edamame symphony salad finished by drizzles of kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soya sauce). It was heavenly and easy to prepare.

Here is some food porn to look at:

Now lets get down to the business:
What you need:
•    2 large fillets of haddock/ halibut, or any meaty fish. If fresh fish is an issue you can use Dory/ Basa fillets just like I did.
•    Ground cinnamon
•    Ground coriander
•    Lemon Juice
•     1 tbsp Minced Garlic
•    Olive oil
•    And kecap manis ( Indonesian sweet soya sauce): you can find this in most Chinese grocery store like T&T.
•    Edamame Salad Ingredients:
•     cooked edamame beans,diced tomatoes & Red Pepper, thinly Sliced Red onions,

How to make it good:

    Pat dry the fish and sprinkle both sides with ground cinnamon, black
        pepper, ground coriander minced garlic and salt to taste .( You don’t need
        that much ground cinnamon and coriander)t
    If you want it fried you can add sprinkle some flour to seal the juice and
        heat some oil ( and cook it for about 5-7 minutes on each side.
    But if you are time constraint and don’t want to deal with the hassle of
        frying, you could bake them
    Put the marinated fish in a baking pan and drizzle with little olive oil.
    Put it into the oven for at 350F for 13-15 minutes
    While you are waiting for the fish you can prepare and put together  the
        edamame salad ingredients
    When everything is plated, drizzle the fish and salad with kecap manis and
        squeeze of lemon juice!
    Oh and if you are up for the challenge: add some chilli kick to it:
    And everything will be great for the rest of the day!


Passion + Patience   *Gastrobutterfly*  A food to your soul.

Pan Seared Fish with Sweet Fermented Chilli Paste and Roasted Tomatoes

Dear :  The food connoisseur!

 

There is nothing better than eating fresh seafood right from the seashore, however if you are far away from the sea breeze, a trip to a local fish market would always be exciting and fresh! Now… a fresh whole fish should have clear eyes and shiny scales. If you buy a fillet however, look for a firm intact flesh. Picking the fresh fish is the key in flavorful and tasty fish dish.

 

As always, I love to experiment on combining flavors. This time we are going to use my  express taste booster : The asian fermented chilli paste. You can get this in most asian ( Chinese and Korean market in a jar. The sweet and hot taste gives a perfect kick that I need to enhance the fish flavor while minimizing the fishy smell that some people can not stand.

 

This dish actually the east meet the west for me. Being brought up in the Asia, fish is most enjoyably consumed by deep frying it, and serving  it on  rice  with the shrimp paste chili sauce. Omitting the deep fried part, I tried to play around with the idea of keeping the crispy skin texture and the goodness inside. Not to forget a little kick of our favorite friend; the chilli sauce. For those who are sensitive to the heat, dont worry, the fermented chilli paste are very mild and friendly! Just give it a try, and you will definetely back for more!

 

The " ingredients":

 

• Fish fillet cut to medium portion (approximately 4 x3 inch) you can use meaty white fish such as Halibut, Haddock, Marlin if not Salmon will do well too.
• Lemon pepper seasoning
• Sun Flower/ Olive oil
• Fresh Tomatoes/ Roasted tomatoes
• Finely chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp Fermented Chilli paste ( Korean or Chinese grocery)
• 1tsp honey
• Cucumber
• Spanish onion
• ½ tsp minced ginger
• Juice from half of lemon & lemon peel
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• Salt to taste

 

The “execution”:

 

• Pat dry the fish, and sprinkle the fish with lemon pepper seasoning

 

• Pan Seared the fish to crisp the skin  for 2 minutes each sides ( I love using iron cast or stainless steels pan so I can put the pan inside the oven right after)

 

• Meanwhile, in a bowl mix  the fermented chilli paste, with lemon juice, honey

 

•  Take off the fish from heat, leave in a little oil in  fish pan

 

• Put the sliced onion,  minced ginger, tomatoes, chopped garlic on top of the fish in the pan

 

• Put into oven to bake at 350 F for 16-20 minutes

 

• Once its done, the aromatic vegetable should infused their flavor through the oil, and the natural juice of the fish will ooze out.

 

• Plate the fish and the onions, tomatoes. Add the mixed fermented chilli paste on the side or you can drizzle it on top of the fish

 

• Cucumber on the side is good for cooling down the palate.

 

In order to add servings of vegetables to your diet, you can add in mixed vegetable salads and use the juice from the fish and the sweet fermented chilli sauce as the dressings.

I can not wait until summer comes and try different fish dishes on the grill! For now…I am taking a break to stroll around the town. See you soon!

 

Love always,

Passion + Patience

*Gastrobutterfly*

A food to your soul.