Jasmine Tea Smoked Sea Bass

Ingredients:
a) 1 Sea Bass fish

Seasoning:
b) Light soy sauce
c) Jasmine tea leaves (You can substitute with other tea leaf. I chose Jasmine as it is more fragrant)
d) Rice (Uncooked)
e) Sugar


Directions:
1) Season the fish with some light soy sauce for 20 minutes.
2) Coat the wok with butter and pan fry the fish over high heat till it is about 90% cooked. 
3) Fill ingredients c) to e) on an aluminium foil as base and steam the cooked fish over it for 10 minutes.
4) Serve.

* Do not move the fish too much when pan frying as the shape may distort. 

I adapted this recipe from a cooking show by MediaCorp called "3-plus-1" or " 3菜1汤"


Food ratings (10 being the best): 
My husband's rating -8/10
My rating - 7/10


The dish had a strong jasmine smell when served but when you eat the fish, there is a subtle jasmine fragrant which is pleasant and not overwhelming. The fish is cooked just nice (Pan frying it to 90% is recommended compared to having it completely cooked) and the meat is soft and juicy.

Cooking complexity (10 being hardest to cook):
My rating - 5/10  

The tough part of preparing this dish is frying the fish. Using my Neoflam wok, the fish got stuck onto the wok and flipping the fish is hard. I hated it also when oil started to splatter everywhere. Steaming the fish is easy though but you will need to keep track of the time. I am constantly worried that the aluminum foil may catch fire as it was my first time preparing this way. =p

My mom recently introduced a wok to me which she claims that frying a fish would be much easier. I will do a review on the wok in my subsequent post.

Hope you will enjoy the Jasmine Tea Smoked Sea Bass dish!

Reviews on Neoflam cookware - 26cm wok

Neoflam 26cm wok

My mom gave me this wok when I moved to my new house. She said that this wok is made in Korea and the Ecolon coating on the wok is not harmful to the human body unlike traditional cookware which is PTFE-based non-stick coating. My husband is very particular about "non-stick" cookware as he wants a wok which is really "non-stick" - where the egg won't stick to the pan when you cook it. For me, I just want something that can churn out nice food, easy to wash and not harmful to my family's health.  According to my mom, the wok you use determines the taste of your food. Whatever...


So how is the Neoflam wok?

1) Height: I quite like to use it to cook meat dishes - I.e. Pan fried fish, curry but I find it too low when I use it to cook vegetables. The vegetables tend to "overflow" when you put them in the wok - I usually use Neoflam 30cm wok to cook vegetables as the height is much taller.

2) Non-stick element: Well, contrary to what is written, food does stick to the wok. So it is not like some advertisement which I have watched on TV where the egg will just glide smoothly on the wok.

3) Washing: It is a disaster when washing because the food sticks to the bottom of the wok after you pan fry stuffs. Luckily for me, my mom taught me a method for easy removal of these items - Boil some water using the wok after cooking and it will be much easier to scrub and remove the debris.

4) Cooking: I like for the fact that there is a glass lid so I can cover the wok* when cooking, I.e. when pan frying stuffs.

5) Weight: This wok is too heavy for me. I am quite petite so lifting the wok when filled with food is quite tedious.

6) Scratch Resistance:  When my husband and I used our first Neoflam wok, he caused scratches on the side of the wok when cooking fried rice. The Ecolon coating flakes off revealing the inside of the wok. We were surprised at how "vulnerable" the wok was and that it was not as "extremely" scratch resistant as it claims to be. We requested for an exchange but the manufacturer declined and so we threw the wok away as I am worried that it may be hazardous to health even though the manufacturer said that it is still safe.

7) The handle is not metal** so you don't need to worry about it being hot. One have to be cautious when holding the wok though as there is a connecting part between the handle and the wok which is made of metal so it will be quite hot. 

8) Price: The price is quite ok if you buy it during Sales period at OG or Robinson. They usually give a minimum discount of 20% =)

After talking to my mother, who raved about how good the Neoflam wok was, I decided to give it another try. On the whole, I think that the Neoflam wok is quite value for money and does serve its purpose well.  

* Not all woks have covers
** There are woks with metal handles... Think will be tough to hold... >_<

Published Recipe - Shark bone soup recipe

Shark bone soup Recipe

Ingredients:
a) 100 grams Dried shark fin bone
b) 50 grams Jin Hua Ham (Dry-cured ham)
c) 300 grams lean meat
d) 10 pieces Chicken feet*
e) 1 teaspoon Pepper grains (flattened)
f) 2 Litres Plain water

Seasoning:
g) A small pinch of salt
h) 1 Tablespoon Hua diao wine

Directions:
1) Soak the shark bones in water for 8 hours, drain and remove excess water.
2) Parboil lean meat and chicken feet with boiling water, drain and remove excess water.
3) Add all the ingredients into the boiling water, continue boiling the soup for 2-3hours using small fire.
4) Add all the seasonings and stir the soup. Serve.

* I did not use chicken feet as neither my husband nor me likes them.

I got this recipe from 'U' magazine which was provided by a famous chef. 

Food ratings (10 being the best):
My husband's rating -3/10
My rating - 2/10

I found the soup tasteless and is just like plain water. If not for its high nutritional value (A health show once mentioned that shark bone can combat cancer. Not sure how true is that), I might have given it a lower rating than 2.

Cooking complexity (10 being hardest to cook):
My rating - 4/10 

I found it troublesome to parboil the meat separately even though it was necessary to remove the pork's odour. The need to soak the shark's bone also meant that I have to prepare 1 day in advance. Other than the mentioned 2 points, the rest is just chucking everything into the pot to boil.

I think I will try to cook this soup again with some variation of ingredients next time. Watch out for my post on it!

Home Cook Food Post 1 - Meat Patties with Potato Slices Recipe

Meat Patties with Potato Slices Recipe

Ingredients:
a) 250grams minced meat (I typically use pork, can substitute with chicken as well. The meat cannot be too oily)
b) 2 Tablespoon Scallop sauce (Available from supermarket - I will share next time what brand I usually use)
c) 1 Tablespoon sugar
d) 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
e) Dash of pepper
f) 1 Tablespoon of light soya sauce
g) 1 egg
h) 2 Potatoes (Peeled and sliced)
i) 1 onion (Skin removed and sliced)*
j) 1 bowl of water
k) Cornflour Mixture (1 Tbsp cornflour mix with 75ml of water)

Directions:
1) In a bowl, mix 1 Tablespoon of scallop sauce, sugar, sesame oil, pepper, light soya sauce, egg, and minced meat. Marinate meat for a minimum of 2 hours in refrigerator.
2) Divide the marinated meat into smaller portions and shape it into the desired size meat patty.
3) Heat a little cooking oil in wok/pan and pan fry meat patty till it turns brownish. Remove meat patty for later use.
4) Using the same wok, stir-fry garlic until brown using small fire.
5) Add meat, potato, 1 Tablespoon of scallop sauce and water. Stir to mix.
6) When the potato turn soft, add onion and stir-fry for another 2 minutes.
7)  Add cornflour mixture and stir until sauce is thick. Serve.

* I chopped the onions into 4 big chunks in my dish because I don't like to eat onions.

This recipe is provided by my mother-in-law. I hope you and your family will enjoy the dish.

Food ratings (10 being the best):
My husband's rating -9/10
My rating - 8/10

I think that the food taste nice and the sauce goes really well with white rice. I did not give full marks because there are onions. =p

Cooking complexity (10 being hardest to cook):
My rating - 7/10 

I find it troublesome to pan-fry the meat patty separately. Cutting the onions are also tough as my eyes will get irritated and start tearing. The toughest part during the cooking process is ensuring the meat patty is cooked!

Home Cooked Food

I have always enjoyed home food prepared by my mom and mother-in-law. When I come across various interview articles asking different chefs about their favourite dish, I can fully understand how they feel when they unanimously reply that their favourite dish is one prepared by their family/ mother.

Inspired by this passion, I wish to capture and share the recipes used by my mom and mother-in-law here on cookingdigest. With this, I hope that their skills will not be lost through time and good dishes can be passed down from generation to generation.

Do share any good home recipes used by your family as well! =)