Dahi Wali Machli - Dory Fish Yogurt Curry

Northern India cusine is not known for its fish dishes due to it geographical location. However, fresh water or river fishes are still available in Northern India. Dahi Wali Machli is North India fish curry dish that is not widely known until I found the recipe off a curry cookbook. I made some amendment to the original recipe so that it is more suitable for those health conscious without sacrificing the actual taste. For those who never tried before Dahi Wali Machli, it is a light, fresh curry with a tinge of yogurt taste that doesn't overpower your palate.

Dahi Wali Machli - Dory Fish Yogurt Curry

• 6 Pieces of dory fish fillet or sutchi fillet, cut into 4cm chunks.
• 1 Teaspoon of salt
• 1 Quarter slice of Lime
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of ground turmeric powder
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of chili powder

Curry Sauce

• 3 Tablespoon oil
• 1 Onion finely chopped
• 1 Teaspoon cumin powder
  
• 1 Teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 Teaspoon chili powder
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon of ginger puree
• 2 Green chilies slit
• 100ml of plain yogurt
• 250ml of fish stock
• 1/2 Teaspoon of dried fenugreek leaves (can be found in Mustafa Centre)
• 1/2 Teaspoon of garam masala
  

Marinate the dory fish fillet with salt, chili powder and turmeric powder. Squeeze the lime on the fish and made sure the dory fish is evenly coated with chili and turmeric powder and set it aside to marinate for 30 minutes. Heat a frying pan with a tablespoon of oil and add in the marinated dory fish and pan fried it for 2 to 3 minutes transfer it to paper towel dish to remove the excess oil. The reason to pan fried the fish is to firm up the fish and prevent it from breaking up when you add it into the yogurt curry.

Heat up the saucepan with 3 tablespoon of oil, add in the chopped onion and saute it until golden brown. Add in the cumin, turmeric, chili powder and saute until you can smell the spices begin to release their flavour. Adjust your heat to low so that you do not burn the spices and stir in the ginger and chili and fry it for another 1 to 2 minutes. Next, stir in the plain yogurt and made sure the masala is fully incorporate into the yogurt, stirring constantly to prevent the yogurt from splitting. Increase, the heat until the mixture boil.

Pour in the fish stock and stir it consistently to let the yogurt blend with the fish stock then simmer for 3 to 5 minutes to reduce it to consistency of your liking. Now, add in the salt so that you can fine tune the curry in it final stage. Add in the pan fried dory fish and continue to cook over a low flame for another few minutes. Then stir in the fenugreek leaves and garam masala and cover and turn off the heat. After that you can serve with rice.

Pan Fried Cajun Dory Fish

Sometimes it's hard to cook fish as you need to heavily marinate it with sauces or spice to mask the fishiness that comes naturally in them. Recently, I found a way (as recommended by Babette) to remove or reduce the fishiness by pre-marinate in herbs & spice infused water. The end result is the fish have a tint of the herb/spice infused water while still retaining it natural fish flavour.

I decide to do a light cajun pan-fried dory fish to test out Babette's theory. True to her words, the pan fried dory came out quite good as the fish do not have the usual predominant fishy taste which I decide to share with everyone.

Pan Fried Cajun Dory Fish

• 2 Pieces of Dory Fish
• Cajun Spice
• Salt
  

Fish Marinade

• Water
• 1 Green Chili Sliced
• 1 Quarter Lime Juiced
• Few Slice of Juliene Lime Skin
• 1 Chopped Garlic
• Dash of Ground Black Pepper

The dory fish available in Singapore is normally frozen solid. Rather than thaw it. You can made use of the fish marinade to thaw and flavor the dory fist at same time. Get a tupperware about the same size and put the dory fish in. Fill the tupperware halfway with water and squeeze the lime juice into the way. Add in the juliene lime skin, garlic, chili and ground black pepper into the water. Give the fish marinade a good stir to let the spice distribute even in the tupperware and seal it with a lid and marinate for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

Drained off the fish marinade. Drain off excess marinade from the dory fish with a kitchen towel. You can smell the dory fish no longer have the fishy smell but a tinge of spices from the fish marinade. Sprinkle lightly salt and cajun spice on each side of the dory fish. Panfried both side for 10mins or more till it browned then serve it hot.

Home Style Lok Lok - Skewer Mala Hotpot

Friend is crashing over my place for Ma La Hotpot. Due to the wet weather, it is ideal for hotpot. Rather than doing those normal style hotpot, I decide to do Lok Lok Hotpot for novelty. Lok Lok Hotpot is whereby the food condiments skewer on bamboo stick and cook in the hotpot. I did a basic skewer with standard cooked items and special chicken skewer and got quite a positive response from my friend.

Cooked Food Lok Lok

• Bamboo Skewers (retail at $2 at Daiso)
• Vegetable FIsh Balls
• Mushroom Pork Meat Balls
• Fake Crab Sticks
  
• Chikuwa
• Fried Fish Roll

You do not need to follow strictly the skewer items listed above. Feel free to experiment with other cooked items for the cooked food lok lok. Before you skewer the food items, check the depth of the hotpot with a skewer to see how much you food items you can skewer to ensure it could be fully cook when you immerse it in the hotpot .

Marinated Chicken Lok Lok

• Bamboo Skewers (retail at $2 at Daiso)
  
• 1 Chicken Thigh Chopped Chunk
  
• 1 Teaspoon of Garlic Puree
• 1 Teaspoon of Ginger Puree
• 1 Teaspoon of Cumin Powder
• 1 Teaspoon of Chili Powder
• Salt
  

Marinate the chicken chunks with garlic, ginger, cumin and chili powder with a pinch of salt overnight. As Daiso's bamboo skewer is pretty thick so if you need to take care in skewering the chicken pieces as you need use certain amount of prodding to poke through the meat. This marinated chicken lok lok taste equally fabulous if you pan fry or grill it.

  Mala Hotpot Hotpot Soup

• Mala Hotpot Soup Pack (retail $1.60 at Sheng Siong)
• 3 to 4 cups of Water

The Mala Hotpot Soup pack sold in Sheng Siong is heavily flavored, therefore you only need 3 to 4 cups of water boil it before you add in the Mala soup pack. Do not add in the whole mala soup pack into boiling water. Add in by tablespoon and do a taste test until the hotpot soup reach the spice level you are comfortable with. Then, you are ready to have a hotpot fiesta.

Dory Fish Herb Nugget

I had very bad experience with those "Ready To Fry" fish nuggets retailing in major supermarkets. They are a major disappointment as most are either thickly coated with flour or the fish nugget filling is fish meat blend into a mush then re-constitute into a nugget. The taste is not one who would desire.

Lately McCormick release a new product Fish Nugget Mix to address this issue. I bought a pack at NTUC Fairprice at promotion price of $0.99. I decided to give it a go since I got some Dory Fish available to experiment with. The dish came out quite appealing as the nugget is not too thickly coated and the herbs in the crispy nugget crust really compliment the dory fish well. The result is further justify by.the thumbs up given by my mum and her students.

   Dory Fish Herb Nugget

• 2 pieces of sutchi fillet slice nugget to nugget size
• 1 pack of McCormick Fish Nugget Mix
• 1 egg whip and dilute with a bit of water
• cooking oil

Make sure you wash and drain the sutchi fillet before you slice the sutchi fillet into nugget bite size. Dip the sutchi fillet in the egg wash and coat it with McCormick Fish Nugget Mix. Heat up a frying pan with cooking oil for 5-10 mins, fry the nugget until it turn golden brown. Drain and serve it hot with tartare sauce or mayonnaise.  

Pan Fried Tandoori Sutchi Fillet

I start to feel I have been emphasizing too much meat recipe especially on poultry and it's getting kinda boring. I got some tandoori mix left from previous cooking expedition and decide why not do a Pan Fried Tandoori Sutchi Fillet as it will be quite a novel dish. It is best served with rice or you can innovate and serve it as a Tandoori Fish Burger with fresh lettuce. 

.Pan Fried Tandoori Sutchi Fillet

• 3 Pieces of Sutchi Fillet (2 Pack $3.20 at NTUC Fairprice)
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Mince
• 1 Teaspoon Ginger Mince
• 2 Tablespoon Tandoori Mix
• 2 Tablespoon Yogurt ($1.20 at Sheng Siong)
• Salt
• Lime

Thaw the 3 pieces of sutchi fillet and made sure you run through water to clean it. After that, pat it dry with paper towel or squeeze out excess water with your hands. Sprinkle a bit of salt across the fillet and squeeze lime juice and give it a good rub and leave it to marinate for 15 mins.

Mix garlic, ginger, tandoori mix and yogurt to you get a fine paste. Applied it onto the sutchi fillet and ensure all of them are evenly coated. Leave it to marinate overnight for best result if not at least 1 hour. Heat a skillet or frying pan light coat with oil, panfried the sutchi fillet till each side start to brown.  

Ginseng Soy Dory Fillet/Honey Chipotle Dory Fillet with Carbonara Agnoletti

Being an offer grabber, I tend to overly purchase groceries when particular food items on big discount. Therefore, my fridge have the tendency to bulge with all kinds of sauces and meats. As Chinese New Year is closing, it is the time of the month to clear all the leftover food remnant. Having remaining dory fillet and carbonara sauce leftover from previous culinary adventure. I decide to create 2 new fish dishes to clear the leftover - Ginseng Soy Dory Fillet & Honey Chipotle Dory Fillet.



Ginseng Soy Dory Fillet (Pan Fried)

1. Dory Fillet or Sutchi Fillet (Easily found in supermart cost about $3.90 per pack)
   
2. Light Soya Sauce
3. Ginseng Powder (Easily found in TCM shop)
   
4. Ground Black Pepper
5. Corn Starch
   

Most of the sutchi fillet sold in super market comes in a pack of 3 IQF. So when you need to defrost them completely before you marinate it in order for the marinate to seep in. For 1 piece of sutchi fillet, use 1 to 2 tablespoon of light soya together with 1 teaspoon of ginseng powder rub down on both side of the sutchi fillet u can sprinkle 1 teaspoon of corn starch and rub in so that they can congeal the marinate to the sutchi fillet. Grind some black pepper to both side of the fillet and leave it to marinate for an hour at least.

Fire up the stove with a table spoon of oil in the frying pan, once the pan is hot enough place the sutchi fillet into and sear for 2 mins before flipping to the other side to sear for another 2 mins. After that, ginseng soy dory fillet is ready to serve.

Chipotle Honey Dory Fillet (Pan Fried)

1. Dory Fillet or Sutchi Fillet (Easily found in supermart cost about $3.90 per pack)
   
2. Chipotle Chili Paste (Sold $12.90 in Belmonte Latin Food)
   
3. Honey

This is the most easy of all the fish dish. As the chipotle chili paste is very spicy. I only use 1 teaspoon of chipotle chili paste to mix it with 1 tablespoon of honey after that apply it evenly to both side of dory fillet. Ensure it is marinate thoroughly for an hour at least before you pan fry it both side for 2 mins before serving.

Carbonara Agnoletti

1. Agnoletti
   
2. Leggo Carbonara Sauce
   
3. Stock
   

Agnoletti is a kind of stuff pasta that you can easily find in Cold Storage or Carrefour. This Agnoletti is stuff with spinach and ricotta cheese. You need to cook it in boiling water for about 5 to 8 mins till it soften. Next, you need to drain and set it aside. Next will be the Carbonara Sauce, heat up the frying pan and scoop 2 tablespoons of carbonara sauce to the frying pan as the sauce is rather thick you can add in 2 scoops of stock to dilute it. As it boils, put in the cooked agnoletti and let it cook till the sauce thicken then it is ready to serve.

Cajun Smoked Salmon/ Pork Bolognaise Fusilli Pasta

It been a long while, I finally got the chance to try out the Wright's smoking liquid to create culinary cuisine you can prepare easily at home. Therefore, I proudly brought you Cajun Smoked Salmon served with Pork Bolognaise Fusilli Pasta.

Smoked Cajun Salmon

1. Salmon 2 Slices (With/Without Skin)
2. MasterFoods Cajun Spice
3. Fresh Grind Black Pepper (Normal Pepper will do as well)
4. Wright's Hickory Liquid Smoke

The salmon I bought is frozen solid. Therefore, I thaw it overnight in the lower fridge cubicle. On the big day, drain the salmon of any excess water that is left after thawing. If you using salmon that you bought directly from the supermarket, you can skip this step.

Sprinkle MasterFoods Cajun Spice onto the salmon ensure both sides are covered lightly with the cajun spice. Take note that MasterFoods Cajun Spice contains salt granulates, therefore take care not to over apply if you're sodium intake conscious. Grind some fresh black pepper to cover both side of the salmon, take care not to apply too much and in the end it became black pepper salmon instead of cajun.

Apply 2 teaspoons of Wright's Hickory Liquid Smoke onto the salmon. With clean hands, ensure the liquid smoke is throughly rub into the salmon. Next it sprinkle some cornstarch (about 2 teaspoon - 1 teaspoon for each piece of salmon) on both side of the salmon and ensure it is even coated. The cornstarch will acts as a binding agent to hold the liquid smoke and cajun onto the salmon. Let the salmon settle in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours to let the flavour to fully seep into the salmon. You can skip that if you are the impatient kind, but the taste will differs though.

You can baked or pan fry it. For my case, I pan fry it on a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Fry until both side turn golden red then you can serve it with rice or pasta.

Pork Bolognaise Fusilli Pasta

1. Barilla Fusilli Pasta
2. Leggo Pasta Bake Sauce - Creamy Tomato & Mozzarella
3. Beef Stock (Chicken Stock is fine as well)
4. Pork Collar Meat Shabu Shabu Slice
5. Fresh Grind Black Pepper

I decide to cook the fusilli first as it need about 8 mins as indicated by the cooking instruction in the pasta box. Boil a pot of water (half full) with a dash of salt. Here the guide on how to proportion the amount of fusilli for single consumption. Use a small bowl as a measuring device and fill it with raw fusilli till you have a finger nail allowance. This will prevent you from cooking too many and in the end stuffing yourself like a turkey. After that throw in the fusilli into the boiling water. You might need to stir occasionally to prevent the fusilli from sticking. While the pasta cooking, we move to cooking the meat sauce.

The pork collar meat was purchased from Shop`N'Save. As it is thinly sliced, it is easy to cook without worry the meat under cook. I've used about 4 slice of pork collar meat sprinkle salt and grind black pepper and marinate them throughly. I didn't use other marinate as I want to retain the pork original flavour that will release when you pan fry it. Fire up the frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil, throw in the pork collar and pan fried until it start to partial cook remove the meat from the pan.

Next is add 1 to 2 tablespoon Leggo Pasta Bake Sauce into pan and spread it evenly. Next, add in 2 scoops of the beef stock prepared earlier to reduced the pasta sauce thickness. The pasta should be cooked by now, drain the pasta then run it over cold tap water to keep it el dente. After that, throw the pasta into the sauce and cook until the sauce start to thicken then add back the partial cook pork collar into the pan and shut off the stove to let it simmer. Serve it on a plate. Buon appetito!