Steamed Pompano Fish With Soy Sauce

Pla Nueng See-Ew

Recently I only cook one time a day, which is normally dinner, and then the leftover will be reheated for lunch the next day. So, most of my foods haven't met the natural light for me to have fun  photographing them anymore.

This delicious steamed Pompano with soy sauce, fresh ginger and shredded scallion was also our dinner, and was taken in a kitchen light, it might not produce a salivated pictures, but it's a great fish dish I so want to share, so let's go along with the fake light for a while.

It is such a light and good dish for dinner with easy preparation and takes about 20 minute steaming - depends on size of the fish, but, most of the time 20 minutes will do just fine.

Preparation

- one good size fresh Pompano fish, cleaned.
- 8 spring onion, cut off the green part and save them for other cooking use, use a knife or folk to shred the white part spring onion
- 1 cup, julienne fresh ginger.
- 1/4 julienne red chilli for some colors (I didn't have them this time, so I left out.)

Sauce ingredients

- 1 cup stock
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. Mirin wine
- 1 tbsp. white pepper powder

Preheat a steamer, have it ready to steam the fish.
1. Mix all the sauce ingredients together, set aside.
2. Put half of the ginger and scallion on the plate as the base then put the fish on top.
3. Pour all the mixing sauce on to the fish, topped with the rest of the ginger and scallion, and send them to a steamer.
4. Steam for 20 minutes, use a fork to check if the fish cooked through. Turn off the heat. Serve.

Thai Little Egg Cake

Kanom Kai

Once we have been bombarded with the luxuries for the extended period of times we tend to crave for the simpleness as an antidote. Just like making this our childhood tiny yummy "cake" Thai call ka-noom-kai ( ka-nom=dessert, kai=eggs) to offset the "In The Moment" sumptuous desserts found around here in NYC, and that, my husband asked for kanoom kai instead of cupcakes lately.

I don't know if these Thai dessert could be fit into Western cake category....there is no butter or any shortening nor baking soda in the batch, just tiny air bubble beaten into the eggs that do the rising.

Originally, they are not oven-baked, which is how most Thai desserts are made, I believe these dessert is one of the Portuguese influence, since there are eggs in it, again, traditionally Thai desserts don't have eggs as recipes. That's why some people also call them Kanom Farang, which is what we call the people who comes from the West since the colonial times.

How they are made is to slowly bake them in a preheat brass mold set over an open fire charcoal stove with low heat until they start to rise and are golden crisp giving a texture of cookie-crisp at the outside and cakely soft at the inside.

Since I have to baked them in the oven, the end result wasn't that perfect as the authentic way of making them, but it's good enough to tame our craving for things from our home country.

Make 48 pieces mini muffin size.

- 1 1/2 Cake flour
- 3 Eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- butter for the pan

1. Preheat the oven at 350F, butter 2 mini muffin pans, set a side.
2. In electric mixer on high speed, beat the eggs until fluffy.
3. Gradually add sugar, and continue beating until the batter turns white at the soft peak.
4. Turn the speed to low, add flour ( divide it to tree times adding) mix the flour just to incorporate, do not over beat it. Turn the machine off.
5 Spoon the batter to the mold, 1/4 inch to the rim of the mold.
6. Bake for 12 minutes or more, use the toothpick to test if they are done.
7. Unmold. These egg cakes are more delicious when eat right away after bringing out of the oven.

Fresh Rice Noodle With Asian Sauce

Gauy Teaw Lhord

This is another delicious noodle dish, and yet easy to make. I love making them for Sunday lunch. The sauce can be made ahead, keep it in the fridge, and just reheat it when you are ready to eat.

The first time I found this fresh noodle at the corner of Bowery and Hester st. in Chinatown, I was so happy. It made me think of Guay Teaw Lhord (Lhord means tube or straw in Thai) at home in Thailand.

The broad flat noodle are made fresh, rolled in with the tiny dried shrimps and chop fresh scallion forming small rolls of noodle. I don't know what the Chinese eat this soft yummy noodle with, but I know it's going to be my Guay Teaw Lhord, and it's delicious!!

If you can't find fresh noodle just like this, you can buy dried broad flat noodle - boil them up until they are soft - just like boiling pasta, and have them ready for the sauce.

Making The Sauce

- 1/3 cup dried shrimp
- 1/2 cup fresh pork, small, thinly sliced.
- 5-6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water, or fresh shiitake, cut into small strips.
- 1/2 cup bamboo shoots

- 1 tbsp herbal paste
- 2 cup of water + 1/2 cup of soaked shiitake mushroom water
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce (optional)
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1. A pan on medium high heat, saute herbal paste with sliced pork, add a bit of water into the pan to degrease the pan. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add in dried shrimp, and 2 cups of water and the rest of shiitake mushroom water. Let it reaches a full boil.
3. In goes bamboo shoots and shiitake mushroom.
4. Start seasoning with oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Stir to incorporate.
5. Taste it, and adjust the taste you like. The taste should has a balance of sweet and salty. If it was too strong, you can always thin it out with a bit of water. Turn off the heat - ready to serve.
6. Ladle out the sauce on to the fresh noodle.

This noodle isn't a "soupy-noodle", just a little of sauce goes along way to a yummy land. I recommend adding 1 tsp. of white vinegar to the noodle before eating. It'll make the taste more complete and deliciously balancing.

Craving for Cupcakes

Even though I am not a sweet tooth person, still, there is a day that I was craving for yummy cookies and cakes, especially chocolate cakes, and this time my craving for chocolate cupcakes came at night, I checked the pantry and there were no any of chocolate supplies for my cakes, so I just had to go with what I already have in the kitchen.

The easy yellow cupcake was the winner that night. I took the recipe from Martha's, and killed my craving right there.

I 'm not a fan of the icing frosting, wayyyy to sweet for me. So the frosting was just for the show, and was scraped off when I ate it. Happy tummy!!

Stuffed Cucumber Clear Soup

Gang-Jeud Tang-Gwar Moo-Sub

The temperature here in NYC has dropped suddenly - It' s cold, wet and windy - we even got snow....in OCtober! You are bit early Mr. Snow.

It makes me needed something to comforting my belly, and the clear soup with light taste like this stuffed cucumber with shittake mushroom is the best.

As we know, eating Thai way is that we have a few dishes at once on the table, and we eat them all together - each dish has its own distinctive taste, and will complement each other, and that all the tastes will be balanced.

This soup is one of a perfect soup to tone down some spicy dishes like this dish or some curries.

Preparing the cucumber.
Choose one good size cucumber, clean it, cut into small cylinders, scoop out all the seed and peel off the green skin

Marinate the pork stuffing.
- 1 cup ground pork (You can use ground shrimp if you like)
- 1 tbsp. of herbal marinade paste
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. corn starch

Mix all ingredients well, and let it marinaded for 10 minutes then stuff the cylinder cucumbers with the marinaded ground pork.

Making the clear soup.
- 2 cup water or stock
- soy sauce
- green onion, cut into 1 inch long
- shiitake mushroom

1. On high heat, bring water to full boil.
2. Turn the heat down to medium heat, carefully put stuffed cucumbers into the pot, add shiitake mushroom.
3. Cover a pot with a lid for three minutes.
4. Start seasoning with soy sauce, put the lid on - leave it ajar- for three more minutes.
5. Taste, and adjust the taste. Use a small fork to check if the pork stuffing is cooked through.
6. Add green onion, and turn off the heat.
7. Serve....in a serving bowl, add a small spoon of garlic oil, and sprinkle with powder pepper.

Egg Noodle dressing

When I don't have time to cook, and still want to have something that will make my day, I go with egg noodle salad. Just simple boiled egg noodle tossed with ginger noodle dressing, eat as a side-dish with BBQ pork or as a main dish itself, I'll be good for the day.

This dressing has an Asian flavor, which goes perfectly with the noodle. I always have it in the fridge, in a dressing bottle, so that it can be used right away whenever I needed it.

Noodle dressing (yield about a cup of dressing)
- 2 tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
- 2 tbsp. chopped green onion
- 1 tbsp. Asian chilli oil
- 3/4 cup red wine venigar
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. toasted white, black sesame seeds
- 3 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or olive oil

1. Except sesame oil, vegetable oil and sesame seeds, mix all ingredients together. Taste it, the taste should lead by sour taste.

2. Whisk all the ingredient together, and gently pour in the oils and later sesame seeds.

3. Collect the dressing in a clean bottle, it can be kept in the fridge up to two weeks.

4. Toss boiled egg noodle with the dressing, and fresh chopped cilantro.

Assorted Vegetables Sour Yellow Curry (Southern Style)

Gang Leung Pak Roum ( Gang=curry, Leung=yellow, Pak=vegetable, Roum=mixed)

This is another curry when my body needs something light to consume. This sour curry is water-based curry, no coconut milk added. It's very light and energized.

There is something to be clarified about sour curry in Thailand; There are two different way to call sour curry in Thailand, which is Gang Som and Gang Lueng. Gang Som is sour curry from the central part of Thailand. Gang Lueng is sour curry from the southern part of Thailand, called by people from other parts of Thailand except people from the South themselves. People in the South call their sour curry Gang Som, there is no Gang Lueng in the South.

People from the rest of the country call sour curry from the South Gang Lueng (yellow curry) because of the yellow color in the curry which come from Turmeric , sour curry in the central part of the country doesn't have turmeric in the ingredient.

So, if you are in central part of Thailand, and you want sour curry with central style cooking, you order Gang Som. If you want the Southern style sour curry with yellow color curry, you order Gang Lueng. Now, when you are in the South and want sour curry, you order Gang Som, what you will get is sour curry with yellow curry, and that's it! There is no Gang Lueng in the South.

When it comes to making Gang Som and Gang Leung, I normally made my own curry paste, since the ingredients of this curry are easy to find, and the best part is I get the fresh taste and fragrant from the herbs, which is better than those getting form the packaged one.

Making your own curry paste
If you have granite mortar and pestle, it's time to get them out and put them to work. If you don't, the food processor will work out fine.

- 3 heads of shallot, choped.
- 1 stalk lemongrass, fine sliced.
- 7 cloves of fresh garlic.
- 2 inches long of fresh or frozen turmeric, cut to small. (available in South East Asian groceries, mostly frozen)
- 10 small dried chillies, or as much as you think you can handle the spicy.
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. shrimp paste.

Head-up!....this process might make you cry because of the shallot, chilies and garlic, so if you don't want to shed some tears, go with the food processor.

Put all ingredients (except shrimp paste) in the mortar and pound them until they become paste then add shrimp paste to this point. Continue to mix until the shrimp paste incorporates with all ingredient.

 

- 3 tbsp. curry paste

- 2 cups of water

- Fish sauce

- Tamarind water

- Lime juice

(I don't give the exact measurement here because it's' better to gradually seasoning, starts with an equal part of fish sauce and tamarind water, and then build up the taste from there.)

Choose all vegetables you like.

These are some of vegetables that go great with this kind of curry : Bamboo shoot, young small corns, green papaya, Napa cabbages, Chinese broccoli, snow peas, cauliflowers, water spinach, watercress, mushrooms, etc.

1. Dissolve the curry paste in water, put on high heat until it reaches full boil.

2. In go, vegetables, start with the kind that isn't get soft easily. Let it reaches the full boil one more time then start seasoning.

3. Keep building up the taste by gradually add fish sauce and tamarind water. Add the soft vegetables.

4. Taste it...it should lead by gentle sour taste.

5. Turn off the heat, add lime juice, stir to incorporate. To this point, the curry should taste slightly sharp sour after adding lime juice. You can cut the sour taste by adding a bit more of fish sauce, if you like.

Paring this sour curry with some fried fish, chicken or some kind of meats, or stir-fried dishes, and eat with steamed rice is a great way to balance the taste of the whole meal.