Simple Sardine Sambal

When I've no idea on what to cook, I resort to making sardine sambal. It's tasty and very quick to make. I just use canned sardines in tomato sauce which is easily available at the grocers. 

Before making the sambal cut into cubes a potato, boil it and keep aside.

In a pan heat some oil and fry sliced onion and garlic till soft and fragrant. 

Then add a few dried chillies and curry leaves. Fry for about a minute.

Add chilli powder and fry for another minute or so.

Stir in the whole content of the canned sardine. Break the sardines into smaller chunks using the ladle. Add some water and cook for another 5 minutes.

Lastly add the boiled potatoes and tamarind juice and mix well. Continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and sprinkle some chopped coriander. Serve warm with rice or chapathi.

SIMPLE SARDINE SAMBAL

+PRINT RECIPE HERE
INGREDIENTS:

1 small canned sardine

1 potato, peeled, cubed and boiled

1 onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

3 dried chillies

A sprig of curry leaves

3 tbsp tamarind juice

1 tsp chilli powder

2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup water

Salt to taste

METHOD:

1) Peel one potato. Cube and boil it till fork tender. Keep aside.

2) In a pan heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the sliced onion and garlic for 1-2 minutes till soft and fragrant.

3) Add the dried chillies and curry leaves and continue to fry for another minute.

4) Stir in chilli powder and fry for another minute till the raw smell is gone.

5) Add the canned sardines and break the sardines into smaller chunks using the ladle.

6) Add 1/2 cup of water and salt to taste and cook for 5-7 minutes.

7) Stir in the boiled potato and tamarind juice and cook for another 2 minutes.

8) Remove from heat and sprinkle some chopped coriander. Serve with rice or chapathi. 

NOTE:
The tamarind juice used in this recipe can be substituted with 1 finely chopped tomato. If this is done, add the tomato when frying the chillies and curry leaves.

 *This recipe serves 2-3

 

Crispy Fish Cutlets

Since I made my own breadcrumbs, I needed to incorporate it in a dish which called for the use of breadcrumbs and I decided I shall whip up a batch of these lovely fish cutlets. I didn't have any go to recipe for these cutlets and I just made up the recipe as I went along, using ingredients that I already had in my pantry or refrigerator. 

For these cutlets I used spanish mackerel (ikan tenggiri) since it does not have fine bones and it is a much "meatier" fish. You may substitute with fish fillets.

Firstly, steam the fish. Before steaming the fish, I rubbed it with a pinch of turmeric and a little of ginger garlic paste. This is done to ensure that there is no fishy odor when you steam the fish. Steam the fish till it if cooked. Remove from heat and let it cool for a bit. Once its cool enough to be handled, remove skin and bones and flake the fish into smaller chunks. 

Peel one medium sized potato and cut it into cubes and boil it till its tender. Once it is done, remove from water and mash it up with a fork.

Prepare all the other ingredients for the cutlets.

L-R: Onion, red chilli, coriander and spring onion

Combine all the prepared ingredients with the flaked fish. Make patties of desired size and refrigerate it for about 15 minutes.

Go on to prepare the ingredients to coat the cutlets. Beat one egg in a shallow dish and place breadcrumbs in another plate.

Heat oil in a wok/pan. Remove cutlets from refrigerator and start coating them. First coat it with the beaten egg and then roll it in the breadcrumbs. Repeat for the other cutlets.

Once the oil in the wok is hot enough, drop the coated cutlets into it and fry it till golden brown.

Remove from wok and place it on a kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil. 

CRISPY FISH CUTLETS

+PRINT RECIPE HERE
INGREDIENTS:

To steam:

1/2 spanish mackerel (ikan tenggiri) (approx. 300g)

A pinch of turmeric

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

Other ingredients for cutlet:

1 potato, boiled and mashed
1 onion, finely diced

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh spring onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Salt to taste

To coat:

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup breadcrumbs  

Method:

1) Rub the fish with a pinch of turmeric and ginger garlic paste and steam till it is cooked.

2) Let the steamed fish cool for a bit.

3) Once the fish has cooled, remove skin and bones and flake the fish into smaller chunks. Keep aside.

4) Prepare all the other ingredients for the cutlet.

5) Combine all the other ingredients with the flaked fish.

6) Make patties of desired shape and size. Refrigerate it for 15 minutes.

7) Prepare ingredients to coat the fish cutlets.

8) Remove the cutlets from the refrigerator.

9) Heat some oil in a wok.

10) Start coating the cutlets with the beaten egg and then roll in into the breadcrumbs.

11) Once the oil is hot enough, drop the coated cutlets and fry till golden brown.

12) Remove cutlets once their done and place it on some kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil. Serve while its still hot.    

        

Honey Lemon Fish

Since I baked the lemon cake last weekend, I had a few leftover lemons and wanted to us them up. So, I decided to make some honey lemon fish with the fish fillets which has been sitting in my freezer for a couple of weeks.

This recipe is very much similar to the lemon chicken which you usually get at Chinese restaurants, but instead of chicken I used fish and also piled on the ginger. That said, frankly, this recipe is a little time consuming, but it is worth the time and effort and it turned out really yummy!

The sauce for this dish requires finely shredded lemon rind. The way I do it is first I peel off the rind in strips using a vegetable peeler and then cut it into thin strips.

finely shredded lemon rind

Make sure to combine the ingredients required for the sauce and keep it aside before frying the fish fillets. This is to ensure that the fried fish fillet does not get soggy and stays crispy.

combined sauce ingredients

coat fish fillet with the beaten egg

then coat it with rice flour

After coating with the beaten egg and rice flour, shallow fry the fish fillets in a pan until golden brown

shallow fry coated fish fillets in a pan

Remove excess oil from fried fish fillets using kitchen roll and keep it aside.

Crispy fried fish fillets

Heat up the sauce mixture stir in the cornstarch.

heating up the sauce mixture

Once the sauce mixture reaches desired consistency, toss in the fried fish fillet and evenly coat it with the thickened sauce.

yummy honey lemon fish

HONEY LEMON FISH

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Ingredients

2 dory fish fillets (approx. 300g)

3 tbsp rice flour

1 egg (beaten)

Oil for frying

For Sauce:

4 tbsp lemon juice (more if desired)

1 tbsp finely shredded lemon rind (1 medium lemon)

1 tbsp grated ginger (less if not a fan of ginger)

3 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp sweet thai chilli sauce

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp water

1 tsp cornflour/cornstartch

Directions

1) Combine sauce ingredients except cornflour in a bowl and keep aside.

2) Mix cornflour with about 1 tbsp of water and keep aside.

3) Cut fish fillets into desired size.

4) Heat oil in a pan.

5) Coat fillets with beaten egg first and then with rice flour. If you don't have rice flour, plain flour or cornflour will do.

5) Once the oil in the pan is hot enough, shallow fry the coated fish fillets.

6) Remove fillets from oil once they turn golden brown and place them on kitchen roll to remove excess oil.

7) Heat up combined sauce ingredients and add in the mixed cornflour. Stir until desired consistency.

8) Toss in fried fish fillets and coat evenly.

I added quite a bit of ginger in this recipe since I love ginger in my cooking. But those who don't like very strong ginger flavour in their food, may reduce the amount used by half. You can even substitute the fish for chicken.