Negitoro Don

One of my all-time favourite Japanese foods is negitoro, the combination of raw fatty tuna (maguro) with spring onion served in maki (sushi rice roll), temaki (hand roll) or don (rice bowl). Of course, sushi-grade tuna is quite hard to come by in Malaysia, much less the fatty maguro belly. So I jumped at the chance when I came across some frozen tuna at the supermarket the other day. Here's my take on negitoro don:

*This recipe calls for and serves RAW seafood. Make sure you have a reliable source of seafood and use appropriate hygiene protocols!

Negitoro don (Minced tuna and spring onions on rice)
Serves 1

100-150g sushi grade tuna (maguro) or fatty tuna belly (maguro toro)
1 spring onion, minced
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 bowl of cooked rice - preferably a short grained white rice

1. Mix all the liquid ingredients together with the sugar in a large bowl

2. Mince tuna using a chopper. Mix tuna mince with seasoning sauce

3. Mix in minced spring onions

4. Top negitoro over bowl of rice, ensuring even coverage. Serve and enjoy with some miso soup!

Cost breakdown
Cost per serving: RM6 approx
Tuna cost me RM10 for a 250g block

Prawn 'Bisq'

Yes, I know it's spelled 'bisque' but given that this recipe's a budget version I thought it might be appropriate because I had to replace some of the more pricey ingredients with more budget friendly ones - prawns instead of lobster, and milk instead of cream. Pardon the lack of recipes there days - it's been a pretty hectic year and my meals have tended to be simple.

Prawn 'Bisq'
(Serves 1-2)
300g small-medium prawns, with shell - about 10-15 prawns
1 medium onion, chopped
3 shallots, minced
1 litre water
1 tsp tomato paste
Milk
salt
pepper
Greens for garnish

1. Peel the uncooked prawns and reserve the shells. Optional: cut prawns into smaller chunks.

2. In a pot, sweat the onion with a little salt in a little oil until translucent. Turn up the heat, add prawn shells and fry until fragrant.

3. Add water, bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Reduce liquid to half - about a couple of hours

4. Remove shells (Or just strain the entire stock) and set aside. In the same pot, sweat the minced shallots in a little oil. Return the prawn stock to the pot and add tomato paste. Bring to a boil.

5. As soon as the water starts to boil, kill the heat and put the prawn meat in. Cover, and leave for two minutes (One, if you've cut up the prawns into chunks) - the residual heat will do the cooking for you.

6. Serve in large bowl, add milk and season to taste. Garnish with greens and a little olive oil.

Breakdown
Total cost: RM4.50
Cost per serving: RM2.25

Kerang chowder

While was in the field I scored myself some local kerang or cockles which were quite huge - about three times the size of those you would normally get at the market. I suppose you could call them free-range kerang. In Singapore and Malaysia these are also called blood cockles, because they release a red liquid that is coloured by hemoglobin - yes, the same thing found in blood! I had a cup of good solid meat, so I decided to make a chowder out of it by adapting a vichyssoise recipe by Alton Brown. Make sure to thoroughly clean the mud-filtering cockles! Of course, you can use other edible bivalves available to you.


Kerang chowder
Meat from 1 kilo of Kerang or other shellfish (about 2/3 cup)
2 medium floury potatoes, diced into 1cm cubes
3 medium leeks, chopped
1 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper
2 cups water or stock
Whole milk to taste
Special equipment: Blender/Food Processor

1. Kerang cleaning: Cockles are mud filters, which mean they should each be thoroughly scrubbed with a brush on the outside before they are sent to soak in slightly salted water for at least three hours. This will allow the molluscs to open up a little and let the dirt sink to the bottom. Steam the cockles for five minutes, de-shell and set aside.

2. Sweat the leeks with butter until tender, about 10 min in low heat. Add potatoes and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and continue to simmer for 30 min.

3. Run the soup through a blender with half of the kerang meat. Pulse until a smooth, thick paste.

4. Return soup base into pot and add remaining kerang meat. At this point, you can refrigerate or freeze your soup for later consumption.

5. To prepare: Heat soup portion with desired amount of milk - about two to three tablespoons does it for me. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 4 servings.

Cost breakdown
Total cost: RM6.10++
Cost per serve: RM1.50++
Potatoes RM1.10
Leeks RM1.50
Kerang RM3.50

Tags: Kerang, Chowder, blood cockles

Mamak squid

Inspiration for this fish came from the ubiquitous mamak stores in Malaysia. In KL, you can order your meat or seafood of choice to be deep fried to heart attack heaven. A 100-gram serving of squid set me back RM12. At home, I spent half of that to get four times as much. How? Buying your squid whole and cutting it at home really helps to bring down cost.

Mamak Squid
400g squid, cut into 1-cm rings (About 4 medium squid)
1 medium onion, julienned
1 tsp salt, tumeric, chili powder
Half a cup of flour
Oil for frying

1. Squid disassembly basics: Peel off thin outer skin, pull out head and tentacles, cut off tentacles just below the eyes (remove beak from tentacles and also discard head), remove plasticky quill-like backbone from main body. Chop body to rings and tentacles to bite-sized bits.
2. Season squid and onions in a bowl with salt, tumeric and chili. Cover and leave in the fridge for an hour.
3. Heat oil to 240 (C). Drain squid and onion mixture from excess moisture and then dredge lightly in flour. Deep fry until crispy, about two minutes. Drain and serve!

Cost Breakdown
Total cost RM4.20++
Cost per serving RM2.10++
Squid RM4
Onion RM0.20

Tags: Deep fried squid, Mamak sotong

Pasta Lalah

Lalah is a kind of local shellfish. It doesn't appear every day, so when the day it appeared in the supermarket I picked up a small serving for a song (like, all of 50 cents). The idea is to use the sauce to steam the mussels before integrating the shellfish, sauce and pasta together. My pot was large enough to prepare the sauce in it, then place a stand and a shallow dish inside to steam the lalah with it. If you don't have a large enough pot, you can consider emptying the sauce into a microwave steamer and steaming the lalah there.


Pasta Lalah (serves 1)
15 lalah or clams
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
3 tbsp white wine (strictly optional, but there are some flavours in tomato that are only soluble in alcohol)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup Water
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
1 serve pasta, cooked (I used linguine)

1. Cook pasta to al dente and toss lightly with olive oil. Set aside.
2. Over low heat, sweat the leek and garlic with a little salt until wilted.
3. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and white wine and stir for a minute before adding the water.
4. Use the sauce as the base liquid to steam the lalah for three minutes.
5. Deshell mussels, and return to the pot with the pasta. Mix well and serve.

* Be sure to wash your lalah thoroughly! They are real dirt collectors.

Total cost: RM 1.40++
Breakdown:
Lalah - 50 cents
Leek - 50 cents
Tomato - 40 cents
(The rest are stuff you should always have around in the kitchen anyway)

Tags: Pasta, Lalah, Shellfish

Lemony Prawn Salad

Like the previous recipe, the Chinese Duck Salad, this salad recipe's preparation is more in the prawns rather than the salad. Just slap on the greens and you have a great no-frills shrimp salad recipe! The prawns are great on their own as tapas, too.



Lemony Prawns (salad, optional)
1 pound of prawns/shrimp, meat only
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 tsp olive oil
1 tsp freshly crushed black pepper

1. In a salted pot of boiling water, cook the prawns until pink - should take about a minute or two.
2. Marinade the cook prawns in lemon juice, oil and pepper. Place in a glass or non-reactive meal bowl and cover with cling wrap. Leave in fridge for at least two hours - overnight is better.
3. Dish out what you need, when you need it. Can last in the fridge for up to a week. Serves 2-4 portions.

Cost per serving: $2 (approx)
Cost breakdown:
SGD$2.00 - 1 pound shrimp (approx)
SGD$0.40 - 1 lemon
SGD$6.00 - Salad Mix

Tags: lemony prawns lemon shrimp salad seafood budget recipe

Tagliatelle in Saffron and Mascarpone Sauce with Prawns

Ingredients for 6:

600g Tagliatelle
2 onions
1 Garlic clove
2 tb Olive oil
1 pinch Saffron strands
200ml dry white wine
500g Mascarpone cheese (can be substituted with cream cheese)
36 small/medium prawns, around 300g
Salt and pepper
1tbsp fish sauce (optional)
1 tbsp light soy sauce (optional)
1 tsp dried dill
1 handful torn fresh basil leaves to garnish


Method:
1. Cook the pasta according to package instructions.

2. Finely chop the onions and garlic. In a large frying pan heat the oil, add the onions and garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the saffron, then half of the wine and finally add the Mascarpone cheese. Simmer gently for a few minutes, add the remaining wine, prawns and dill. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add fish sauce and light soy sauce if you like.

4. Drain pasta, add sauce and garnish with basil leaves.

recipe modified from here

Tags: tagliatelle saffron marscapone prawn pasta recipe

Chap Goh Meh away from home..

The Chinese New Year celebration commonly goes on for 15 whole days. The 15th day is known as "Chap Goh Meh" which means in English: The 15th day of the first month.

I had to return to Sydney as classes began half way through the new year celebration. A bunch of us homesick Malaysians decided to have a pot-luck "chap goh meh" get-together for lunch last Sunday. Owen was real nice to volunteer his living room for the day. It was a small group of about 15...but it felt nice to be around friends.Prior to Sunday; I heard that there would be lots of "chicken" that afternoon. I decided fried prawns and a beef dish would be a safe idea. Pinky made her famous fish curry too!
Cooking wasn't too much of a hassle, although I must admit; it was my first go at making stir-fried beef with black bean sauce.
Our Chinese New Year buffet spread turned out a little more 'culturally diversed' than what we had expected! *laughs* We had a range of Japanese, Korean, Western, Indian, Malay cuisine on the table. Apparently; I was the only person cooking anything 'fairly' Chinese! *sigh*I guessed it didn't matter...we had more than just Chinese people with us to celebrate and the food turned out real good~
Here's the recipe for the prawns if anyone's interested.

Frozen/fresh prawns shelled (tail left on)
Marinade: chili flakes, lemon juice, chopped coriander leaves, salt to taste
Fresh egg noodles (available at asian grocery stores)

Marinade prawns for at least 20-30 minutes. Gently shake and pat dry gently before wrapping in strands of egg noodles.
Deep fry in hot canola/peanut oil in small batches. Scoop out when prawn tails turn pink and noodle is crisp and golden. Drain excess oil on a kitchen towelette and serve immediately with sweet chili dressing.

Try serving them right away. I had a couple piping hot and crisp before we made our way to Owen's place; and they were YUM!!! After having been left exposed for more than 30 minutes; the noodles turned a tiny bit soft, but they still turned out tasting alright I guess.

On the 15th day of the lunar calendar; the moon is said to be at its fullest.
A couple of lunatics took a walk to the beach to check it out. *grin* Being in the cold that night was probably what made me sick. *SnEEzE!!* *sniffle sniffle* *Sigh*

Tags: deep fried prawns noodles budget recipe

Nak Ji bo Kum

"AhnYoOng-ha-sa-yoO"~ yes...my spoken Korean has been improving *proud grin*I took a brief break from cramming my lecture notes for a small dinner party last night. I put 3 willing+eager UNSW students to the true "Malaysian test" -- "How spicy do you like it?" Us Malaysian youngsters have a relationship with spicy food; from the usual spicy red chilies, curries, sambals and our favorite killer-hot birdseye chilies; but Koreans;......they take spicy to a whole different level.You can tell it's heaps of 'fun' when the tissue box is pulled out and the sound of giggles, sniffles and slurps fill the table. Suffering with joy...I would say. *laughs* I don't mean to torture my guests...but COme-On~ just look how much they're enjoying themselves! *grin* I didn't want to be the party-pooper holding back on the chilli powder. *wink*. Qimyi + the 2 housemates of very Indian roots (Pinky+ Amrit) were 'A-o-kay'. Pretty lil Amanda, "Viking" and I had a slight struggle with the sniffles...but I would do it all again just for another scoop of that fiery-hot broth. *MmmmMmm*...
I remember the question "What are we having?" being continuously repeated through the evening. I was consistently replying; "Nak ji Bo Kum" but I guess it was hard for everyone to register/comprehend what those four strange sounding syllables were. I finally gave up with a lazy answer I made up in English: "Spicy octopus-thing". I honestly didn't have a clue what Nak ji bo kum meant myself... well..not until I checked it out online this morning *grin*

Nakji Bokum is a very spicy octopus dish enjoyed by many Koreans. Octopus tentacles are cut into bite-sized pieces then pan stir-fried with spicy kochujang paste along with chili powder, sesame oil, red or green chili peppers, green onions, carrots and onions. Different variation of this dish do exist as the octopus can be substituted with squid for less chewy texture and taste. Non-Koreans may find this dish too spicy even diluted with rice that accompanies this dish. (www.trifood.com)

Here's the recipe for those interested in having a go at this devilishly hot dish. Having it with a bunch of friends is so much more enjoyable...reminds me of noisy Chinese hot-pot nights. I do however feel a need to add a tiny warning to those who share bunks/roommates ... digestion of excessive spicy food often creates an unwanted amount of gas during the night *blush* :P

1lb octopus defrosted
1/2 lb frozen tiger prawns
2 onions chopped into thin rings
1 carrot sliced into thin strips (Use a grater for beautiful carrot curls)
1 large pack Golden enoki mushrooms
1 bowl sugar snap peas
1 pack korean rice cake (sticks)
3 stalks mint leaves plucked
2 stalks coriander leaves roughly chopped
1 slab asian fish-cake diced into fairly thin pieces
1-2 tbsp sesame oil for stir-frying

Sauce: 3 tbsp Go chu jang (Korean chilli-paste), 2 large cloves garlic diced fine, 2 heaped tbsps honey, 4 tsp fine chilli powder(less if you like), 2 tbsp sesame powder, salt to taste(about 2 tsp).

Mix all ingredients and combine with washed octopus. Leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

The cooking process is fairly simple. Heat the oil in a electric multi-cooker on medium heat, add onions, fish cake and vegetables. Saute till fragrant and fairly softened. Dump in the octopus mixture and give it a good stir. Pop the lid onto the cooker and leave to simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the prawns in and cook till the seafood is fairly cooked. The sauce should have increased by 1/2. The octopus releases moisture when cooked. When the prawns are pink, add in the rice cake sticks and the green herbs. stir well and replace the lid for another 1-2 minutes. Serve with lots of white steamed Japanese rice/Korean sweet rice or "somen" noodles if you like.I gently blanched and cooked the noodles in boiling anchovies+ garlic stock earlier that evening; ran the strands through cold water and made small noodle servings to go with the spicy octopus broth. I personally prefer having it with noodles...but the boys seemed to like the rice with it too. This dish eaten with Rice is refered to in Korean as "Nak Ji Bo Kum Bop"
Thanks everyone for coming over for dinner...it was a lots of fun, for me at least; I bet it was too for those who've already finished their exams~ *grrr*...I still have that last paper in the morning tomorrow; and it's off to Melbourne for me~~ CANt WAit!! *excitedly skips around the room*

Tags: nak ji bo kum seafood stew octopus prawn budget recipe

Thai Seafood Salad

I was in a bit of a Thai mood last week - probably because the week before that us officefolk were at Thai Express to celebrate one of my colleagues' birthday. This recipe is "inspired" from TE's seafood salad, but a side-by-side comparison will quickly show that they are completely different.

Thai Seafood Salad

The Salad
Bee hoon a.k.a. Rice vermicelli noodles, soaked in hot water
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves
Shrimp, cooked
Squid, scored and cooked
(all the ingredients above portioned out to the number of serves you want to make. It's your preference.)
1 and 1/2 tsp fish sauce
1 and 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 and 1/2 tsp sesame oil
(sauces per serve)

The Dressing (for 1 serving)
2 tbsp Thai Sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp peanut butter (chunky preferred)
1 tbsp sesame oil
Juice of half a lime
Black pepper to taste

1. Set aside seafood and mix the rest of ingredients for salad together.
2. Combine dressing ingredients with a whisk. Reserve have the dressing and toss the rest of the mixture with the salad.
3. Toss the cooked seafood with the reserved dressing. Top salad. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Tags: thai seafood salad budget recipe

Some assembly required

I decided on a simple dinner today while needing to clear out what was in my fridge and pantry. I had some shrimp and some bee hoon. I decided to make rice paper rolls. Of course, i had to buy the rice paper rolls, but that's ok. The other tricky thing is actually making the rice paper rolls... out of the seven i did, only two came out decent.


Rice Paper Rolls

What you need:
Rice paper skins
Prawns, cooked
Lettuce
Crushed peanuts

Bee hoon (vermicelli)
1 tbsp Fish sauce
1 tbsp Light soy
1 tsp Sesame oil
Pepper
Fresh mint leaves

Soak the bee hoon in hot water. When soft, drain the water and add fish sauce, light soy, sesame oil and pepper. Mix well. Add mint leaves and mix well again

Soak the rice paper in warm water. When soft, lay skin on a clean wet tea towel. place shrimp, lettuce leaf, peanuts and bee hoon mix. Wrap. Curse self for putting too much the first time.

Perfect process by third try. Lose it all over again in the fourth. If you really can't get it right, fret not. Mix everything but the rice paper together and serve as a salad!

Tags: Vietnamese rice paper roll budget recipe

May's impress-your-friends Seafood Marinara

This is probably the easiest recipie in the world. Unless you really can't cook and/or you like to burn your food.

The happy thing about cooking seafood it's that it's super yummy. The sad bit? It can be expensive depending what you choose.

My mum actually taught me this dish but I seem to be better at it than her. Hah! Why, you might ask? Well, I decided that one has to put at least 3 or 4 different types of seafood in this dish.

Ok ok, that's why it's expensive.

This marinara is quite different from what we normally have in Melbourne. It's not cooked in Napoli sauce *I tried it that day, yuck* or cream. I'm lactose intolerant so I hate cream. So this dish is cooked in olive oil. Extra virgin, to be exact.

Why am I smirking? I'd better stop it. *smacks self*

Vat you need:

Lots of garlic, chopped finely
A few nice red chillies, seeds removed, chopped finely
Parsley, chopped
Prawns, peeled
Calamari
Loose crab meat
Any other type of seafood
Pasta, preferbaly spagetthi

How now, brown cow?

*start cooking your pasta first!*
(I always forget this part and end up kicking myself)

1. Put in lots of olive oil.
2. Throw in garlic, chili and parsley and fry till fragrant.
3. Turn fire down to low and throw in all the seafood.
4. Remember to befriend your food. Talk to your seafood.
5. If mixture seems dry, add more olive oil.
6. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off fire.
7. Remove boiling pasta, place under cold water to prevent from sticking.
8. Under a super low fire, toss pasta and seafood evenly.

Dinner!

Tags: pasta seafood marinara budget recipe

Me mussels

Me Mussells

I had been deprived from seafood for awhile...craving for some,i managed to find some stuff around my kitchen and some unused bag of mussells to cook for myself...this dish...

Well,i did tell Noel that my dishes were definitely not budget at times...This is one of them i think...Let me talk you through anyway in case you still wanna try it out:

What u need:
(1)Mussells lar of course...I used nine...just nice for a side dish :P
(2)A good white wine...actually up to you lar but i think the wine is very important...I used some St.Hubert's Cabernet Sauvignon 2004...in case you wondered...leftovers from sometime ago...
(3)Half a lemon...actually i used less...
(4)Marjoram leaves...can buy lar at Safeway...dun need fresh one...
(5)Black Pepper...I proudly only use Sarawak Pepper...and grind them myself...
(6)Saffron...Quite a pricey herb but gives it a nice distinct taste...
(7)Sea salt...can use normal salt lar...but i have 2 bags of sea salt left...might as well use some...
(8)An oven and an oven proof plate.

How leh?
First,pre heat oven lar...gonna use it later eh(i used 150 celcius)...Whilst the oven's heating up,wash lar the mussells.Then,arrange on plate nicely.Take out your bottle of white wine,enjoy some,then pour enough to cover each mussell(about 1 and 1/2 teaspoon per mussell) and a bit on the plate for presentation.Having cut your lemon,squeeze a few drops per mussell and a little all over.Next,sprinkle marjoram leaves generously over mussells.Use only a couple of small strands of saffron on each mussell...expensive ya...i used more though...haha.If possible,open the "mouths" of the mussells and put some herbs there...mine were too frozen.Don't add salt and pepper yet...salt will only dry your mussells and they'll all look wrinkly.Put in oven at 150 for 10-13 minutes...i did 15 cause mine were frozen.Take out after allocated time and squeeze some more lemon juice on them...thats why mine look a tad shiny...and if you want,some more marjoram.Then sprinkle salt and pepper to liking...and there you have it...simplicity...slurp away...

Tags: mussels baked budget recipe

single-handed zuppa di mare

i'm eating this while i'm blogging this. it's a late dinner for me, on account of having breakfast at 3. to fully appreciate this recipe you have to do it on ONE HAND.

zuppa di mare (seafood soup)

one half onion, chopped
one half carrot, cubed
one stalk celery, chopped
one chili padi, sliced
one clove garlic, sliced
one can roma tomatoes, chopped
1/3 piece of flake (or other white fish), in cubes
1/3 calamari tube, in one-inch squares
5-6 small prawns, peeled
tsp dried basil

Brown onions, celery and carrots in pot with some olive oil. Add garlic, roma tomatoes and two cans of water. Bring to boil, add flake, basil and chili padi. Once boiling, add squid. Once boiling again, add prawns. Bring to boil and simmer. Salt and pepper to taste. Serves one hungry person and half a small hungry person.

Option 1: Add a dash of olive oil just before serving.
Option 2: Eat with toasted crusty bread.

Tags: seafood soup zuppa+di+mare budget recipe

I had a craving for prawns.... I could imagine the succulent taste of freshly cooked prawns as it created ripples of tingling feelings as it danced on my taste buds... *Sighs in ecstasy*

I decided to try a famous but simple recipe from my lil Sis (thanx sis!! ^_^)
Today's dish is *drums rolling* Butter Prawns!!!

Step right up boys and girls...


yum...prawns

Ingredients:
Prawns (DUH)

Steps:
1. Buy fresh, uncooked prawns!! Don't be a cheapskate.
2. Decapitate its head and remove shells up to the tail.
3. Slice across the underbelly and de-vein the prawns. Open the flaps and spread it. Take the tail and bend it backwards (like a scorpion's tail).
4. Marinate prawns with sugar and add pinches of salt (to taste, for a spicy flavour add cracked black pepper)
5. Heat pan. Turn fire to low heat and add butter. Place the acrobatic prawns flat side down.
6. Do not overcook the prawns as flattened surface allows the prawn to cook fast. Flip the prawn on its side for a minute and repeat it with the other side.
7. Get creative and create ur own masterpiece of a garnish. Serve warm.

Tags: prawns stir fried budget recipe

octopus on fire

Feeling very adventurous, i decided to buy an octopus. Not as a pet, but for a meal. It was a three-tentacled medium sized bugger who was deheaded, desac-ed and de-beaked when i bought him at vicmart. Today i sliced him in twain (and kept the other half for a latter meal, of course and marinated one half for dinner:




Noel's Octopus Experiment
1 half-octopus, cut into chunks
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 and 1/2 limes, juice of
1 chilli padi, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons tabasco
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Pepper

Marinate for a while. Marinate some more. Stir fry until all moisture draw out. (or maybe not. Mine was a little tough.)

I had it with some leftover rice (hence the white flecks).

Incidentally, the tentacles are fun to play with. They actually still have suction power! So i slammed the tentacles repeatedly on the chopping board and had fun with the pop sound when i disengaged them. Talk about playing with your food.

Tags: octopus stir fried budget recipe