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We have been going through a Thai Curry tour by Patrick, introducing Thai  Red Curry, Green Curry, Yellow Curry, Panang Curry and Massaman Curry. Yes all curry dishes especially for you. We  hope you enjoy the curry as much as we do. I decided to have a change from the curry, but Thai food couldn’t live without spicy food. Presenting the infamous and delicious Thai Chili Fish.

For this dish, I recommend using catfish, seabass or salmon. Preferably to clean the fish and leave the head on, or you can also use the fish fillets. This is actually a very simple dish to make because I have skipped the deep frying part by having the fishman to clean and deep fry it in the Asian market. Many Asian markets in LA offer the fish cleaning and deep frying service.  The fish was perfectly cooked and hassle free, because deep frying in our small stuffy apartment will make the whole apartment smell like fish.

Now after I’ve got the fish deep fried, all ll I had to make is the sweet chili sauce. Blend or chop as finely as you can for the chilies and garlic, try to use the Thai red bird’s eye chilies which is really hot,  so be careful not to put too many.  For the sauce mixture, there is always an alternative option, you can skip all the sauce mixture, just get a bottle of pre-made “Mae Ploy” brand Thai sweet chili sauce available in the Asian market. Put a couple of tablespoon of sweet chili sauce,  saute to combine the flavors of the sauce. This sweet chili sauce can also be used as condiment for spring rolls and other appetizers.

Ingredients:

1 whole White Seabass
3-4 tbsp Cornstarch
1/4 cup plain flour
Few dashes of salt
Few dashes of black pepper

For the sauce ingredient:
6 cloves garlic
3 Thai bird’s eye red chilies/ cili padi (depends on spiciness)
a bunch of coriander leaves (finely chopped)
1/2 medium red onions (thinly sliced)
1 green mango thin slices (optional)

Sauce mixture:
(Option: substitute with 3-4 tbsp “Mae Ploy” brand Thai sweet chili sauce)
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp plum sauce
3 tbsp water

Cooking Method:

1. Clean the fish, pat dry, dust the whole fish with flour and cornstarch, salt and pepper. Heat pot with enough oil for deep frying, fry the fish until crispy golden brown. (I skipped this step by having our fishman in the Seafood department in the market to clean and deep fry the fish, it was hassle-free)
2. Blend red chilies and garlic. Heat up pan with some cooking oil, add in blended chili garlic stir for about1- 2 minutes till golden. Add in the sauce mixture, bring to boil until sugar dissolve, combine well. Taste to adjust the flavors, add sugar if too sour or too spicy.
3. Add the coriander leaves and sliced onions,  stir until the onions are translucent and the sauce is slightly reduced.
4. Pour the sauce over the fried fish, garnish with cilantro and green mango slices (optional).



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Yong Tofu or Yong Tau Fu (釀豆腐) is a Chinese dish originated from Hakka cuisine. It is a soup dish uses tofu and a variety of vegetables to stuff with meat paste mixture of fish and pork. The dish originally uses tofu for stuffing, therefore it is called Yong Tofu,  which literally means “stuffed bean curd”. Ever since Yong Tofu gained its popularity, a variety of vegetables are used for stuffing such as the bitter gourd, green or red chilies, eggplant, okra and etc. Thus the name of Yong Tofu has been used to all foods prepared in such method.

The last time we prepared the dish was last year, when Sam made a big whole pot of Yong Tofu for New Year celebration, we ate that for lunch and dinner for a couple of days. This time we were so lucky as my good Hakka friend Heidi decided to make Yong Tofu for our small gathering a few weeks ago.  She mentioned that her mum makes traditional style Hakka Yong Tofu, she will buy fresh fish from the market and hand chop the fish into fresh and smoother texture. Also she will have to chop and beat the ground pork so they are smooth and juicy to combine well.

This time, we skipped a couple of traditional steps and we made a very easy version of Yong Tofu (Next time I’ll try to make the authentic Hakka version). We only used the pre-made fish paste (no ground pork involved), you can get it in the frozen section of the Asian market; or get the fresh fish paste from the seafood section. Try to season the fish paste with pepper and sesame oil or chopped scallions. This will help to get rid of the fishy smell slightly. We picked up a couple of each vegetables such as bitter gourd,  eggplant, okra and tofu. You can also try red chili, tofu puff, tofu skin. This depends on your preference and also the number of people consuming.

Once we cut up the vegetables, all of us were helping out in the kitchen starting to create the piece of art – stuffing the mixture into the vegetables… fun and busy. When stuffed vegetables were almost ready, Heidi first pan fried them separately and followed by boiling. For this recipe, we only used plain water boiling, if you want a soup broth to go with the Yong Tofu, you can always make a pot of chicken stock, add in some crushed garlic, salt and scallions.

Serve the Yong Tofu with chili dipping sauce, we were totally satisfied! Thanks Heidi and the girls for making this delightful “Yong Tofu” gathering session came true.

Ingredients:

1-2 container Fish Paste
1 bittergourd (cut into round pieces, remove seeds)
1 eggplant (cut into diagonal pieces with 1″ thickness)
1 package okra / lady fingers about 12-15 pieces (cut a slit in the center)
1-2 packs of firm tofu blocks (cut into triangular pieces with 1″ thickness)

For fish paste seasoning:
3-5 dashes white pepper powder
1 tsp sesame oil
1-2 stalks scalliions (finely chopped)

For dipping sauce:
Soy sauce or Hoisin sauce
Grounded garlic/red chili sauce (sambal) or Siriracha chili paste

Serve 4-6 people

Cooking Methods:

1. Season the fish paste with seasonings of white pepper powder and sesame oil.
2. Cut the vegetables into smaller pieces. For eggplant, cut diagonally about 1″ thick pieces, cut a slit in the center. For okra, make a slit in the middle. For bitter gourd, cut into round pieces with 0.5″ thick pieces. For tofu blocks, cut into triangle pieces, each around 1″ thickness.
3. Using a bread knife, stuff the okra, eggplant, bitter gourd and tofu with the seasoned fish paste, dip in some water to smooth and curve the surface of the fish paste.
4. Heat up cooking oil on a pan, pan fried the bitter gourd, tofu, eggplant separately until golden brown.
5. Bring a pot of water to boil, add the okras and blanch about 2 minutes until they are cooked, set aside.  For others repeat the step, cook the stuffed vegetables in boiling water for about 2 minutes.
6. Note: If you want to serve with broth, add chicken stock, couple of crushed garlic, chopped scallions, salt and pepper. Add in the stuffed vegetables and cook for 2 minutes.
7. Serve with chili dipping sauce.

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When I was blogging on my assam fish the other day, my brother reminded me the kari ikan. Kari Ikan (fish curry) is one of the Malaysian curries and it can be found in mamak stalls. I used to have it once in a week in high school after activities or sports in a nearby authentic mamak stall which is my group’s hang out spot.

I was eager to make my first kari ikan with the kari ikan powder from Malaysia this weekend. Thus I went over to the Asian market and bought all my ingredients but sadly I couldn’t get okra. So I substituted it with green beans. Surprisingly the result was pleasing but it was just a little sour due to too much tamarind paste. I added 3 tablespoons in it. In the recipe, I changed it to 2 tablespoons.

Ingredients:

2 pieces swai/striped catfish fillets (cut into pieces)
2 tomatoes (quartered)
5-6 okras
2 shallots (chopped)
1 onion (sliced)
3 garlic cloves (sliced)
2-3 red chili peppers (sliced)
3 curry leaves
1 tbsp fenugreek seeds (optional)
2 tbsp tamarind paste (mixed in 1/3 cup water)
3 cups coconut milk
1 small pack Alagappa’s fish curry powder

Cooking Method:

1. Heat the pan with oil. Sauté the shallots, onions, garlic, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves until golden or fragrant.
2. Add fish curry powder and tamarind juice. Bring to boil for 3 minutes.
3. Pour in coconut milk and bring to boil.
4. Add fish fillets, okras, tomatoes, and red chili peppers. Simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Dish up and serve hot.

P/S: You can deep fry or pan fry the fish fillets for better result.

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Time out for the Thai curries. I craved for Assam Fish this week.

The Assam Fish (Asam Fish) is a classic and authentic Malaysian dish which I love the most. I was blissful enough to have this heavenly dish for three times when I was having my recent vacation in Malaysia. It is a spicy sour tasted dish, where fish is cooked in assam (tamarind) fruit juice together with some other ingredients like tomato and okra. Normally, fish (such as mackerel, stingray or red snappers) or even fish heads are used. Stingray was the common fish my mom used for this dish. She made this dish so good!

Nowadays assam pastes are sold in convenient packs and I bought few Tean’s Gourmet brand assam pastes from Malaysia. I thought it’s so complicated to make the Assam Fish but I was totally wrong! With the convenient pack and a few easy steps, I completed my first Assam fish. It was good.

I supposed to use the stingray but ended up with swai (striped catfish) fillets. It was much easier and I was lazy. You may put in any of your desired fish or seafood for this dish.

Ingredients:

2 pieces swai/striped catfish fillets (cut into pieces)
2 tomato (quartered)
5-6 okra
1 ½ cup Water

Seasonings:

1 pack of Tean’s Gourmet Assam Fish paste

Cooking Method:

1. Mix the Assam fish paste with water in a pot and bring to boil.
2. Add the swai fillets, simmer with medium heat for 10-12 minutes.
3. Add the tomato and okras and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Dish up and serve hot.

P/S: The cooking method is from the back of the assam paste packet.

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Rex Sole is one of the fish that we usually order if eating in a restaurant back home. It is absolutely delicious, the flesh is tender and mild, not fishy at all which is very important to me. I don’t like fish that smells and tastes fishy. Moreover it is inexpensive. I’ve got this fish in the Asian market for just $1.99 per lb, so cheap and so big.

The Rex Sole is kind of “flat fish” species like a flounder, both eyes are on the same side. The fish is indeed very weird looking but flesh is soft. Another wonderful thing about Rex Sole is the spine and bones are attached to the fish tightly. When you eat you can easily remove the whole spine from the fish. No loose bones at all. Y0u can easily prepare the fish, either pan fry till crispy, or simply just steam it.

Ingredients:

1 1-11/2 lb Rex Sole (cleaned)
2 tbsp rice wine
Some salt for rubbing
2 stalks scallions (cut into 2 inch, finely strips)
2″ ginger (cut into finely strips)

For the sauce:

1 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
few drips sesame oil
A bunch of ginger strips
A bunch of scallion strips
some cilantro (for garnish)

Cooking Method:

1. Rinse the fish inside out, rub some salt all over the fish.
2. Place some ginger strips and scallions on the platter with the fish, add some rice wine to the fish.
3. Bring water to boil in the steamer, place the platter on top of the steamer. Cover and steam for 7 -9 minutes. .
4. Check fish for doneness, check if eyes turns white, flesh turns white and can be pull easily from the bones.
5. Remove the platter from steamer and pour off steaming liquid accumulated around the fish. Discard scallions.
6. Mix the sauce of rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil, pour over the fish. Top with new scallions and cilatro. Serve immediately.