Baked Catfish (Cá Bông Lau Nướng Da Giòn)

It's the Super Bowl. Are you excited about the ads, the game or half-time?
I'm sure my husband can't wait to hog the TV all day.

On Friday morning, my plan was heading out to run some errands and do one small thing a day that makes me happy - that happened to be buying myself some plants and flowers. I had finally stow away my winter decorations and wanted to usher in the blossoms and bloom in anticipation of spring.

Two days prior, I wanted to serve dried chicken noodle - phở gà khô (click here for the recipe) to my family but as I was browsing through a local market, I found myself stopping at the fish section. Right away I remembered hearing my husband complaining we haven't had enough veggies lately. I knew I needed to prepare a meal that would give us a chance to catch up on veggies and what can be better than fish rolls - baked fish with abundant of fresh vegetables wrapped in rice paper. Roll it up with strings of noodle if you want some carbs in your diet. You can buy dried noodle from the store or make it from scratch. It's so much easier to make noodle using a Philips pasta machine but if you don't have one, a potato ricer would work. 

The baked fish looks beautiful once it's out of the oven.  It inviting and totally irresistible when topped with scallion oil, crispy fried onion, and fresh roasted peanuts.  I just realize what really made me happy today is accomplishing this recipe to share with you.  

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RECIPE: Baked Catfish

printable recipe

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Ingredients

1 catfish, ask the store to clean and butterfly or split the fish
1 sweet onion, sliced

1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon five spice powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled
for honey mixure
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
for toppings
green onion, minced
crispy fried shallot or fried onion
roasted peanuts, chopped
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Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F

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Preparing Honey Mixture

Add honey and lemon juice in a small bowl, mixing to combine.  Set aside.

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Marinating the Fish

Pound garlic with a mortar and pestle into a paste. Add salt, sugar, five spice powder, black pepper, and olive oil, mixing to combine.

Using your fingers to rub the spices in and distribute evenly all over the fish. Line onion slices on the baking tray.  Place fish on top of the onion, skin-side up.  Tuck the onion in so the fish covers the onion. 

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Baking the Fish

Put the fish tray in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the fish and baste the fish skin wit honey mixture. 

Place it back into the oven and increase the oven temperature to max (mine is 550 degrees F) until skin is crispy golden brown.

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Preparing Toppings

Scallion Oil - while the fish is being baked, in a sauté pan, heat a tablespoon of oil and a clove of smashed garlic over medium heat. The purpose of using the garlic in oil is to impart the garlic flavor in oil.  You can skip garlic if preferred.  I am a fan of garlic.  When the garlic starts to turn brown, remove oil from heat.  Let it cool down for a minute then add the green onion and mix well.  Discard the garlic.  Set aside. 

Fried onion or fried shallots - I used the premade fried onions. From scratch, slice shallots thinly then fry in oil until crispy.

Roasted Peanuts - I sometime use Planters dry roasted peanuts.  You can roast raw peanuts in the pan over medium low heat until golden.

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Presentation

Use two spatulas to transfer fish and onion onto a serving plate. Spoon scallion oil over the top of the fish. Top with crispy fried shallots or fried onion, and roasted peanuts. Serve with rice papers as spring rolls or lettuce wraps with noodles along with herbs, lettuces, cucumbers, granny smith apple or green mango, and pickled daikon and carrots if preferred. Dip rolls in fermented shrimp pineapple sauce, fish sauce, or tamarind fish sauce.

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Here's to your Superbowl celebration with this grand delight.

Eat well.  Stay healthy. 

Baked Striped Bass With Vermicelli and Vegetables (Cá Vược Đút Lò)

Happy New Year!

No, I haven't forgotten about this blog nor my readers. Nor do I plan on shutting it permanently, even though that thought had crossed my mind once in a while. But the truth is that my laptop has been acting weird for the last half of the year. It took me hours just to type up a paragraph. Thanks to my  husband who didn't want me to give up on writing so he surprised me with a brand new one.

As the Lunar New Year of 2018 is fast approaching - it's on February 16th this year - let us welcome the year of the dog. There're many traditions and customs for the lunar new year in each country of the countries that celebrate it - China, Korea, Vietnam. Food apparently plays a large part in every country.  From the foodie's point of view, there is no better way to celebrate and learn about lunar new year traditions than through food. Every dish has symbolism deeply rooted in its culture. For instant, fish is a must-have dish in any Chinese new year dinner as it's a symbol of prosperity and surplus.

So, while I was browsing through the clearance section at William Sonoma, I couldn't help myself when I spotted this beautiful red terra-cotta fish baker. Right away, it brought back fond memories of my dear friend and wonderful boss Ellen - when I was employed with the state - who always included us as part of her family and invited us to celebrate Chinese new year at her house every year. Fish was one of the dishes that she always had on the dinner table. As I stared at the fish baker, I knew I had to bake a fish for dinner that night. The striped bass I bought from Costco fitted just perfectly in it. I lay the fish on layers of sweet onion and mushrooms then tucked both sides of the fish with sweet peppers, vermicelli, green onion, and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper. It didn’t take much to be a happy camper as the fish came out from the oven beautifully and tasted so yummy.

If you like this Terra-Cotta Fish Baker as much as I do, it’s available at online William Sonoma for half off.

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RECIPE: Baked Striped Bass With Vermicelli

printable recipe

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Ingredients
for the fish 

1 whole striped bass
2 bunches vermicelli
1 pack beech or king oyster mushrooms
8-10 sweet baby bell peppers
1 large sweet onion
green onion
freshly ground black pepper
1 bulb of garlic

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for the sauce

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sweet cooking rice wine
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
small piece of ginger, peeled, julienned 

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Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
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Preparing Ingredients for Fish

Fish - gut, scale, trim the fins from the fish, rinse and pat dry. Set aside.

Vermicelli - soak in warm water until soft, drain, and cut into shorter length.

Mushrooms - I love mushroom in general, but my favorite types are king oyster and beech mushroom. King oyster mushroom also known as king trumpet mushroom is sweet, mellow, meaty, and tastes like abalone while beech mushroom has a crunchy texture, delicate, mild flavor that is sweet and deliciously nutty. If you use king oyster mushroom, slice however you prefer - crosswise or lengthwise thinly. Set aside.

Bell Peppers - cut into strips or cut crosswise into rings. Set aside.

Onion - cut crosswise into rings. Set aside.

Green Onion - cut into an inch length.

Garlic - slightly smash, and peel.  Set aside. 

Place slices of onion on the bottom of the baking dish.

Place mushroom on top of layer of onion.

Lay fish on the bed of onion and mushrooms. 

Insert garlic inside the fish's belly. 

Tuck both sides of the fish with sweet peppers, vermicelli, green onion, and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper. 

Cover the baking dish tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and cook for 35-40 minutes.

Be careful when removing the fish as the dish is really hot.  

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Preparing the Sauce 

Cook shallots, garlic, and ginger in oil until tender.  Turn off the heat.  Add soy sauce and cooking rice wine.  Mix well.  

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Presentation

Serve fish with sauce on the side. You can also drizzle sauce over the fish, noodle, and vegetables. Serve immediately with steamed rice. 

I personally enjoy this dish by itself, especially the noodle and the mushroom.  They go well together.  

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Eat well.  Stay healthy.

Malaysian Char Kuey Teow (Hủ Tiếu Xào Khô kiểu Malaysia)

I have never felt this productive in my life since my older girl decided to join the cheer team. While there's certainly a lot of joy involved in parenthood, it is not unusual to also feel overwhelmed with  a busy schedule between my two girls' band lessons, art classes, seven days a week of gymnastics and cheer practices, and competitions, leaving me exhausted by the end of the day. It's one of the main reasons why I have been blogging less. But today I was determined to block everything else out and just stay focus on the task at hand.

If you've been following my Facebook page, I have mentioned that I have been cooking up a frenzy to fundraise for a koi pond for my dear husband. We had a beautiful little pond at the old home and I know he misses it.  

One of the dishes I've been making is a Malaysian dish called Char Kuey Teow per a friend's request who misses his homeland food. I have never seen or tasted it but I gave it my best shot. After carefully studying the ingredients of Char Kuey Teow,  I made a first batch and waited for my daughter to come home from school to taste test it. She gave me thumbs up. After delivering Char Kuey Teow to my customers, I anxiously waited for my critiques as if I was on Chopped. I received high marks on my first try, it gave me the confidence to challenge myself even more. Ever since, I have more Malaysian customers who requested me to make Char Kuey Teow almost every week. My husband has been complaining because I sell out every single order of Char Kuey Teow every time and he still hasn't had a chance to taste this dish yet. 

Char Kuey Teow literally means Stir-Fry Rice Cake. It is one of the most popular street food in Malaysia, and is considered a national favorite in Malaysia and Singapore. Many people from all over Asia travel to Penang just to indulge in a plate of it. Char Kuey Teow is made from fresh flat rice noodle and stir-fried over very high heat with shrimps, slices of Chinese sausage, fishcake, eggs, bean sprouts, and chives. It is is traditionally stir-fried in lard, with crisp pork fat cubes to add the smoky flavor, richness, and crispy texture to the dish. I am fond of banana leaves so I like to serve Char Kuey Teow on a piece of banana leaf on a plate not only to enhance the lovely subtle aroma that it lends to the dish but also to achieve a more Penang authentic style.

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RECIPE: Malaysian Char Kuey Teow

printable recipe

make 2 servings

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Ingredients

12 oz fresh noodle

8 large shrimps, tail-on, peeled, deveined

12 slices pan-fried fish cake

1/2 Chinese sausage, sliced

3 duck or chicken eggs

a handful bean sprouts, rinsed well and drained.

1/2 handful garlic chives, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon bacon grease, or lard, or vegetable oil

1 tablespoon crispy pork fat cubes, optional

for the sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce

1/2 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

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DIRECTIONS

Preparing Crispy Pork Fat Cubes

Pork fat can be purchased at Asian stores. Ask the butcher. 

Crispy pork fat can be prepared a few days ahead. Remove pork skin. Dice the pork fat into small cubes but not too small. They will shrink during the process. Put them in a large pot and render the pork fat cubes over medium heat, occasionally stirring. As the cubes release more and more fat, the rendered fat tends to splatter quite a bit so be careful. It's done when the pork fat cubes are brown and start to float and not burn. Turn off the stove. The lard pieces will continue cooking in the hot oil. Cook until golden brown. Remove them from the oil. Drain the crispy pork fat cubes on a paper towel or a strainer. Let it cool and store in a air tight jar. Store pork oil separately. Crispy pork fat that is stored on top of the counter top near the stove or in the pantry will last about a month and stays, the freshest longest about a year when you keep it in the refrigerator between uses.

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Preparing the Sauce

In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients and mix well.

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Preparing Noodle

If you don’t have access to fresh noodle, you can make your own rice noodle (click here for the recipe). Noodle can be kept at room temperature for a day. Do not keep the noodle in the fridge as it becomes brittle. Separate the noodle strands. Set aside.

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Preparing Fried Fish Cake

Fried fish cake can be homemade or purchased at Asian stores. You can prepare fish cake days ahead.

To make fish cake, combine a pound of tilapia fillets, a shallot or white part of green onion, a tablespoon of fish sauce, ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon tapioca starch in a food processor and whip into a smooth paste. Transfer 1/2 of the fish paste onto the plastic wrap. Wrap it up and flatten it to make a patty. Chill the fish cakes in the freezer for a few hours or overnight. Thaw fish cake before frying.

Heat vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add in the fish cakes and fry for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Flip the cakes occasionally so they brown evenly.

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Cooking Char Kway Teow

For your Char Kuey Teow to taste like the one in Malaysia requires the right fresh ingredients, tools, and the correct techniques. You need a good quality wok such as cast iron or carbon steel. Non-stick will not work well as it can't withstand super high temperatures. I don't have a wok so I used my All Clad pan.  As I mentioned earlier, Char Kuey Teow requires cooking with lard in high heat to add the smoky flavor, and richness to the dish. It's requires cooking one batch at a time and a quick stirring  of the noodle.  The result is a perfectly soft, slightly charred, smoky flavored noodle.

So be sure to have all the ingredients by your side.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add the lard or vegetable oil. Once the wok is almost smoking, add the shrimps, sausages, and fish cake. Stir quickly until shrimps are almost pink. Add garlic last as it can get burned easily.

Give it a quick stir then add noodle. Quickly pour 3 tablespoons of the sauce over the noodle and stir the noodle quickly in the circle motion starting from the center of the pan with a spatula.

When the noodle is soften and mixed well with the sauce, push the noodle aside or create a spot in the middle.  Crack the eggs (prefer duck eggs as they have a richer flavor) and stir to break the yolks.

Stir the eggs with the noodles until the eggs have almost set. Finally, add chives, bean sprouts, and a tablespoon of crispy pork fat cubes. Continue stir frying noodles and vegetables until combined.

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Presentation

If you want your Char Kuey Teow to look authentic like Penang style, transfer noodle to a serving plate lined with banana leaf, serve hot and enjoy as is or kick it up a notch with chili sauce.

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Eat well. Stay healthy.