Pan-fry Salmon & Apple Slices With Butter Sauce

Salmon is the common name for several species of Fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout. Salmon is a popular food. Consuming salmon is considered to be reasonably healthy due to the fish's high protein, high Omega-3 fatty acids, and high vitamin D content.

Like many fruits, Apples contain Vitamin C as well as a host of other antioxidant compounds, which may reduce the risk of cancer by preventing DNA damage. The fiber content, while less than in most other fruits, helps regulate bowel movements and may thus reduce the risk of colon cancer. They may also help with heart disease, weight loss and controlling cholesterol, as they do not have any cholesterol, have fiber, which reduces cholesterol by preventing re-absorption, and are bulky for their caloric content like most fruits and vegetables. So "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

This was a very interesting dish that my lady boss was telling us during one of the chit chat session. So base on what she had describe, I came out my own version of Pan-fry Salmon & Apples Slices With Butter Sauce. Other than the main course, I also added some side dish like stir-fry honey peas & carrot with garlic serve with rice.

This is indeed a very nice and easy to prepare hearty food for the whole family to have fish, fruit, vegetables and rice in a dish. If you are interested on how does the apples taste wise with salmon and butter, you must try this dish and you will sure to love it just like what we do. Reyon loves this dish especially the butter apples and juicy salmon..........

Ingredients For Salmon & Apple (serves 2)
1 Piece of Salmon Fillet, about 300g
2 Medium Red Apples, cored and cut into wedges
1 Medium Onion, cut into thin slices
4 Slices of Ginger, thinly shredded
10g - 15g of Salted Butter
1/4 Wedge Of Lemon, optional

Methods:
1. Wash and pat dry the salmon fillet, sprinkle with some pepper(optional) then coat with some corn flour before pan-fry to get the crispy outer coating and seal the freshness and juicy texture of the fillet.
2. Heat up the pan with 10g of butter, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of cooking oil to prevent the butter from getting burn.
3. Saute the onion and ginger for about 30 seconds then add in the salmon fillet and pan-fry on low heat until it's cooked through to your preference. (I prefer it to be just done so that the meat will be juicy and outer layer is crispy and fragrant, when you see golden colour on the skin layer it should be done but then it also depend on the thickness of the fillet.)
4. When the salmon is done remove it from the pan, and if there is not much oil left, you can add in more butter then put in the apple wedges and stir-fry for about 3-5 minutes till it's tender.
5. Remove it and serve together with the fish fillet and lemon.

Notes:
a) You can replace the salmon with cod fish if you prefer.
b) When saute the onion and ginger with the salmon, when you see the onion and ginger is almost golden in colour, dish it up and set aside so that u can served it on top of the rice.
c) You can either peel off the skin of the apple or u can cook it with the skin on depend on your liking. For me, I used 1 with skin and the other one without.

Ingredients For The Side Dish
6 - 8 Honey Peas
1 Medium/Small Carrot, cut into 0.5cm thick slices
3 Cloves Of Garlic, remove the skin
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine (hua tiao jiu)

Methods:
1. Prepare and wash the vegetables then heat up the pan with some oil and saute the garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in the carrot slices and fry for about 1 minute then add in the peas and continue to stir-fry for another 1 minutes.
3. Season it with some cooking wine and pinch of salt.

Lotus Root, Pumpkin & Pearl Bean Soup

Look at these beans, they look beautiful right? I love to add some of these Pearl Beans while cooking soup for the family. It will add a nutty flavor and creamy texture to the soup but then since it will get cook and turn soft pretty fast, you can only add them into the soup 20 minutes before the soup is done. Do not add too early or else you won't be able to find the whole bean itself.


It had being a long time ever since I used this little jewels in my soup. So today, since I had found some fresh and lovely Pearl Bean Pods in the market, I decided to use it together with some Pumpkin and Lotus Roots to make this wonderful nutty and hearty soup.

Ingredients:
300g Pork Ribs
1 Medium Section of Lotus Roots, about 200g
10 - 15 Pearl Bean Pods (珍珠豆)
1/4 (200g) Wedge of Australia Pumpkin, cut into thick chunk
1 Medium Carrot, peel and cut into thick slices
5 Red Dates(红枣 )
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries(枸杞子)
4 - 6 Cloves Of Garlic
2 Slices Of Ginger

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the pork ribs then scald in boiling water and rinse again.
2. Wash, peel and cut the lotus roots into thin slices.
3. Remove the beans from the pods and rinse well.
4. Heat up the a soup pot with some oil, then saute the ginger and garlic till fragrant then add in the pork ribs, lotus roots and carrot, stir and saute for another 2 - 3 minutes on very low heat.
5. Add about 1.5 litres of water and bring it to boil.
6. Simmer the soup for about 30 minuter then add in the pumpkin and pearl beans and continue to simmer for another 20 - 30 minutes
7. Season it with salt or stock cubes according to your preference.

Notes:
a) I use the Australia Pumpkin which is more Orange in colour and sweeter compare to the local pumpkin which is more towards the yellowish colour side.
b) You can replace pork ribs with lean meat or chicken according to your preference.

Cod Fish Rice

Reyon and I having this for our Mother's Day Dinner. This is one of Reyon's favourite "1 Dish Meal" despite that he is not really keen on fish. There is two different way that you can make this dish depend on which type you prefer?


As usual I cooked the rice using the soup base instead of water so that Reyon will get most of the nutrition from the soup. Then I coat the marinated fish fillet with cornflour then pan-fry in until golden brown and almost cooked through then I place it on top of the bubbling rice and let it continue to cook through so that the fish oil and fragrant will combine well with the rice.

Ingredients:
1 Or 2 pieces Of Cod Fish Fillet, without bone part
1/2 Tablespoon Of Cooking Wine
1 Teaspoon of Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Of Cornflour
3-4 Slices Of Ginger

Methods:
1. Wash and pat dry the fish fillet then marinate it with cooking wine, soy sauce and then coat it with cornflour.
2. Preheat a frying pan with some oil then saute the ginger slices until fragrant then add in the fish, skin side down.
3. Saute it for about 2 minutes till almost golden brown then turn over and repeat the same thing until both side are golden in colour.
4. Place the almost cook fish fillet on top of the bubbling rice which is half way through the cooking time.
5. Leave the fish fillet in the rice cooker until the rice is done.
6. Serve warm with some cucumber and tomato slices. (you can choose to drizzle it with extra BBQ sauce or tomato sauce on the fillet)

Note:
You can replace Cod Fish with Snapper or Salmon depend on your preference.

Our Pre-Mother's Day Dinner

Tomorrow is 11 May 2008 is once a year Mother's Day so my little Darling Reyon insists that we will have these for dinner today to celebrate Mother's Day. Early in the morning, he asked me to go market and buy some fresh prawns to make his favourite Deep-fry Breaded Prawns and some other ingredients to make the ABC Pork Ribs Soup.


ABC Pork Ribs Soup consists of carrot, potato, corn and pork ribs. Reyon loves this soup because of it's natural sweetness and fragrant taste. I purposely boiled extra amount of this soup and use it as a base to cook it with rice so that the white rice will taste even nicer.

Ingredient:
500g Pork Ribs
2 Medium Potato, cut into big chunks
1 Medium Carrot, cut into thick slices
1 Sweet Corn, cut into section
2 Garlic Cloves, lightly smashed
3 Shallots(small red onion), thinly sliced

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the pork ribs then blanch it in boiling water for about 5 minutes, removed and rinse with water then set aside.
2. Use a soup pot, add about 1/2 tablespoon of oil and saute the shallot and garlic for about 2 minutes then add in the carrot, potato and pork ribs and continue to saute till fragrant on low heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Add in about 1 litre of water and bring it to boil then add in the corns.
4. Let it simmer for about 25 - 30 minutes then season it with salt if prefer.(i add in 1/4 of the chicken stock cube)

Notes:

a) I replace the water for cooking rice with the above soup stock to make the rice more fragrant.

This is another one of Reyon's favourite deep-fry food other than chicken wing and nuggets. He loves either traditional Tempura Prawn or this type of Breaded Prawns. He can eat either 3 or 4 of this prawns for his usual meal.

Ingredients:
6 - 8 Medium Size Prawn, shell and devein
3 Tablespoons of Corn Flour
1 Beaten Egg
5 Tablespoons Dry Breadcrumbs(might need more)
Oil For Deep-frying

Methods:
1. Remove the shell from the prawns and keep the tail portion, try to snip two cuts at the base of the prawn so that the prawn will not curl up when deep-fry.
2. Next dry the prawns with kitchen paper towel well so that it will not have any water for safer frying.
3. Coat the prawn with cornflour then deep in beaten egg then coat with breadcrumbs and back to beaten egg then breadcrumbs again then set aside. (you can refer to a similar example here as in cornfour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs)
4. Make sure that the oil is hot before you drop in the coated prawns. Fry a few prawns at a time to avoid over crowded.
5. Fry the prawns till golden brown at medium heat for about 2 - 3 minutes.
6. Drained them well on kitchen paper towel and serve hot so that they will be crispy and nice.

Notes:
a) Select those with hard shell and firm meat type.
b) Remember to dry the prawn really well so that you can achieve a more crispy texture while deep-frying.

Lastly, I want to wish all my blog pals and reader especially those who are already mummy, I sincerely Wish You a HAPPY MOTHER's DAY............

Red Bean & Dumpling In Pumpkin Cream

Saw this interesting Korea Dessert from one of the food blogger known as 小小米桶的寫食廚房.(click here for the link to the original recipe in Chinese together with details photo illustration) She had a lot of wonderful pictures and interesting food recipes which is mainly written in Chinese found in her blog at the above mention link.


I found this recipe very interesting mainly because I love pumpkin puree and red bean as the main ingredients for this Dessert. Although the procedure might be a bit tedious due to the cooking of red bean, making of the dumpling and mashing of the pumpkin puree. But with all these efforts you will be able to have a bowl of hearty dessert to share with your love one. Below is the recipe in English version and I also drizzle some extra almond cream to the final products to enhance the flavour.

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup of Cook Red Bean, cooked through but not marshy
250g Australia Pumpkin, cut into cubes
1 Cup of Water
50ml of Almond Cream, optional

Methods:
1. Put the pumpkin cubes into a small saucepan together with 1 cup or more of water to cover the pumpkin then simmer it in low heat until the cubes are tender and soft.
2. Mash the soft pumpkin cubes through a sieves then return the pumpkin puree back into the same saucepan with the remaining water and stir till well combine.
3. Next add in the cooked red bean and mini dumpling and simmer for a while, if the base is too
thick, you can add in some extra water to dilute it.
4. Before serving, you can drizzle 1 - 2 tablespoons of almond cream on top to enhance the flavour.
5. As you have notice, I didn't add any sugar to sweeten this dessert because I find that the Pumpkin puree is already sweet enough to my liking. But then if you want it to taste better you can add extra sugar to sweeten it.

Mini Red Bean Dumpling
Ingredients:
25g Glutinous Rice Flour
Suitable amount of Sweeten Warm Red Bean Soup

Methods:
1. In a mixing bowl, mixed the glutinous rice flour with suitable about of warm red bean soup to make into a dough.
2. Knead it until smooth then roll into small dumpling in marble size or bigger depend on your preference.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil, drop in the pre-rolled dumplings and cooked until it float to the surface and continue to let it boil for another 2 minutes then drain and soaked it in cold water for a few minutes to enhance the texture.(make it more Q)
4. Dish and set aside for later use. (you can prepare this while cooking the pumpkin)

Notes:
a) You can cooked your own red bean or you can buy those ready cooked red bean soup or pre-packed cooked red bean.
b) I used Australia Pumpkin because I like it's orangy colour.
c) If you don't wish to prepare your own dumpling, you can use those pre-packed type from supermarket.