What The Fish

Picture from veryfunnypics.eu

The basa fish, also known more elegantly as the bicourti, is a catfish native to the Mekong delta in Vietnam and the chao phraya basin in Thailand. According to wikipedia, the fish is commonly sold in the UK as a cheaper alternative to other white fish such as cod or haddock. Some retailers have even gone as far as selling basa as cod.  It is great credit to the basa that it can be passed off as more "refined" fishes in terms of appearance and taste, so much so that when these cases went to court, DNA evidence had to be used to tell these fish apart.

Closer to home, basa is actually also rather common and can be found in zhi char stalls,  cooked together with ginger and spring onion.  I am sure now it sounds familiar, and also brings to mind it's creamy white and oh-so-succulent flesh *drool*

From Blizzard to Beers

Now selling Duff Beer
Image from hungrygowhere

One reason i do not consider myself atas, aside from the obvious fact that there isnt much in the bank, is that i do not know how to appreciate wine.  I do like beer though, and am even willing to glug down a tiger beer. Anyway, i digress.  it seems that there are actually more than a few dudes who have made the leap from air-conditioned office to the sweaty confines of a hawker stall.  Today's post is on Mr Daniel Goh, who went from a dream job at Blizzard to selling craft beers at good old Hong Lim Food Centre, home of excellent char kuay teow, crayfish bee hoon, fish soup, muffins, prawn mee, char siew, curry chicken noodles.. oops here i go again.

It never seemed likely for Mr Goh to end up as a hawker.  He first started from PR at Samsung, before moving to Blizzard where he handled PR for the South East Asian region.  Just let that sink in for a moment. Blizzard! Home of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo.  And according to this interview, Mr Goh himself was an avivd World of Warcraft player, which really makes the job seem really sweet.

A Good Morning

My first attempt at breakfast, consisting marinated mushrooms, a sunny side up plus a hashbrown for carbo :)  this time i went with button mushrooms.  button mushrooms are really soft and their flesh falls off easily when you press them, but i guess it is this texture that makes them so good to eat!

Pretty straightforward here so there wont be much instructions.  The marinated mushrooms followed my earlier recipe, but the texture of button mushroom, chewy and buttery, is especially suitable for breakfast (my personal opinion) There is a monetary premium for this magnificent texture though.

Also my first attempt at sunny side up and it was surprisingly easy.  Not my first attempt as eggs though, and i previously had trouble keeping the egg yolk intact after cracking it.  the trick is to crack the egg on a flat surface rather than on an edge.  tap the egg lightly and a fine line will appear and the shell will come apart quite easily.  not cracking on an edge also avoids the problem when you end up with shells in your egg.

Death by Sauna

it's been a while since i last posted.  was caught up with work for a few weeks and following that i took a short break, during which i tried to cook.  unfortunately i bit off more than i could chew and forgot about keeping things simple - i tried to do a masterchef and debone a chicken. on paper it looked great, roast the meat and use the bones for soup, but the level of technical ability was beyond me and wasnt in line with "keeping things simple" which is what this blog is all about.  anyhow, i will try it again if i ever do level up enough one day :)

so back to keeping things simple, steaming fish is really a no-brainer, which makes it very suitable here :) all you need is a fresh fish, something to remove the fishy odour, plus condiments for taste.  i did some basic research and kept to the familiar - steaming chinese style!  even under this, there is the cantonese and teochew style.  the canto style uses a soy-based sauce and hence is usually savoury, while the teochew style uses plums and hence is more sour.  The Food Canon has a really good post on this.  It also contains more other useful recipes and hence is going straight into my link page.

Pork Chops

Is it possible to cook a quick and dirty meal that tastes great and yet is super cheap? The answer is yes, though eating it everyday will probably take a few years off your life.  Pork chops - described by Gordon Ramsay as easy to cook and will send your confidence sky high - can be cooked in minutes and is oh-so-tender and juicy :)

My maiden attempt is Sweet and Sour Pork Chops, based on Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course which, i must say again, is really great for newbies.  Unfortunately, certain ingredients like basil and thyme are harder to find in your NTUC supermarket so i actually skipped the basil and bought a bottle of thyme instead of a getting a fresh sprig.  I guess it could have tasted more awesome-er but overall i was still pretty satisfied with the end product.

What You Will Need
2 pork chops
2 capsicum (referred to by GR as red peppers)
Cooking Oil
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp wine vinegar
Salt & ground black pepper
Thyme