flower crab soup recipe

FLOWER CRAB SOUP RECIPE

If you're wondering how to cook your flowercrabs and you just want a simple recipe to make delicious home cooked crabs then look no further because this recipe is idiot proof.

this is best for small and medium sized flower crabs that wont have much to offer if you just fry them.

flower crabs have a natural sweet taste that will go well when made into a soup.

mud crabs can never achieve this flavour.

lets get started!

RECIPE:

1kg Flower Crab
1 pack Enoki mushrooms aprx.200g or more
3 sprig Spring Onion
2 Litres Chicken broth(Swanson or Knorr is fine)
5 tbsp Evaporated Milk
2 tbsp Oyster sauce
30g minced Ginger
3 Tbsp Chinese Cooking Wine

METHOD:

add everything into a pot except the chinese cooking wine and evapourated milk
bring to boil for half an hour to ensure crabs are all fully cooked and bacteria has mostly all been eliminated.
dont worry about toughness because crabs are nicer to eat with firmer meat and also fresh caught crabs wont toughen up as easily.

add the evapourated milk and chinese cooking wine and boil for 2mins.turn off heat and serve.

you may chose to add eggs into the soup. best consumed with rice.

*burp*

meal good enough for 3 pax.

cheers!

-Abel

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The tales of a fish tail.

A big hello to all out there!!!

I live to eat so I hope that my subsequent blog posts may encourage all of us to be brave and whip out the courage to face the heat in the kitchen and make the best we can with our proud catches ok?

Here's my usual reaction when the fishes are the being reeled up: I will first do species identification, which I mostly rely on witty abel to announce the catches as most fishes may look quite foreign as I have not been fishing long enough. Next, I'll check out the shape of the tail which would almost tell me the texture and possibly the taste of the flesh...

This is not the exhaustive list but something good for us to start with:

From the tail, we can tell that the more active the fish, the firmer the flesh is.(like duh rights.. same concept as beef shank vs tenderloin) So, for example, a fish with a forked tail, like the pomfret, is firmer than that of trout with a truncated tail. Understanding the structure of the tail would also give you insights about the fishes' habitat and it's hunting preferences (then you'll know agar what bait it goes for too)... Therefore, I really find this part of the fish really intriguing and sexy... Did I mention the beautiful spectrum of colours you can find on the tail... like my favourite mandarin dragonet <3 And on a side note, since we are fishing kims, kims tail looks like a broom with silver bristles.. hahaha.

Ok moving on.. so after quickly assessing the texture of the flesh- be it firm or flaky- we can then decide on the best cooking method to obtain the best best best tasting fish dish.

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Pan fried Barramundi/seabass with Hollandaise Sauce recipe(western cooking)

back with more recipes because of our latest catch which was Bryan's 8kg Barramundi/Kim Bak Lor!
so we had 5 kg of raw meat after filleting it and it'll be quite boring to just cook it with chinese recipes and methods.

do check back on the previous post on when and where we caught the fish from!

http://fishingkims.blogspot.sg/2014/06/the-catch-of-my-life-time-so-far.html

I'll be introducing to you what many restaurants serve and charge over $15 for a plate!trust me i've worked for several restaurants to know this and how much does it cost to actually make this dish?below $5 or less per plate I can assure you.
I'll introduce you to some products before we get started:

First off one of the better hollandaise sauce packs is from Masterfoods. I bought it for $3 for a pack which  can serve at least 4 plates but if have a better brand do let us know!

next is of course the dehydrated basil leaves from Masterfoods as well which I had laying around at home but you can always go for much cheaper ones because masterfoods is quite pricy.

today we'll be cooking pan fried Seabass with Hollandaise sauce.

so what do you need?
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Ingredients:
-1 fish fillet(barramundi/kim bak lor)
 about 2 cm thick  and 5-10cm wide(roughly 100g)

-thai asparagus(thin ones not thick ones)
as many as you like but about 7 will make it look good

-1 pack ready made hollandaise sauce pack
(unless you know how to make from scratch)

-half of a whole tomato

-salt and pepper to season

-olive oil

-basil herbs(dried for fresh is fine)

method:

preparation:
1) first of season the fish with salt and pepper and place it in the fridge for half an hour.
2) trim the bottom of the asparagus and if you like peel of the fibrous layer.
3)Dice the tomato to 0.5cm x 0.5cm cubes

cooking:
1)mix the diced tomato with some olive oil and basil,set it aside in the fridge.
2)heat up some olive oil in a frying pan and pan fry each side of the fish for 1-2mins so thats 4 mins cooking time in total.Pan fry skin side first)
3)while you pan fry the fish, start to boil a pot of water and add a few pinches of salt.add the asparagus cook for 5 mins or less or until semi soft.
(do not overcook but undercook because the heat inside the vegetable will continue to cook the asparagus)

4)remove the asparagus from the pot and drain the excess water.lay it on a round plate all in the same direction.

5)place the cooked fish on top of the asparagus.

6)using a spoon, scoop the diced tomato and place it gently against the cooked fish.

7)heat up hollandaise sauce according to the packet's instructions and drizzle on top of the fish.

season with salt and pepper

Pan fry skin side down first

why are we using a portable stove?to demostrate that this can be cooked anywhere..and also someone got excited and wanted to use the stove for no particular reason but to see how it works.

So hollandaise sauce is basically a yellow slighly sour sauce for fish in western cooking

forgot to add the hollandaise sauce for this picture

one of the simplest dishes to cook for your loved ones!

cheers and peace out!

-Abel

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Sweet Sour fish recipe

By:Abel Yeo 

Sweet and Sour fish!
this dish is known as Chrysanthemum Fish!Do note that this dish requires fish which have firm meat and tough skin to hold the fish together when deep fried.

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ingredients:

Carp,snapper or grouper meat is fine(1 fish can make 4 pieces)

Sweet and Sour instant Mix
OR
1/4 cup sugar or lightly packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon light (regular) soy sauce
3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

Method:
1) fillet the fish 
2) each fillet can be cut into 2 pieces
3) make a criss-cross insertion into the fish(flesh side) and remember not to cut through the skin
4) season the fish with salt and corn flour
5) deep fry the pieces of fish and watch each section spread out to form a "flower".
6) next, prepare the sweet and sour sauce and stir in the fried fish
7) serve with spring onion on top.
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Flatheads Not so bad Eating afterall

by: Abel Yeo

Ang Mor's favourite fish to eat is the flathead!most of the time typical asian anglers will spoil this fish by cooking it in Assam,curry fish sauce,or steaming it but that's all ridiculous methods because flathead has its own individual flavour profile. simple fillet the fish and remove the skin. Season with salt and pepper and pan fry! the taste and texture is exactly like eating Chicken meat!so don't ruin the flavour with complicated methods because some things are best kept simple.

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ingredients:
-1 Flathead fish of DECENT size
-salt and pepper to taste

method:
1) season fish with salt and pepper
2) pan fry until fully cooked

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Tamban and Croaker Cereal Fish Recipe

by: Abel Yeo

croaker fish or tamban fish is best when deep fried due to their natural salty taste. but here to add alittle more zest to a conventional norm of deep frying and eating it plain,we're here to tell you that mixing it with cereal is the next best thing!

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ingredients:

-Oil( sufficient for deep frying)

-salt for seasoning

Recommended Cereal Mix

-1 pack cereal mix 

-1-2 stalk curry leaves

-30g of salted butter

methods:

1) gut and remove head of fishes

2) season with salt

3) deep fry fishes

4) melt butter and fry with curry leaves until fragrant

5) add in fried fish and toss

6) turn down heat and add cereal

7) mix thoroughly until evenly distributed

8) serve 

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Easy Beer Battered Fish and Chips(2 step process)

by: Abel Yeo

EASY BEER BATTERED FISH

Snapper and Catfish are what comes to mind when cooking fish and chips.

if you're curious enough, you can even try toadfish and i'll be honest when i ate this it really freaked me out because not all toadfish species can be consumed but I did my research and I'm here,ALIVE, to tell you that it is safe to eat!

Many recipe books tell you the traditional way of cooking fish and chips but I'm here to tell you that even if you burn and drink those books,you'll still be lost on how to cook good fish and chips.

Unless you're a person who is incapable of cooking instant noodles or boiling and egg,then this Recipe from "all recipes" is the way to go! 

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ingredients:

1 cup of beer (250ml)

7 ounce container of shake-and-pour buttermilk pancake mix

2 pounds of fish(your choice)

method:

1) add beer and pancake mix together and mix well and evenly.

2) batter the fish on each side and deep fry for 4-5 mins. or until fully cooked and golden       brown. 

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Kim Bak Lor/Barramundi Recipe!

by: Abel Yeo

The next on the fish is our personal favourite and that is none other than KIM BAK LORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

As mentioned earlier,this can be served with the Hong Kong Fish sauce BUT there are many Teochew members in our group so we often cook our seabass Teochew style with sour plums,preserved veg and tomatoes.

Barramandi/Seabass steamed (with Tomatoes,Preserved Plums, plum juice, soy sauce,chinese wine) Teochew style

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ingredients:

1 whole barramundi 1-2kg

10 pc sliced ginger(sliced thinly)

1 whole tomato(wedges)

5-6 preserved plum

100ml soy sauce(light)

5 TBSP preserved plum juice

2-3 TBSP chinese cooking wine

method:

1) distribute ingredients evenly and steam

steam for 10-15 mins or until fish is fully cooked

2)serve

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for those who prefer it with the restaurant hong kong fish sauce instead here it is again!

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 ------------HONG KONG FISH SAUCE---------

125ML( SUPERIOR quality ONLY) light soy sauce

500ML chicken stock

75ML liquid Maggi seasoning

90g Rock sugar(white)

1/2 tsp Sesame Oil

1 and 1/2 TBSP Chicken powder(maggi)

method:

1) add all ingredients for hong kong fish sauce and bring to a boil(do not over boil else the flavour will fade)

2) place fish on a plate with the sauce and pour 50ML(estimation)  of boiling hot oil over the fish

3)garnish with spring onion and serve

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Cooking Groupers!

by: Abel Yeo

Now this is something many restaurants wont reveal, and that is the famous Hong Kong Fish sauce!this sauce can also be served with Steamed Seabass! here we have simply deep fried the grouper that was caught as it has been in the freezer for quite some time so the taste and freshness was compromised.

So easy??yeap you've been scammed by many restaurants when you paid $30 for a fish served with this "premium" sauce

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ingredients:

------------HONG KONG FISH SAUCE---------

125ML( SUPERIOR quality ONLY) light soy sauce

500ML chicken stock

75ML liquid Maggi seasoning

90g Rock sugar(white)

1/2 tsp Sesame Oil

1 and 1/2 TBSP Chicken powder(maggi)

-----------FOR FISH-----------------

salt for seasoning

corn flour for seasoning

oil for deep frying

 Spring Onion(1-2 stalks) for garnish

method:

1) add all ingredients for hong kong fish sauce and bring to a boil(do not over boil else the flavour will fade)

2)deep fry the grouper until fully cooked and crispy

3) place fish on a plate with the sauce and pour 50ML(estimation)  of boiling hot oil over the fish

4)garnish with spring onion and serve

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Cooking Sickle Fish

by: Abel Yeo

Hello Hello!this is probably the first blog that you'll see which has an entire post dedicated to cooking the fish that was caught!Not sure why also...but maybe...all they think about is eating the fish rather than sharing the experience?

  

First on our list of completely clueless methods of cooking weird looking fish is the Sickle Fish which is known by many uncles, who couldn't be bothered to learn the name ,as "Fan fish".This fish is a bottom feeder and tends to eat worms and prawns that dwell on the sea bed.they can be usually caught when mud and clay is present!Usually caught in Pasir Ris, Changi broadwalk and Sembawang Park, just to name a few.

This fish has a muddy taste when not cooked properly so it isn't advisable to steam the fish. I highly recommend deep frying or braising this fish to mask the flavour. Texture of this fish is similar to pomfet.

In this picture we have given our catch to a nearby restaurant to help us cook!So we've chosen Assam!. although it is something we'll never do again since it cost us $15.and we are too Ghetto for this.

Alternatively you could try cooking this fish with fish curry sauce or Assam sauce!

 NO RECIPES?fret not,the next few fish dishes will contain the complete set of recipes!

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