Fried Small Little Fish

Fried Female Capelins

Although they are small but these are actually mature fish. They actually grow to between six to eight inches in length and the female capelins, as they are named, have eggs in their belly. It is a delicacy in Korean, Japanese and Chinese cooking. We like them fried. In fact that is the only cooking method that I have ever known of these fish. I am sure there are other recipes but I am good with just frying these small delicious fish.

Delicious Little Fish

We usually fry them with rice and corn flour mix batter. And in Korean and Japanese restaurants, they are fried with tempura batter. I have used belacan powder and also fried them plain with sprinkle of salt. And that was how I fried a batch of these small female capelins yesterday for dinner. I rub a little bit of salt on the fish and deep fried them, a few a time, in a pot of cooking oil. It took me about twenty minutes to fry about thirty pieces of these fish.

Fried Enoki Mushroom Fritters

Fried Enoki Mushroom

Most of the time when we see enoki mushroom, it is in Japanese restaurants. And most often in soups. Just when we put them in our tom yam soup and into our hot pot. But we have learned of this special recipe that enoki mushroom can be fried. Sometimes in certain Japanese sushi place, it is served as one of the tempura item. Other than that, we have eaten the fried enoki mushroom fritters in Singapore's famous Rochor market.

Enoki

We have also cooked this at home after seeing how it was prepared at the Singapore's Rochor market. The main ingredient for the fried enoki mushroom fritters is rice floor. Mix the rice floor with corn floor. The ratio between the two flours is five to one. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Mix with water and enoki mushroom to form a thick batter. Using a ladle, deep fry each scoop until it turns golden brown.

Meat Curry for Roti

Pork Meat Curry

I wanted to have roti chennai for breakfast this morning. So, last night I cooked the sauce or gravy that I wanted for the eating with the roti chennai. We always have something curry to dip the roti chennai with. And pork curry was the choice this time because we have some more pork in the fridge. I cooked the curry last night because in the morning we only have a small window of time to prepare and cook before everyone leaves for school and work.

Pork Curry

For simplicity and to cut down preparation time, I opened a pack of ready to cook meat curry paste. Started with four spoons of cooking oil and then pour the paste onto the cooking oil. Allow the paste to simmer for a few minutes. While waiting, add a bunch of curry leaves, cloves and anise star into the curry paste. Mix the paste well and allow another minute to simmer. Then, add the meat which have been cut to bite size cubes.

Malaysian Curry

Mix with the curry paste and continue to mix and turn the meat, making sure everything is evenly mixed. Once the meat are cooked, add half a canned of coconut milk. Mix well until evenly colored and allow to boil. At this juncture, add potatoes (cooked) and close the pot with a lid. If I was not going to serve the curry there and then, I would turn off the heat on the stove and leave the pot as it is. The next morning, heat the curry up and pan toast the roti for breakfast.

Char Siew Wuntun Noodle for Breakfast

Wuntun Noodle

I woke up to Char Siew Wuntun Noodles for breakfast this morning. Apparently, we have leftovers of some wuntun noodles from yesterday's cuisine. So, the next best thing to do is to cook the wuntun noodle and serve them for breakfast. And since we have prepared some char siew a few days ago, just add that with the noodle. We also added yu choy to the wuntun noodle breakfast. And we served wuntun noodle with a mix of soy sauce.

Char Siew Wuntun Noodle

Actually the sauce is a mix of dark soy sauce, sesame seed oil, oyster flavoured sauce, chicken broth and pepper. Once the noodle is evenly mixed with the sauce, the other ingredients are added onto the noodle. Depending what are the ingredients we readily have, we serve this simple wuntun noodle for breakfast every so often at home. Sometimes, we even have fried wuntun and char siew together with the wuntun noodle. But, at any other times it may just be served with either one of the main ingredient.

Steam Sea Perch with Wuntun Noodle

Steam Sea Perch with Wuntun Noodle

We have had dined on this particular cuisine in a small town restaurant in Malaysia. In fact, we had the steam tilapia wuntun noodle cuisine in a Chinese restaurant in the village town of Rawang several years ago. It was curiosity that led us to this particular restaurant. Every time that we pass-through this town, we noticed a sign that advertise this special cuisine. So, one day we decided to dine there and by following the sign, it led us even deeper into the Chinese village until the residence turn coffee shop type restaurant.

A Specialty Noodle Cuisine

And to our surprise, the restaurant was full. There were at least thirty tables and each was occupied with diners, mostly families. Seems like that restaurant was indeed famous for their steam tilapia with wuntun noodles. It was a rather simple dish. Steam fish with lots of ginger, sesame seed oil, oyster flavoured sauce, and sprinkle of spring onions. Added onto the dish is two servings of wuntun noodles. We actually went back to the restaurant several more times with family and friends.

Steam Fish Noodle Cuisine

And in our continued quest for authentic and unique cuisines, we found the similar cuisine being served in other Chinese restaurants in small Chinese villages in Selangor. So, yesterday I decided that I wanted to cook this noodle cuisine. I cook with a sea perch as that was the suitable choice of fish I have in the freezer. Sea perch and tilapia have the same texture, soft and lumpy when cooked. I prefer sea perch over tilapia because the sea perch does not have that strong fish smell.

Penang Fried Radish Cake

Fried Radish Cake

We have learned a lot more about cooking the different Malaysian dishes here in Vancouver than before we arrived here. We have learned to cook many of these Malaysian cuisines from youtube and other online sites. Sometimes when we try out one particular recipe and it does not taste authentic we try out another until we find the most authentic one. Other than recipes, we also have to find or shop for the right ingredients.

Penang radish Cake

One of the famous Penang cuisine that we actually learn here is the fried radish cake. First we have to prepare the radish cake by streaming shredded radish. Once the radish cake is formed, it is cut to small cubes and then fried with eggs, bean sprouts, and preserved radish. The sauce that we use to make this famous cuisine taste authentic is non other than the dark soy sauce which is the imported from Penang.

Instant Style Spicy Korean Noodle

Spicy Korean Noodle

I was in the vicinity of the Korean Village yesterday. While my car was in the auto shop for its scheduled maintenance, I decided to visit the business outlets in the area. Anyway, I was told by the mechanic at the auto shop that the checks and services will take at least forty to fifty minutes. So, what better way to kill time than to visit some of these business outlets. And while I was in the Hannam Korean Supermarket, I saw stacks of Korean style instant noodles on sale.

Korean Instant Noodle

I just had to buy some. The price was just irresistible, it is not always that I come across these kind of prices. That same evening, I opened one of the pack of four instant noodle for dinner. The instructions were very simple to follow and I use the image on the pack to make the Korean noodle as closely resembling the image as possible. But I also improvised by adding cheese to the wuntun to add flavour and taste. The instant noodle turned out to be really good.