Steamed Fish with Diced Red Peppers

Hi there. Long time no post! I'm glad I was able to update my blog again. I feel like coming back to my home town. Haha! Anyway, as I return, I'm coming with my recreation dish. And hopefully you'll love it like I did.

The dish I'm sharing with you today is a Chinese dish. Since my uncle works as a chef at a Chinese resto in Manila. When he comes at our home, he would bring their restaurant's specialty food with  him. One of the my favorite that I have never tasted before is the Steamed Fish Head with Diced Red Peppers. I just couldn't wait every week when he's coming home knowing and hoping that he would bring the dish with him again. I fell in love with this dish the first time I tasted it. Yum! Love at first taste!

So I did my very best to come up with the same taste but I just made it close enough haha! But don't mumble yet, though it's not as authentic as the Chinese dish, it tasted great. Mom, Dad, Sis and Mom's friend gave it compliments. 

Now, I don't want to take it longer just to share it. So shall we start?

Make sure that you already have these cookwares and utensils.
- steamer or steaming pot set
- stainless plate that will fit inside the steaming pot (slightly deep enough that would catch the water from the steamed fish)
- sauté pan (preferably 10 inch. in diameter)

STEAMED FISH WITH DICED RED PEPPERS

Ingredients:

4  slices fish (head or body, I used Red Snapper steak cut)
3  pcs.  red bell pepper (large, diced)
5   cloves garlic (finely diced)
1   medium onion (diced)
1  tsp. ginger (finely diced for steaming) and 1 tbsp. ginger (julienned for sauce)
3  tbsp.  chopped scallions (leave 1/3 part for garnish)
2  tbsp. fermented black beans
2  pcs. red hot chili pepper (chopped)
2  tbsp.  fish sauce
3  tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. cooking oil (1 1/2 tbsp for sauteing and 1/2 tbsp to be rub for fish)
chicken powder
1/4 cup water for sauce and 3-5 cups for steaming (of using steaming pot set)
salt and pepper


Procedures:

Wash the fish thoroughly and make sure no fish blood is left in the meat, we want to avoid too fishy taste. (Others doesn't like the fishiness of some dishes)

Strain fish to drain water. Season the fish cuts with salt, pepper and cooking. For additional taste, you may also add a little bit of chicken powder.

Set the seasoned fish in a stainless plate and add these portions of ingredients on top of seasoned fish.
1/4 diced red bell pepper
1/2 of diced garlic 
1/2 of diced onion
2/3 of chopped scallions
1/3 of finely diced ginger

Pour 3-5 cups water in the steaming pot enough that it would steam the fish for 10 to 20 minutes. Then set the plate of fish in the steamer. Set the stove on low fire.

Monitor the fish until it is cooked.



For the sauce:

While waiting, we can now start making our sauce.

In low heated sauté pan, sauté garlic, julienned ginger, onion and red bell pepper. Cook for 3 minutes. (You can add few tablespoons of water to avoid burning the mixture while cooking it). Add the chopped red hot chili peppers.

Add the fermented black beans and cook for 3-5 minutes. Afterwards, you may season the mixture with fish sauce, salt, pepper and brown sugar. Again, it is just optional, you can also add teaspoon of chicken powder if you do prefer it. Let it cook.

Once the fishes are done with steaming, you may now carefully transfer them in the sauté pan. Avoid breaking the fish steaks, they're so fragile when cooked. Let the dish boil for 3 more minutes.

Garnish with scallions and serve. Enjoy!! Hao hao chi!!

Steamed Fish with Diced Red Peppers

I hope you did love how it turned out. This dish is so irresistible, yummy yet healthy! Till we make dishes again. This is your loving friend, Kody!

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The author: If  you have comments, suggestions, questions and/or reactions please feel free to contact me with my email: huggybear0318@gmail.com. It will be my pleasure to answer and reply to your queries. If I can be any of help on creating the dish I shared with you, I will be happy to help you too. I could also share some tips if you ask so and I'm always open with your ideas and tips. We can exchange ideas. Thank you. Happy reading!

Just Some Confessions...

Just Some Confessions

Hello world of bloggers! How are you? I missed three days here in blogspot. Actually, I was trying to cook dishes these past few days. In fact, I made two dishes but I wasn't able to share them here, although I wanted to. I wish I was able to share them here if only I've got a good camera. I was using my sister's phone since hers has better resolution than my mobile's camera, so I prefer to use hers. Anyway, just want to share today some of my confessions talking about the things that I'm longing and working out. Let's start with:

WISH I HAVE A GOOD CAMERA FOR MY BLOGGING

Yes. Everyone knows that blogging requires showing of pictures, particularly with mine which is food blogging. I just feel bad when I'm not being able to share my cooked dish with you. I want to capture every single step to make it clear especially with procedures. I want to show the step by step process, of course. It would be better and people will love to read your blog if you have some pictures they could look at. Anyway, I'm planning to get one, but maybe later because;

WHY IN THE WORLD AM I NOT YET GETTING A JOB?

I was thinking of where will I get now my money to support my coming days? I live with my parents but I hate to think that I would ask money from them to buy this or that. I actually sent a lot of job applications online, I get feedback from them it's just that they are assigning me in far places. It would be a great opportunity to grab the offer but knowing you don't have enough resources to support the house rental, utilities, food and everything. Imagine I only have Php 2,000.00 or $46 with me in my wallet. So, I would choose the best offer with lowest expense. Well, I really want to get hired asap, it has been always my dream to work overseas. I know everyone's already aware of how it is to live in Philippines talking financially.

ACTUALLY, I'M ALSO TRYING TO LEARN 'JAPANESE'

Exactly. While unemployed, I use my spare time to study Japanese. I would love to visit Japan. I love Japanese people (I had met and encountered a lot of them already, most of them were polite and demure). I'm interested in learning their culture, I've seen a lot of their preserved places and arts on the local TV. Seeing Japan in that way, overwhelms me. I love to see the calm places and their colorful culture. I know, one day I will get there. I would keep telling my boyfie to tell his aunt in Japan regarding my dream of going there. She might give me the chance to live there haha! Just hoping.

SPEAKING OF MY BOYFIE

The past few days, I have noticed a lot of changes from him. I don't know if it's just me being paranoid or it's really happening. I hate to think that he's being distant with me and he suddenly doesn't take my side when I'm falling into something bad. Just wondering of what's happening. He suddenly hated it when I talked to him about a topic we used to laugh before. I don't know I'm confused. I also had noticed that he's being more of 'Me first, My wants first'. I can't help myself thinking over these things about him. But he suddenly just changed.

FOR A CHANGE

I'm thinking of studying again in school. Haha! Seems that I'm not yet satisfied with my finished degree. Well, I'm really not. Way back, I chose my degree for practical reasons: it is in demand, it is always about money, it's a flexible course because you can always apply to companies since it's all about business and they need it really. But what I did not consider is if it is really my passion. Honestly no. I'm a person who is more inclined to food and arts. I love to cook, I love colors, I love drawing and I love decorating. I was just thinking, should I re-enroll my course of passion for a change?

HOW ABOUT A REAL CHANGE?

I am now really aiming for a change. I love food so much but knowing that I'm growing sideways haha! Yes, getting fatter is not a good idea. I have been working out my weight for almost two weeks now. Every after a day I do jogging and in between of those days, when I'm only at home, I would do crunches and indoor workouts. I started working out my body when I started to feel bad about my health. That's why I became more health conscious nowadays. I will choose my food carefully, eat in balance, and of course exercise regularly as much as I can. And to add reasons for my work out, I want to fit my gown. I will be a second sponsor in a coming wedding on July 20. Hopefully, by that day, I already had shed a lot of fats already Haha! 

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I'm glad if you started and finished reading til here. Only few people will consider taking time reading such confessions. Anyway, I would love to be around here again sharing such things and food. I had enough of my confessions haha! I'll find ways to solve them all but for now a good sleep will help me think clearly. Till next time. Have a great day ahead! 

The author: If  you have comments, suggestions, questions and/or reactions please feel free to contact me with my email: huggybear0318@gmail.com. It will be my pleasure to answer and reply to your queries. If I can be any of help on creating the dish I shared with you, I will be happy to help you too. I could also share some tips if you ask so and I'm always open with your ideas and tips. We can exchange ideas. Thank you. Happy reading!

Stir-Fried Green Beans with Oyster Sauce and Shrimp

Stir-Fried Green Beans with Oyster Sauce and Shrimp

I was thinking of what to cook last night since I'm pursuing a healthy and balanced diet, so I will have to cook something like vegetable or not so fatty and oily dish. I couldn't come up with something til' I saw these bunch of beans, these green beans. Well, it's not a problem for me to have my ingredients. We have a small retail store of groceries, fruits, veggies and meats.

After seeing my main ingredient, my brain went to think right away of what I'm going to cook. Presto! My brain showed me the way. I rushed to gather the ingredients;

400g   green beans (finely chopped)

1pc.   red bell pepper (small, julienned)

2-3 tbsp.   oyster sauce

10-15pcs.  shrimps (deveined, chopped coarsely)

3/4 cup water

1 tbsp. ginger (ground, chopped and finely diced)

1 tbsp. corn starch diluted in water

3 tbsp. soy sauce

3 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. fish sauce

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tbsp. garlic

1pc. onion (chopped & diced)

salt & ground black pepper

And now all of the ingredients were gathered up. Now what? Set your wok and ladle because we are going to start.

Procedures:

In medium heated wok, sauté garlic, onions, ginger and shrimp in vegetable oil.

Season with garlic as the shrimps began to be cooked.

Now add the chopped green beans. Stir fry. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Cover.

While waiting, in a small bowl, mix all together the oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar. Stir until all ingredients were mixed and sugar is totally dissolve in the mixture.

After bringing the green beans to cook, pour the mixture of oyster sauce and stir the dish.

Finally, season it with salt if needed. Garnish it with red bell pepper.

Serve with steamed rice. Enjoy eating.


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Tips:

Before sautéing  the onions and shrimps, make sure you sauté the garlic til' they become golden brown. The dish is more flavorful with golden brown garlic.

Avoid overcooking the green beans, so we maintain the nutrients. (That's what my father keep telling me.)

If you don't want to waste the shrimp heads, you may boil them and make shrimp stocks. You can add it to your dish for that shrimpy taste.

When I cooked it, I preferred it to be a little bit sweeter. It tasted great. But still up to you.

Breaded pork chop, fish or chicken fillet were good matches for this dish.

The author: If  you have comments, suggestions, questions and/or reactions please feel free to contact me with my email: huggybear0318@gmail.com. It will be my pleasure to answer and reply to your queries. If I can be any of help on creating the dish I shared with you, I will be happy to help you too. I could also share some tips if you ask so and I'm always open with your ideas and tips. We can exchange ideas. Thank you. Happy reading! Enjoy cooking!