Steam blue crabs with wine

I usually go to the market very early about 6.30 am.  I used to be the first customer of my usual fishmonger(Ah Tiong).  I will be at his stall before he could arrange  and display all his seafood on the stall.  Early birds catch the worms.  This morning I was able to catch 3 very fresh blue crabs and a big barramundi (2.3kg, the only one among those smaller barramundi which were farmed at the sea). According to Ah Tiong, his brother(a fisherman) caught this only barramundi and some of the blue crabs.  I was lucky then to choose the best before the others shoppers arrive.

 The fish was chopped into a few slices.  I will steam the head and keep the rest in the freezer.

 For these crabs , I am going to steam for lunch with my son.
Peel the shells and discard the guts, wash the crabs and rinse well, remove claws and use knife back to smash the hard parts of the legs, set aside and drain.

The ingredients for steaming the crabs are,

4 egg whites,
1/2 tsp sugar,
3 tbs cooking wine,
1/3 cup of water,
some spring onions, chopped,
1 red chili ,sliced,
1 tsp sesame oil,
a few slices of ginger,
salt to taste.

Place the ginger slices on the plate and arrange the crabs on top of the ginger.  Put in a boiling water pot or wok and steam for 7 minutes.

While steaming, I prepare the sauce for second half of the steaming.  Oh no, forgot to take the photo of the egg white mixture.  Here, I have to explain the steps to make the egg white sauce.  Separate the egg yokes from the egg whites.  Pour in the water, cooking and add in the sugar into the egg whites and mix well, set aside.
After steaming for 7 minutes, remove from the pot and pour the steam crab sauce in to the egg white sauce.  Mix well.
Next, pour the well mixed sauce into the steamed crab and steam for another 6 minutes.  This is to make sure that the egg whites are not over steam .

After 6 minutes, mmmm the smell of the wine and the egg whites so white and soft.  Sprinkle the sesame oil and spring onion, chili and serve hot.
The aromatic and fragrant smell of the sesame oil and the wine was so attractive when place on the table.

Very delicious, the crabs are fresh and very meaty too.  Yummy  yum

Ginger Garlic Pan fry salmon steak

Last week went shopping in Tesco, saw the salmon were very fresh and cheap. Selling at only RM 26.90 per kilo cleaned and without head . I managed to choose a whole fish of 2.5 kg.  The helper help me to cut into slices by their electrical knife. 

Back home, I will divide the slices into 4 packets of 3 slices each.  Keep them in the freezer.

Today I am going to cook 3 slices and share the simple recipe here.

I need
4 cloves of garlic(minced)
2 inches of ginger(scrape for juice)
3 tbs of oyster sauce
2 tbs light soy sauce
2 tbs of cooking wine,
1 tbs sesame oil
3 tbs lime/lemon juice
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
oil for frying
salt to taste

In a small bowl mix together oyster sauce, soy sauce, ginger juice, sesame oil, 1/2 of lemon juice and sugar.  Mix well.
  Marinate the well mix seasoning onto the salmon steaks, coating all over well.

Then add in minced garlic and squashed ginger and place on top of the salmon steaks for 30 to 60 minutes.

 Heat pan and add oil.  Pan fry the salmon steaks for about 3 to 4  minutes on each side.

 Remove from pan when is cook and set a aside.

Cook the marinate sauce that was left over in the pan, add some water if its too dry, pour the sauce over the fish.  Sprinkle some lemon juice on top of the fish and serve hot.

This is the end result of my pan fry salmon steaks.  Taste delicious.

Tom yam seafood

Tom Yam is a Thai traditional soup.  It is very delicious and healthy soup though it may taste sour and pungent .  The pungent taste can make a person sweat till whole body wet (my husband) always have this experience and he likes this soup very much.

As I have some prawns and 1/2 of fish head in the freezer, I would prepare tom yam seafood.  I have to gather my ingredients as below,

300 g prawns(with head and shell intact),
300 g fish head( cut into bite pieces),
3 to 4 stalk of lemon grass,
3 shallots,
2 medium tomato,
2 tbs of tom yam paste,
3 to 4 tbs of lime juice,
4 to 5 small chili,
4 to 5 kaffir lime leaves,
some coriander,
 6 cups of water,
salt to taste.

 I use this tom yam paste from Thailand.

I defrost the prawns and the fish head and set aside.  Boil the water in the deep sauce pot. 
At the mean time, cut the lemon grass into about 5 inches long, use back of knife to lightly smash on the lemon grass.  Cut the tomatoes into wedges. Peel the onions and  give a light smash. Cut the coriander into about 1 inch length.  Cut the kaffir lime leaves into small slices.

When the water is boiled, put in the tom yam paste, stir well.  Add in onions, lemon grass and tomato wedges.  Let boil then lower the fire to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.

 Add in the fish head and let cook for 2 minutes.  Add in the prawns and cook for another 3 minutes or until the fish and the prawns are cooked.  Add salt and sugar to taste.  Add in the small chili, kaffir lemon leaves and coriander.  Lastly add in lime juice.

Serve hot with rice.  Mmmmm delicious and tasty tom yum soup is ready.  I would boil some rice noodle to go with the soup when there is some left over tom yam for the next morning breakfast.