Smoked Fish Stew

I bought some lightly smoked Hoki fillets last week but have forgotten what I was going to use it for! Since it's a very cold, cold winter night, I thought I'd make a fish stew. I found several recipes on the web but most of them contained dairy. I stumbled on this Smoked Fish and Tomato Stew recipe by Elizabeth Gregory, but since I don't have all the ingredients at hand, I modified it somewhat and here's the result.

Smoked Fish Stew

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 x 400 g can tomato puree
1 cup fish stock or water
1/2 cup red wine
1 teaspoon harissa (add more to taste)
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
a handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
300 g smoked fish fillets (hoki or cod), skin removed and cut into chunks 

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy based pot under medium-low heat.
2. Add the red onions and green pepper. Stir-fry until soft.
3. Add the potatoes and stir-fry for two minutes.
4. Add the coriander leaves, red wine, tomato puree, harissa, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Simmer until the potatoes are just cooked.
6. Add the smoked fish chunks, stir gently taking care that the chunks don't fall apart.
7. Simmer in low heat for around 5 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
8. Serve immediately with rice or couscous.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Oyster Sauce

A lot of cafes and restaurants have closed due to the recession, but there's a little place we go to that has weathered many recessions. It's owned by a couple from Laos. The lady cooks while her husband used to man the tables, though now he runs his own succesful barbershop next door. Their eldest daugther, now a teenager, helps with the cooking and she's added a couple of staff to wait on the tables. She was just around 10 or 11 when we started going to their restaurant 7 years ago!

So what's the secret to this little place's success? It's not just the fact that they have the lowest prices around - a lot of neighbouring cafes and takeaway shops have that, too. I think it's the fact that they have kept their repertoire to simple, healthy, but very yummy stir-fries, curries, noodle soups, and the usual appetisers from that side of the world - spring rolls, rice paper rolls, and those triangular parcels filled with mashed sweet potatoes! It's actually cheaper to eat there than cook at home. Each dish can be shared by two people (and maybe even one child!) They used to give us unlimited bowls of Jasmine rice, too. I think that's because we used to go there at least once a week so they started to consider us as part of their family :-)

I remember the husband used to come around every few minutes to check if we still had enough rice. As soon as he sees we're running low, he'd rush to the kitchen and come out with a steaming bowl of rice and insisted on putting the rice to our plates himself.

Now that we've moved a lot further away, we can only go every month or so but they always welcome us with big smiles. That's the other key to their success - the cheerful owner and staff who give great service and treat you like family. It's really like you're just eating in your own home, with the bonus of having someone else do the dishes!

Anyway, this is my take on one of my favourite dishes - Stir-Fried Chicken with Oyster Sauce. Their version also has cauliflower so feel free to substitute the Chinese broccoli wth half a head of cauliflower.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Oyster Sauce

Ingredients:
2 medium carrots, sliced thinly into strips but slightly wider than julienned
1 zucchini, sliced thinly into strips but slightly wider than julienned
10 stalks broccolini or 1 broccoli, cut into florets
5 stalks Chinese broccoli (Gai Lan)
2 medium pcs. chicken breasts, skinless and boneless, cut into small pieces
2 pcs. garlic, roughly chopped
1 small onion, sliced
2 tablespoons rice bran oil
2 tablespoons oyster sauce dispersed in 1 cup water (approximate - add more water if too salty)
salt and freshly milled black pepper (using powdered black pepper is not the same)

1. Pre-heat the wok in medium-hgh heat, then add the rice bran oil
2. Add the garlic and stir-fry just until it turns brown on the edges - watch closely because it can burn quickly
3. Add the onion and stir-fry until soft.
4. Add the chicken. Stir-fry until it turns light brown. Add some salt and pepper.
5. Add the carrots and zucchini, stir-fry for one minute
6. Add the oyster sauce-water mixture
7. When the liquid boils, add the broccolini and Chinese broccoli
8. Add more salt and pepper according to taste. Cook for maybe a minute - should still be crunchy. Do not overcook and don't let the liquid dry up! Add a bit more water if it is drying up - the sauce is very good when mixed with rice.
9. Serve immediately over steamed Jasmine rice.

Serves 4 - 5

Cabbage Salad

I wanted to have a green salad with my pizza, but have run out of lettuce or spinach. Too lazy to go to the supermarket, I opened the vegetable compartment of the fridge and found some cabbage. Hmmm....Not too keen to make something heavy like coleslaw with mayonnaise. Found this light cabbage salad recipe on Chet Day's blog, posted by an Anonymous user.

I experimented with some quantities, and came up with this recipe. You can adjust the amounts of each ingredient, especially vinegar and honey, to your taste.

Cabbage Salad Recipe
Salad Mix:
2 cups thinly shredded cabbage
2 Italian tomatoes, cut in wedges
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, preferably raw and unfiltered
1 tablespoon honey
sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Put the cabbage in a bowl, followed by onion, tomatoes and cheese
2. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing
3. Just before serving, drizzle the dressing over the salad mix and toss to combine.

This will also go well with grilled chicken breasts, whole roasted chicken, or beef steak.