: : Homecook Egg Dish : :

After 3 weeks of not being able to connect on to streamyx, I got on for about 15 minutes and then it went berserk. So now, am back to using my trusty old Jaring account. The inside word is that Telekom Kuching knows what is the problem in the Tabuan Jaya area but does not do anything about it. Stupid. And Telekom being an IPO company. Not to mention people who like to ‘work’ from the canteen rather than at their desk. Telekom Malaysia likes to brag that their broadband services are cheaper compared to most countries. What they fail to mention is what you pay is what you get. Bah!

Anyway, here is a great homecook dish. I’m sure some of you would recognize it.

Beat up 2 eggs. Add some pork, salt and pepper into it as well as a splash of water. Then steam it until it is cook. And voila! We have a delicious steam egg dish with meat inside. Some people would like small pieces of salted vegetables into the dish and of course, more meat than what is shown here. Goes extremely well with rice and is one of my favourite childhood dishes. Very easy to made.

This is how it looks like inside. Other than pork, one can substitute the meat with minced chicken or minced prawn. Not sure whether it would go well with mince beef or mince lamb though. Anyway, this was my lunch dish on Friday last week, I think.

: : Warning! GORY : :

Proceed with caution! Gory pictures ahead. If you have no stomach for blood and internal organs, please do not proceed any further. Today, we’re going to look at how to cut up a fish.

Uncle Cyril came home at around lunchtime after spending the whole night fishing out at sea. Came back with 3 big Ruby Red Snappers. Looks beautiful, no? It weighs about 3-5 kilos each which is pretty hefty. Well, thought it was time I learnt how to cut a fish properly. Surprise that Wena doesn’t know how to? Well, better late than never. So, this is how Granny did it.

One thing’s for sure, after all that cutting up, I’m glad we did it outside. All three of us got sprayed with sticky water and occasion droplets of blood here and there.

First of all, one needs this handy tool : a descaling device. Looks very wicked and if one is not careful, the spikes can do serious damage to one’s hand. However, it’s extremely useful to remove the scales of a big fish faster than using a knife.

Some of the smaller fishes that Uncle Cyril caught. The top two are called banana fish. Don’t ask me why because I seriously have no idea. I think he mentioned that the bottom one was a sardine.

Anyway, here is the scaling device in action. The huge spray of fish scale just went everywhere. Looks like flakes of ice shavings flying around, if you ask me.

Next, remove all the fins from the fish, especially the ones on the top and bottom of the fish. Be very careful when you do so because most likely, there will be quite a lot of sharp pointed ends on it. Use the cleaver to spread them out and then give it a good whack to chop it off! Also, cut off the tail.

After that, it’s time to remove the head. Make a diagonal slide and start cutting it away. At this point, it’s good to note that one must have an extremely sharp cleaver to do is and also be prepared to whack the fish really hard with it. The bone is quite thick so it’s going to be hard to remove. Although the bone is not as tough as chicken bones.

With the head removed, it is now much easier to remove the internal organs. Be very careful when doing this as not to burst the green sac which is the gall bladder. If you do, the contents from the bladder will make the flesh of the fish very bitter. Believe me, you do not want the fish to taste terrible. After that, the fish was divited up into 2 parts to be frozen. Granny usually cuts the fish into smaller pieces once she’s ready to cook them.

Now, we also cut up the fish head to make assam fish head curry. The head is sliced into have and the gills must be removed.

Granny : Must remove this part (gills) wor! All the germs there!

Granny : Humph! I don’t think so! I see it still there lah!

The rest of the catch. Smaller fishes and the spotted one is a tasty grouper. Not the greasy version but one that can be steamed with no problems. I prefer the grouper to be fried rather than steam because the flesh tends to be hard.

Anyway, we double bagged the fish and squeeze them into the freezer. There was enoough fish to last us for at least a month!

This is the reason why I have a healthy respect for fishmongers and butchers. Imagine having to do this every day for hours!

: : Italian Dining in Brighton : :

Just read about this at the gastroblog. Carlo has rented a small restaurant for the night and will be preparing a wonderful night of good home-cooked Italian food! Wow! It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of this happening : a food blogger doing it. Sounds very very interesting.

Unfortunately, I’m stuck 16 hours away from Brighton, England. Darn! Else, it’s a steal for 15 pounds! From the menu, it looks like an extremely delicious four course menu.

It’s by reservations as only 25 places are available. Contact carlo for a reservation.

: : Chicken Salad : :

Yes yes, another scrumptious (don’t frown now, the lines may be permanent) salad.

This time, instead of ham, I added in some chunky pieces of chicken into the salad as well as some Cajun seasoning. The vegetable ingredients were the same as yesterday’s salad but I added in some tomatoes this time. When cutting up the tomatoes, I removed the seeds and the soft bits so that the salad doesn’t get too soggy.

It came out tasting quite good but the Cajun seasoning would have tasted better with the chicken if I’d had marinated the chicken meat overnight and then later grilled/sauteed it rather than mixing it with already boiled pieces of chicken.

On another note, I’ve lost a total of 17 lbs (7.7 kg) after weighing myself today and this was immediately after lunch! Feeling good now. Getting there after all the effort.

: : Template : :

I am thinking of changing the layout to this blog. Nearly 12 months of the same colours.

Well, will think how to do it later.

: : Eating Healthy : :

And you bet it’s all about eating healthy. Well, to a certain portion of people it is. In fact, I never used to like eating salads that much because it was always so bland. But now, I know how to make salad that I like.

One of the many salads that I’ve been eating the past 4 weeks (can’t believe that it’s been that long!) is a basic salad that I make using strips of ham, lettuce, celery, cucumber and mangkuang @ hikama/jicama. I mixed it with some dried dill but my mistake with this salad was adding too much cummin seeds. Then again, I shouldn’t have added it in at all.

But! What is the secret to a good salad? Well, seriously, I do not know. All I know is that I love COLD salad. And, it must be very very cold so that the vegetables are extremely crunchy. I tend to keep salads in the fridge overnight so that when I eat it in the morning or for lunch, it’s so crunchy and surprisingly sweet as well! This includes the celery and cucumber. Mangkuang @ hikama/jicama is always sweet anyway.

I notice that the vegetables get partially iced up. Well, only slightly as it doesn’t taste too ice-y but just nice to give it a firm taste. I also notice one thing about eating celery : do not eat it immediately. There is some after taste after cutting it that I’m not at all sure what it is. However, after chilling it in the fridge for a few hours, it tastes a lot better.

The only problem with making salads overnight is that a lot of the water comes out of the vegetables. In the picture above, I got at least 1/4 of a cup coming out which I had to pour away. Other than that, no complaints from me.

And, would you believe that what you see in the picture was all I ate for lunch? I still sometimes feel hungry late in the afternoon but it’s bearable. And, I feel a lot better after I got over the sugar and carbohydrate cravings.

Yeah, it’s not for everyone. Am I a good-food-eater? No way. I ate a plate of indian rojak today that was just divine. Ah well. Not to mention crabsticks. So, there you go.