Grilled Striped Bass With Kecap Manis Sambal

This is very simple and common grilled fish throughout Indonesia. It is very popular, and they all have the same basic recipe to flavor the fish before being grilled. The common fish they use either snapper or cat fish. I like to use many different kind of fish (except Tilapia and Cat fish, which my family definitely won't eat). This time, I make it with Stripped Bass and they really love it, especially my husband. He keep saying how good it was, and really wouldn't mind to have this often for our supper. To make the grilled fish you will need to marinate the fish for at least 5 minutes with these ingredients:

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tbs ground coriander

1 tsp or more garlic paste, a few garlic pounded in mortar and pestle

1 - 2 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper

• Mix all ingredients, make a few slits on both side of the fish, then rub this paste over it including the cavity. Let the fish marinate for 5 to 15 minutes. Grill on each side for 7 minutes or until the fish is cooked completely. Depending on the size of your fish, you might need to adjust the amount of your ingredients and your cooking time. The recipe I give here is enough for fish weight about 1¾ pounds.

Sambal kecap is basic sauce for many grilled or fried dish (normally fish, tempe and tofu) in Indonesia. It is very simple and quick to make. The ingredients are readily available in most supermarket in the U.S. Although "Kecap Manis" might be a bit challenging to find in some of the grocery store, I am pretty sure you can easily find it at the Chinese grocery store. To make this sambal you will need (no exact quantity, just use your own imagination):

Chopped shallots

Chopped Thai chiles

Chopped tomatoes

Kaffir lime or lime juice

Kecap manis

• Place all ingredients in a small bowl, and mix.

It is very common to serve this grilled fish with lemon basil (I can't find it here, so I used Thai basil instead), tomatoes, Kaffir lime (unfortunately none of my tress give me any fruit yet, I used lemon. If you have lime, any lime, this fish will taste much better) and normally along with other vegetables such as, raw cabbage, raw mini/Kermit eggplants, cucumber, raw Yardlong bean (Chinese snake bean), steam water spinach or red spinach, steam carrots, and grilled Petai bean. Not to forget, hot steaming rice and some kerupuk (crackers) to complete the meal. You sit on the floor and eat with your hand. Hmmm, my husband never tried that experience, and I am pretty sure he, like many Westerner will have a hard time to do it. So I wouldn't even try!

Here, at home in the U.S, I serve this with any saute green or, what ever vegetables available in hand. Of course, if my sisters are with me, then we will have all of those different kind of raw vegetables aka Lalapan in Indoensia like this photo over here, is a good example what lalapan is.

Gai Yang Cornish Hens

Nothing could be more simple then making this Gai Yang Hens. You just need to roast or grill your hens, then make the sauce. Not too many ingredients involve, but I can assure you that you will be making this pretty often. And I am very sure that my sisters will going to love this one as well.

The sauce is extremely easy to make, the only challenge you might have is to find the Coriander's root. I am lucky to have this plant, and this is the other reason why I let my coriander plant to grow old and having seeds, so I can then harvest both the seeds and the root. If, by any reason you can't find the root, do not substitute with anything else. I would just simply omit it. It is better then having a completely different flavor.

To make it even quicker and easier, you can skip the process of pounding/grinding the fresh chilies by using a ready made Sambal Ulek ( Sambal Oelek) or use chili powder/flakes instead. My preference when I am in a hurry is using Sambal Ulek and add thinly sliced red Jalapeno or Thai pepper. It is entirely up to you which one you choose, then end result is really good.

For the hen:

2 Cornish hens, weight about 1¾ lbs each, butterflied (clean, cut along the breastbone, and flatten with your palm)

2 tbs canola oil, or olive oil

2 tbs finely chopped garlic

2 tsp finely chopped Coriander root, the root look like this

1 tbs fish sauce

¼ tsp white pepper powder

• Make the marinate by combining canola oil, garlic, coriander's root, fish sauce and the white pepper powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
• Place the cleaned hens in a large dish, pour the marinate, make sure to coat all side of the hens. Place the hens in the refrigerator for a few hours, or overnight. If time is limited, you can marinate this for 15 minutes, is still going to be good.
• Preheat the oven to 400⁰F
• Place the hens on a roasting pan, discard the marinate liquid. Roast the hens for 45 minutes, or until the hens is cooked thoroughly.
• Transfer the hens to a serving dish, pour a little bit of sauce over the hens, and place the remaining sauce in a small bowl. Serve with steam Jasmine rice.

The sauce:

2 tbs finely chopped garlic

2 tbs sambal oelek

2 red jalapeno, thinly sliced

1 tsp finely chopped coriander root

1 cup white vinegar

¼ cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tbs fish sauce

• Gently boil all ingredients in a small sauce pan until it is slightly thicken (syrupie) . Remove from the heat and let the sauce cool at room temperature.

Interview ...

I was pretty surprise when Celine of Celine's Cuisine e-mail me and requested an interview. Of course I accepted, in fact I feel honored to be interviewed by a professional cook like Celine. Many of you probably already known her from her cooking classes in Southern California, as well as her beautiful and delicious blog.

Thank you so much Celine, I had fun answering your questions! So, what are you waiting for? Go visit her blog and oh, you get to see me there!

Baked Whole Trout Stuffed With Couscous

Delicious and flavorful. If you don't like to see the fish's head and tail, you can ask your fish monger to get rid of them. I know for sure that my nephews (7 and 5 years old)  won't want to eat this if they see the entire fish. So, I am hoping that my sister will cook this without first showing this post to them. Or else, they'll refuse to eat...

2 cleaned and boned whole trouts, about 12 ounce each

1 recipe for spiced couscous (you will have some left over)

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ cup chopped cilantro

¼ cup chopped mint

¼ cup  pine nuts

salt and pepper to taste

a few tablespoon olive oil

2 or more slices of lemon, optional

• Preheat oven to 400⁰F
• Add the parsley, cilantro, and the mints to the couscous, mix well.
• Arrange the trouts on a baking pan, season with salt and pepper, and  fill each trout with couscous as much as you can fit into the cavity, add lemon slice (s), and the pine nuts. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes when tested with a fork. Serve with simple saute leafy green vegetables such as spinach or swiss chard. 

My most  favorite favorite color  among all calla lily. 

Very intense orange and yellow. This one is from master bedroom garden.

TAJINE of Artichokes And Fava bean With Preserved Lemon

This is very healthy and delicious vegetarian meal. It can be serve as a side dish, also good as a main dish with plain or spiced couscous, or with rice pilaf.

Serve 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side dish

1 bag (12 oz) frozen artichokes

¾ cup frozen fava bean

½ cup diced onion

1 clove garlic,sliced

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ tablespoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 whole preserved lemon

½ cup to 1 cup chicken stock (depending how much liquid you want it)

1 - 2 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

¼ cup chopped Italian parsley

¼ cup chopped mint

• Discard the pulp of the preserve lemon, rinse under running water to get rid of the saltiness. Roughly chopped.
• Heat olive oil in a Tajine pot or a braisser over a medium heat, add the onion and cook until soft and translucent, add garlic cook another one minute. Add the artichokes, fava beans, and the rest of the ingredients including the chicken stock, stir to mix. Cover the Tajine pot with its lid, and cook for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Add the chopped parsley and mint, stir, taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with plain or spiced couscous.

Note: feel free to use fresh artichokes, and fresh fava beans! I used frozen artichokes and fava beans because I wanted something quick.

Grilled Halibut Wrap in Grape Leaves, Serve With ZHOUG

This is Superb dish, and can be made in an individual portion, which make it easier to serve if you have gathering, and although it is pretty rustic dish, it presented beautifully. And taste delicious with exotic flavor. It's even better with home made Rash-el Hanout. If you never had Zhoug before, well ... you have no idea what you are missing. 

1 Halibut fillet (about 1 pound)

1 tablespoon rash-el hanout

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

10 fresh grape leaves

• In a small bowl mix Rash-el Hanout, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Rub the fish all oever with this mixture. Transfer to a clean plate, cover, and let marinate in the refrigerator for an hour. Mean while blanch the grape leaves over boiling water for one minute, or until the color of the leaves turn into olive green color. Drain - set aside to cool.
• Take out the fish from the refrigerator, heat the grill over medium. 
• Lay 5 grape leaves on the working surface, overlapping them slightly so it fit the size of the fish with enough room on all sides. Place the fish in the middle, include all of the marinate. Lay the remaining leaves on top of the fish, wrap then secure with kitchen twine. Brush all over with a little oil, grill about  5 minutes on each side, depending how thick the halibut is. 
• Transfer onto serving plate, drizzle with Zhoug sauce. Serve with grilled lemon and grilled tomatoes on the side  if desire.

The Sauce:

1 tablespoon (or, less, depending how spicy you want it) Zhoug      

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

3 tablespoons or more olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

• Place all ingredients in a small bowl, whisk with a fork just to mix.

For the Grilled Tomatoes and Lemon:
1 - 2 lemon, halfed
2 Roma tomatoes, halfed

• Brush with a little olive oil, and grill