Simple salmon stir fry recipe

Fish is a vital source of omega-3 fatty acids and it's low in fat as well as high in protein. Hence, I ensure my family have fish at least once a week. Given that I'm not a fish person, salmon is probably the only fish I like as other fish species tend to taste fishy most of the time. Tasmanian Atlantic salmon is the kind of salmon I use to get. It's rich in essential vitamins and minerals as well as omega-3 fatty acids. Besides that, I found that it has the best texture among the salmon species. 

I created this recipe while I was trying to reproduce the seared Atlantic salmon from MissChu. Well, it didn't turn out like MissChu's but I kind of like my version more. It's the simplest salmon stir fry recipe I have cooked. It has the right balance of flavor and the lemon simply brings out the flavor in the salmon! If you're a busy bee and would like a quick healty meal at home, this is the recipe for you. 

Recipe: 

(2 servings)

400g fresh Tasmanian Atlantic salmon (skin off)

1 big onion

1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons oil (I used rice bran oil)

Marinade:

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

A pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1. Cut salmon into bite-size dices. 

2. Marinate diced salmon with the marinade for about 30mins. 

3. Heat oil in a frying pan. Add in onion and stir fry until the onion is soft.

4. Add in salmon together with the marinade. Stir fry until the salmon is almost cooked. 

5. Squeeze the juice of the lemon onto the salmon. Gently toss the salmon. 

6. Remove frying pan from the heat once the salmon is cooked. Do not overcook the salmon. 

7. Serve with rice while it's warm. 

Creamy butter prawn 奶油虾 recipe

Seafood is becoming a popular choice for a Christmas dish nowadays. It is lighter compared with meat and requires less time to cook. Therefore, Queen Victoria Market is always swamped with people stocking up fresh seafood just before Christmas. I also stocked up some large green banana prawns and fish although I had no idea what I was going to do with them. 

In the end, I decided to use half of the prawns for cooking creamy butter prawns. The recipe is very much the same as my creamy butter chicken recipe with a slight modification in preparing the prawns. The result was excellent. The fresh prawn meat worked perfectly with the creamy butter sauce and I like the prawn version more than the chicken version as it is lighter. 

Recipe:

(3-4 servings)

Fried prawns:

16 prawns

A pinch of salt

1 egg

3/4 teaspoon light soya sauce

A few dashes of pepper

Some corn flour (coating for the prawns)

Oil (sufficient to fry the prawns)

1. Clean and butterfly the prawns.

2. Add a pinch of salt to the prawns and mix well.

3. Beat egg in a bowl. Add in light soya sauce and pepper. Mix well. 

4. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Dip each prawn in the egg mixture and coat with corn flour before adding to the frying pan. 

5. Fry the prawns until they're cooked and the coating turn brown. Do not overcook the prawns. Remove them from the heat and leave them aside.

Creamy butter sauce:

6 cloves garlic

1 small piece of ginger

Handful of curry leaves

5 bird eye chillies

50g butter

1 cup* evaporated milk

1/4 cup* water

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons shaoxing cooking wine

Salt

* 1 cup = 236ml

1. Mince garlic and ginger. Cut the chillies into slices.

2. Melt the butter in the frying pan or wok. Add the minced garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 30 secs.

3. Add curry leaves, follow by chillies and continue to stir fry until you can smell the aroma of the curry leaves.

4. Stir in evaporated milk and water. Add oyster sauce, shaoxing cooking wine and salt to taste.

5. Cook until the sauce is thicken. Turn off the heat and add in the prawns. Toss the prawns so that each pieces is coated with the sauce.

6. Serve while it's hot.

Hooked @ Fitzroy review

It's been more than a year since I last dined at Hooked in Fitzroy and it remains the best fish and chips that I have had in Melbourne!

I first discovered Hooked when I came across a list of top 10 fish and chips in Melbourne on news.com.au a few years ago. After trying out fish and chips from a number of restaurants on that list, I found that Hooked is the best so far.

There are 3 Hooked restaurants in Melbourne. The Hooked in Fitzroy is located on the busy Brunswick St where heaps of cafés and restaurants are. It is a simple yet cozy restaurant fitted with wooden tables and chairs. It looks like one of those beachside cafés/restaurants. I particularly like the take away menus which are printed in the style of traditional newspaper. How creative!

Hooked offers a variety of food on their menu as compared to the traditional fish and chips shop. There are standard fish and chips as well as seafood, salads, burgers and even taco & burritos! There are lunch box specials too. Oh, by the way, their chips and potato cakes are hand cut and freshly made instead of frozen.

Grilled house fish with superfood salad

 During the recent visit, we had grilled house fish with superfood salad and light tempura battered house fish with Asian salad as well as some calamari. The house fish is blue grenadier.

Light tempura battered house fish with Asian salad

Both the grilled and light tempura battered fish were cooked to perfection. The fish were tender, juicy and very fresh (as if the fish were freshly caught from the sea)! The tempura batter was crispy too.

As for the salads, I prefer the superfood salad. It is not only nutritious but delicious! The light yoghurt and garlic aioli dressing together with the fresh green produce made it a perfect salad. However, I don't really like the Asian salad as I'm not a fan of raw Thai basil because it tasted a bit bitter.

Calamari

There was nothing to brag about the calamari as it was pretty average.

The lunch specials are a good value for money. You could get grilled or battered fish with chips or rice and Asian greens for $10.95. Or fish with salad for $12.95! More importantly, there's no compromise on the quality of food.

I reckon Hooked is one of the best fish and chips restaurant in town. It's always my first choice when it comes to fish and chips!

Butter garlic prawns recipe

Prawns are one of my favourite seafood. They are not only delicious but also nutritious as prawns are high in protein and low in fat. Prawns are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids too. However, you might want to reduce the intake for prawns if you're high in cholesterol.

It doesn't require too much of seasoning to cook prawns as they are naturally tasty. Besides that, almost any cooking methods work well on prawns but make sure you don't overcook them as overcooked prawns are tough.

Well, butter garlic prawns are quick and easy to cook. This yummy dish goes well with bread, pasta and even rice.

Recipe:

(2-3 servings)

20 large prawn cutlets with tails on

60g butter

1 whole garlic (about 10 cloves) - finely chopped

A bunch of coriander - finely chopped
A lemon wedge

Salt

Pepper

1. Melt butter in a frying pan. Add in garlic when it's hot and stir fry until lightly brown.

2. Add in prawns. Quickly stir fry until the prawns turn pink in color.

3. Season with salt and ground pepper to taste.

4. Mix in coriander, squeeze the lemon on the prawns and serve.

Easy miso salmon recipe

Salmon is another superfood that one cannot miss. It's rich in essential vitamins and minerals as well as omega-3 fatty acids. I love salmon's unique taste. It's super easy to cook too. Frankly, I can't think of what doesn't go well with salmon.

In Australia, fresh salmon can easily be found from the local markets or supermarkets. There are generally 3 types of salmon sold in the Queen Victoria market. They are the New Zealand salmon, Australian Salmon and Tasmania Atlantic salmon. I found that the Tasmanian Atlantic salmon has the best texture among the three. NZ salmon is a bit too soft and easily breaks apart when cooked while Australian salmon is a bit hard.

Well, this miso salmon recipe is of Japanese style. You can actually bake, grill or pan fried the salmon using the same recipe. All would end up as a perfect salmon dish. I chose to grill using the grill function in my oven. To be honest, there wasn't much difference from baking it except that there was a bit more browning effect when using the grill mode.

Recipe:

(4 servings)

4 slices salmon

Oil for brushing on the salmon.

2 tablespoons water

Marinade:

3 tablespoons miso paste
2 1/2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger (I used Masterfood freshly chopped ginger)
4 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons light soya sauce

1. Add the marinade into a bowl and mix well.

2. Marinate the salmon slices with the marinade. Store in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

3. Scrape off the marinade from the salmon slices. Add water to the marinade and mix well. Keep for later use.

4. Brush each salmon slices with oil.

5. Line salmon (skin side down) on the baking tray.

6. Grill in the oven using grill mode at 200c for about 8mins.

7. Flip the salmon over to brown the skin. Grill for another 5mins.

8. Pour the marinade over the salmon and grill for another 2-3mins.

9. Remove from the oven and serve.

Suggestion: serve with rice and salad veggies for a complete meal.