Marinated pan-fried mackerel in spicy sauce

Posted on January 17, 2008 by Mabel

I don’t really know what made me decide to cook today’s main lunch dish. The packing had tired me out, my parents are great cooks and well, I’m always insecure when it comes to cooking for them. But surprisingly, they liked this…and so did I.

Marinated pan-fried mackerel in spicy sauce
Serves 4-5 people

Ingredients
6 medium to small whole mackerel fish
Some oil (for pan frying)
Ground nut brittle for garnishing

(A) Marinate
Kaffir lime leaves + stem
Thai basil leaves + stem
Mint leaves + stem
Coarse black pepper
Salt

B) Sauce
Shrimp sambal*
Sambal belacan*
Approx 2 to 4 tablespoons of water

* These were premade and stored in the freezer/fridge.

Method

Clean each fish, leaving the head and tail intact. Marinate with pepper and salt.

Crush and stuff the leaves into the belly of the fish. Crush and tear some kaffir lime leaves, and rub it all over the fish.

Leave to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours or preferably overnight to several days (in the freezer).

When preparing this dish, take the fish out to thaw (if it has been sitting in the freezer) and/or dry with a paper towel (if it’s straight from the refrigerator).

Heat the work with a medium to high fire and drizzle some oil to prevent the fish from sticking. When the wok begins to smoke, place the pieces of fish on its side and cover the wok.

Turn down the wok to a medium fire and allow the fish to cook (wok remains covered) for approximately 5 minutes.

Gently flip the fish onto its other side and cover the wok again for 5 minutes.

When the fish is done*, remove and put aside in a shallow dish.

To prepare the sauce, dump all of ingredients (B) and fry on a medium-low fire until fragrant.

Turn off the flame and spread over the fish.

Sprinkle the ground nut brittle over and serve.

* To see if a fish is fully cooked, take a fork and pierce the thickest part of the flesh. Twist the fork gently. If the meat flakes, the fish is cook.

Busy busy…

Posted on January 17, 2008 by Mabel

No, I’m not advertising Emirates, k? It’s just that those are the nifty luggage tags Nil got from his last flight…

It’s already the middle of January and I’m nowhere near to emptying out my stuff into decent boxes. There is still much left but so far my progress is dismal to say the least. And it’s stressing me out too!!!!

I have put away nearly six boxes of books, three of yarns and one just filled to the brim with spices…and it’s still not over. Somewhere in my spare room, I have a huge box filled with unwanted clothes, a rather large luggage filled with my work outfits and my “to bring to Switzerland” bag.

There are the CDs, DVDs, documents, baking stuff, knitting magazines and needles, computer software, cosmetics, jewellery…I have in right mind to chuck them out but part of me is a bit tad reluctant at all that waste of moolah.

Now the question is this: how on earth did I end up with so much stuff?????!?????

“Brand” change

Posted on January 15, 2008 by Mabel

I’d like to think that I’ve grown up and life has gotten a little bit more interesting with the recent turn of events (and naturally, this growth). Besides, it’s time.

This website started as one dedicated to rants and thoughts (it still is!) but along the years, have expanded into a place where I get to showcase my little handmade babies. And so, I thought it best to change the name…

You could say that it’s a new start to the year…

Wedding cake – Part I

Posted on January 12, 2008 by Mabel

Yesterday’s sugarpaste flowers were a total disaster. Turns out that our weather is humid and thus plays havoc with the drying period of these little babies. I woke up this morning to sticky and saggy petals.

I could work on them in an air-conditioned room but I’m afraid of what will happen if I turn the air-conditioning off. I can’t exactly stick them into the fridge because the moment I remove them, it’ll start sweating (water droplets/condensation on the surface). Fondant + water = bad idea (everything will get sticky).

So the other option left is to work with royal icing instead. So far, I can churn out carnations, primroses, roses and small flowers like the apple blossom. But next week’s class will see me working on “deeper” flowers like petunias, lilies and poinsettias. Since my initial plan is to use lilies, I’m hoping to be able to still stick to it. Royal icing petunias do look mighty attractive too…

Of course I could get fresh flowers and that would solve half of my workload issues…

Sugarpaste carnations

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Mabel

Don’t mind the weird thing holding up the carnation petals. It’s just for support. I ought to get gardening wires and Tragacanth Gum to get started on my lilies and other stuff tomorrow.

Today’s Level III (fondant work) saw us working on fondant roses and needless to say, I’m thoroughly addicted to this; I even went out and spent some moolah on a sugarpaste kit to churn out other kinds of roses. But don’t ever think that this is easy because it isn’t. It’s bloody hard work – the thinning, sticking and etc. I ruined my first rose in class and naturally I ruined my first carnation when I started working on it. Geh. Hopefully it won’t be the same for the lilies.

Anyway, these are for dad’s cake come mid-February. I don’t really have a fixed colour scheme yet but we’re looking at dark purple carnations, soft purple-peach, grey blue and ivory carnations. No roses even though I know how to make them. Men + roses just don’t seem to gel…or should I just stick to a flower free cake?

Mum likes them flowers though…o’well, we’ll see how it goes.

Wedding cake

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Mabel

Here’s what I have sort of decided for the cake. I’m going to go for a combination of the elements from the two cakes below.

Colours
Gold, pale ivory, (slightly dark) ivory with a slight tinge of golden yellow

Elements
Both tiers
- Size 5 beads in pale ivory on the bottom of each tier, piped with decorators buttercream.
- Henna-like emboidery lattice piped and then painted with golden paint (safe for consumption)
- Pale ivory fondant on top of marzipan-lined cake

Top tier
- Three gumpaste lilies in ivory-golden yellow with gumpaste leaves (insides of the petals will be dusted with pearl/gold shimmer)

Bottom tier
- Two gumpaste lilies in ivory-golden yellow with gumpaste leaves (insides of the petals will be dusted with pearl/gold shimmer)

Notes
Flowers are to be done ahead of time, at least three days to one week.

What you guys think?

Tangy wedding fruitcake – Part I

Posted on January 10, 2008 by Mabel

Being the DIY-crazed nut that I am, I thought I’d put my cake decoration classes to good use and bake + deco my own two-tier wedding cake. After running the idea with my instructor, we decided that it was best to bake a fruitcake since 1) fruitcakes can be kept and 2) they taste better over time. After all, the final level (which I’m sitting for this month) is all about decorating wedding-style cakes. So a fruitcake would be the best choice; it would certainly save me from double work.

So this morning, I got started on what would be the initial stages of a typical fruitcake but with a tangy and more nutty twist. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find marmalade where I did my baking shopping so we stuck with the old-fashioned strawberry jam instead. After much chopping, dicing and mixing, the final product is alcoholic and very colourful, which certainly got me excited about the end product.

But noooooo…part I of the fruitcake is untouchable for a week. It has to sit in brandy and my job is to turn the mixed fruit + nut concoction daily. I’m hoping that this will turn out great – enough to make a two-tier cake without having me to bake more. Why? Well, apart from decorating my own cake the day before the event, I have to bake AND decorate a separate cake for my dad’s birthday as well. Yes, they’ll be going out at the same event!!!!! Woe to me!!!

In the meantime, wish me luck on the final design! I’m still having problems deciding if I want royal icing flowers/sugarpaste flowers on my cake or just keep it simple with some fondant, brushing work and ribbon.

Elite v mainstream

Posted on January 10, 2008 by Mabel

I don’t know what exactly prompted me into writing this down. Perhaps it was a gentle stroll back into the past where people have made fun of the choices that I have made, particularly when it comes to things like reading materials.

Over the past few months (and years), I met a few people who, upon hearing that I like reading books by Miss Amy Tan, proceed to remark that the lady churns out commercial stereotypical rubbish about Asian culture. One person have even mentioned that my search for that all-elusive beauty recipe book was stupid, to say the least. To cut the story short, s/he saw no value in owning/reading/finding such a book. My hubby himself is guilty of making fun of me whenever we go to the bookstore or rental book shops. He thinks that romance novels are just look funny (y’know how the covers are) and laughs whenever I pick up a title, even if it’s just to see what the story is about. It is at times like this that I think he’s just being a bully for the fun of it.

Naturally, I think otherwise.

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