IFW - Braised Fish with Coconut Milk, Tomato and Basil

If you read my blog regularly, you will noticed that i never participate in blog events like everyone else does.
Well, this is my first submission for blog event, Indonesian Food Week hosted by Siany Nugroho one of NCC's member.
I love seafood so much(who don't?) and most of times i buy it outside since my cooking skill is terrible, especially in Indonesian food.


Indonesian name it Pencok Ikan. Ikan mean fish, but pencok???(anyone who can come up with explanation will be greatly appreciated). As you all know, Indonesia made up by more than 17.500 island, so can you imagine how many language we have?
One of the event's rule is to mention where the dish come from. So, i'll say this recipe is come from my mom(sorry about the exact place, i wish i or my mom know)

Recipe for mommy style pencok ikan(braised fish with coconut milk, tomato and fresh basil)

Ingredients:
500 g mackerel
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1/2 cm lesser galangal
1 tsp salt
5 red chili
3 cloves garlic
2 candle nut
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 medium tomato, diced
salt and sugar to taste
handful fresh basil

- Rub fish with coriander powder and salt, let it stand for 15 minutes, fry till brown on both side, set aside. Blend all the ingredients except coconut milk, basil and tomato. Heat a tbsp oil in a medium pan, saute spices and keep stirring for 1-2 minutes. Pour in coconut milk, let it bubbling, add in fish and tomato. Simmer for 3-4 minutes until gravy almost dry, adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Sprinkle fresh basil just before remove from heat.

Indonesian Style Soy Sauced Milk Fish

It's been a month or two since my last time of cooking seafood. I hate cleaning oily and fishy stuffs and that become the main reason of my laziness. I was inspired by my last weekend dinner in Vinna's place, one of my good friend who is great in cooking but refused to join foodblog community with loads of reason, such as work, pregnancy and recently her new born cute baby. She made Indonesian soy sauced chicken and it tasted great, i ask her if i can replace chicken with seafood, and it really went well with fish.

Recipe for Indonesian Soy Sauced Fish, courtesy of Vinna.
Ingredients:

1 large milk fish
3 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce
3 clove shallot
2 clove garlic
3 red chilli
1 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch, diluted in 1 tbsp water.
salt to taste
juice of 1 lemon

- Clean and chop fish, rub with lemon juice and let it stand for 30 minutes, fry till golden brown on both side. Saute sliced shallot and garlic in 1 tbsp oil till fragrant, stir in chili and pour a cup of water, add soy sauce/salt. Let it simmer for 5 minutes, add corn starch solution to thicken. Add in fish and remove from heat. Serve while its hot.

Stewed Fresh Seaweed

I used to hate seaweed when i was small, i'll avoid any meal with seaweed in it. Till oneday, mom told me that my hair will grow beautifully if i eat a lot of seaweed. I become seaweed lover ever since. And true, the most nicest part of my body is my hair, i have shiny and very straight hair. Coincidence or.....?

Ingredients:
250 g fresh seaweed
2 cloves garlic
2 slice ginger
2 red chili
1 tbsp rice wine
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar

- Heat 1 tbsp oil, saute garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add 2 cups water, seaweed and all the ingredients. Cover and stew for 20-25 mins till tender.

Squid With XO Sauce

Ingredients:

100 g mini squid
2 cloves garlic, slice
4 cloves shallot, slice
1 tomato
2 red chili
2 tbsp XO sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 scallion
salt and sugar as u need

- Clean squid and cut into 1 cm ring. Saute shallot and garlic until fragrant, add XO sauce and tomato. Turn to high heat, stir in squid, red chili and oyster sauce, taste with salt and sugar, remove from heat.

Spicy Lemon Mackerel

I loveee lemon so much. Not a single day passes by without lemon (my daily vitamin C also contain lemon :p). I'll try any recipe with lemon in it. Lemon juice, lemon cake, lemon chicken and this time lemon fish(i'm thinking about lemon soup now hahaaa) lets just wait and see....
This recipe come from my own brain, and it taste awesome

Ingredients:

4 slice mackerel
1 lemon, squeezed
6 cloves shallot
3 cloves garlic
8 red chili
1 tomato
2 lime leaves

-Rub fish with lemon juice and salt. Let is stand for 15 mins and deep fry till brown. Grind shallot, garlic, chili, tomato and lime leaves together.
Heat 1 tbsp oil and saute all the ingredients until fragrant(for me, the chilies also smells fragrant). Pour half cup of water and simmer till almost dry, add in fried fish and lemon juice. Let it simmer again for few minutes. Done

Tofu and Salmon

Tofu also known as bean curd come in many varieties. It contain beneficial amounts of iron and has no saturated fat nor cholesterol.
I read local news paper few days ago, research from one of university/organization in UK(sorry forgot the name and thrown the paper) show that consuming too much tofu(and soy milk) may resulted in a variety of harmful or beneficial effects to our body.
Believe or doubt? Ask the expert.
Another quick and easy dish. Recipe adapted from my cooking book, slightly modified by me.

Ingredients:

1 block fresh tofu, cubed
100 g salmon, cubed
1 tbsp shredded baby ginger
1 tbsp minced onion
2 tbsp mushroom oyster sauce
1 scallion
salt and pepper

- Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil (less is better), saute ginger and onion until fragrant add a cup of water. Add in oyster sauce and stir, add tofu and salmon, cover for few minutes and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. sprinkle with sliced scallion

Grilled Salmon with Rosemary

According to wikipedia, salmon rich in protein and omega 3 which are important for brain function and structure among other things.
I hardly buy it because it is tasteless and sometimes hard (if over cooked) and a bit pricy too for the fresh one, except for those which are already kept in Costco's freezer for months.
This is just one of try-out-my-own-creation. I dunno where the idea come from (perhaps from grilled lamb with rosemary in Sizzler or else?). However, it turned out "not-bad" with rosemary and lemon flavor.
And this is the way how i do,

- Marinate salmon with 3 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp minced garlic, pinch of sugar, chopped rosemary, refrigerate for 1 hour, turning each side for 30 mins and grill until done, sprinkle with black pepper or any grill seasoning.

Spicy Ikan Pindang with gravy

I love ikan pindang and ikan asin, Diana friend of mine taught me this recipe

Ingredients:

500 g ikan pindang (or japanese salted fish)
5 cloves shallot, sliced
2 cloves garlic, slices
1 tomato, cubed
5 red chili (or more), slices
1 stalk spring onion
1 cup water
1 tablespoon coconut milk (optional)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
pinch of salt (optional)


Method:

Fry ikan pindang/salted fish till brown. Set aside
Saute garlic and shallot until fragrant add tomato cube and sliced red chili, stir for 1 minute then add water(and coconut milk).
Put in ikan pindang and cover for 5 minutes. Add salt, and stir fry until the gravy almost dry.
Add spring onion and remove from heat