rss feedfor Zoe – my own recipe
My dearest friend Zoe from Beijing who recently just arrived in UK to pursue her Master’s degree seems to find cooking (somewhat) authentic Chinese food over there an endeavor. She’s a girl with endless laughter and a picky appetite for tasteful dishes, albeit maybe not as much experienced in the kitchen itself (though I have no doubt she’ll be an awesome cook one day).
She has asked me for the recipe for this fillet dish I made a couple of days ago, and so as promised, here it is – for her, and for anyone who is interested in trying this out, and hopefully it won’t disappoint too much. =P
(disclaimer: I have never tried explaining Chinese cooking in English, so if there’s anything that you don’t understand, please feel free to ask – or you can try to google translate the Chinese yourself but I can’t guarantee how efficacious that would be.
Also, another very interesting thing I have found in Chinese recipes in comparison with Western recipes is that Chinese recipes would often states things like “salt to taste” or “oyster sauce to taste” and never the EXACT amount such as “a tea spoon of soy sauce” or “2 tea spoons of sesame oil” – therefore, honestly speaking, I don’t remember how much of the seasoning I’ve put in it; you might really just have to trust your inner gastronomic instinct ;))
ingredients:
1. fillets (I believe I used catfish), enough for the serving for one person.
2. one pepper, diced. (I used 1 of the congo pepper that I am growing at home – the first fruit of the plant! – and it’s extremely hot. so if you like spicy, go for more peppers) 一只红辣椒就够了，如果爱吃辣的就多放点。
3. two leeks (别忘了是大葱不是韭菜，亲爱的，哈哈; 还有，大葱不用叶子的部分，只用白色的根部) ，cut into ~1cm long sections
4. 5-6 mushrooms, sliced. (any of the commonly seen mushrooms from your grocery store would be fine) 蘑菇，普通菜市场买的圆蘑就行。
5. 1 scallion (小葱), diced.
6. Chinese cooking wine (料酒), salt, pepper.
cooking procedures:
1. put the fillets in the cooking wine to marinate for about 10-15min (while you do this you can get on with the rest of the stuff, obviously.) I would say, enough cooking wine to soak the half of the fillet on a plate.
2. cut the leeks, scallion and mushroom.
3. heat up the non-stick pan, then put some cooking oil (not extra-virgin olive oil) in it to heat up for about 1-2min. use medium heat.
4. put the diced scallions into the pan, stir to let the essence of the scallion come out.
5. put the diced pepper into the pan, stir for about 2-3min (or for as long as they can be stirred without becoming burnt; the time might be different depending on the different pans). save some pepper for garnish if you wish. 如果想用辣椒点缀一下就别把所有的辣椒丁放进去。
6. put the leeks in; do the same until the leaks start to soften.
7. put the mushrooms in. do the same.
8. now put the fillet as well as the cooking wine all into the pan. sprinkle salt and pepper to taste on the one side that is facing up, then immediately turn this side down to have this side sear on the pan; and sprinkle walk and pepper on the other side.
9. let one side sear for about 6-10min, and then turn to the other side and let sear.
10. put a lid on the pan to let it steam until the fillet is ready, turn the heat down a little.
11. (garnish with the rest of the pepper if you wish) serve! (看一下鱼是不是都熟了；注意不要焖得时间太长，要不然就老了）
Feedback welcomed!
