Pan Fried Tilapia

I think among other dishes, cooking fish is one of the easiest (in term of preparation and cooking process and time required)
Having that thought, I decided instead of Tuesday, I'll make Saturday and/or Sunday as fish day
Weekends are family day, we go out most of the time in the morning and back home usually already in the late afternoon, no more energy to cook complicated dish, especially knowing my baking mood often conquers my weekend evenings :)

This is my first time cooking tilapia fish
(can you believe it before that I don't even know this fish exists!)
Initially I didn't really like the too fishy smell during cooking process, but I did enjoy eating it so much - I love the soft texture and it's indeed tasty and not fishy at all (strangely)
Next time I'll try it grilled

What you need:

1 black tilapia fish
2 tbsp juice of lemon
2 tsp turmeric powder
salt and pepper, oil

Marinade the fish with lemon, turmeric powder, salt and pepper for at least 1hour
Heat oil and pan fry the fish til golden brown

Perfect companion to eat the fish:

What you need:

shallots, cut into small cubes
2 bird eye's chillis, cut small
1/2 tomato, cut into small cubes
juice of 1lemon
kicap manis (Indonesia dark sweet soya sauce)

Mix all ingredients

Minced Chicken Stew (Semur Ayam)

I like this dish with a little gravy but since the kids love this too so I add a little more
And I don't use minced chicken but instead I use blended lean chicken breast
A heavily Dutch influenced Indonesian dish (it's called semoor in Dutch)

What you need:

1 chicken breast, cut and blend
3 shallots, cut thinly
1/2 onion - julienned
2 carrots - cut
2 potatoes - cut into cubes
1 tomatoes, quartered
oil, water, oyster sauce, kicap manis (Indonesian sweet dark soya sauce), salt, pepper

Heat oil, fry onion and shallots til fragrant
Add chicken, oyster sauce, kicap manis, water
After chicken cooked, add in carrots, followed by potatoes
Cook for approx 5mins, add in tomatoes, bring to boil
Add salt and pepper
Simmer for around 15mins or til water lessen and a bit thicker

Corn, Carrot & White Raddish Soup

One more kids' fave (and mine too)
This sweet and tasty soup does make me feel good especially knowing that it's nutritious too :)

What you need:

approx 3l water
300g pork spare ribs
2 big carrots, cut into big chunks
4 sweet corns, cut into 4pieces
1 big white raddish, cut into big chunks
wolfberries
dried red dates
salt to taste

Boil water together with ribs
After boiled, add in corn - wait til it floats
Add in carrots and white raddish followed by wolfberries and dates
Bring to boil and then put to small fire and simmer for 2hours
Add salt just before putting off the fire

Fruit Pastry Cake

Adapted from Happy Home Baking
I fell in love at first sight when I saw the picture and vowed to try to make
Been postponed for a few weeks, finally I managed to try out
It's a keeper!!! Hubby loved it to the bits, Abby who usually dislikes non chocolate cakes also ate and asked to include the cake in her lunch box - but she didn't fancy the strawberries and blueberries, only the peach :)
Only Ian who is not so friendly with fruits and everything with fruits didn't really enjoy

This is before going into the oven...



And...ready to eat! :)

What you need:

100g butter
180g caster sugar

50g low fat yogurt
3 eggs, lightly beaten, room temperature
1 tspvanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest

210g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

some icing sugar
500g fruits 

You can use strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bananas, oranges, pears, apples, pineapple, or any other fruits - drain well after washing!

For canned fruits, wash them well  to reduce the sweetness - drain well

Wash, cut and drain fruits - set aside

Grease with butter the side of a 9" or 8" round pan and line the base with parchment paper

With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and yogurt till light and fluffy

Add in the eggs gradually and beat till incorporated in the batter. (The mixture may appear slightly curdled)
Add vanilla extract and zest. Mix to combine
Sieve over flour and baking powder and mix till smooth
Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top with a spatula
Arrange fruits on top, don’t press the fruits down into the batter. Decorate the fruits as desired
Bake in pre-heat oven at 180degC for 60minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Cover the top with foil in the last 15 mins of baking to prevent the top from getting over browned
Leave the cake to cool in the pan for about 5~10 mins
Dust the cake with some icing sugar if desired

Salmon In Teriyaki Sauce

Been so long since the last time we eat salmon - I mean cooked one (sashimi is not counted heee...)
Bought 1 chunk of salmon fillet but too lazy to cook something fancy, so I just made this easy yet yummy dish...



What you need:

1 pc salmon fillet (approx 400g)

5 tablespoon teriyaki sauce

olive oil

Marinade salmon in teriyaki sauce for min. of 1hour

Heat oil, pan fry salmon til browned both sides

Pour the remaining sauce til caramelized

Off heat

No need anything else, just this dish and hot fluffy rice - yum

!

Sweet Beans In Oyster Sauce

So simple yet delicious - one of my fave veggies :)



What you need:

3 cloves of garlic - crushed

1 pack sweet bean, cut both ends

oil. oyster sauce, a little water, salt, pepper, sugar

Heat oil, fry garlic til fragrant

Add in sweet beans - stir

Add in oyster sauce, followed by water, salt, pepper, sugar

Mix well and bring to boil til water lessen but not too long to maintain its crunchiness

Hard Boiled Eggs In Spicy Sauce (Egg Sambal)

Again, adapted from ICook4Fun - her recipes are sure win ones, so many in my waiting to be tried list :)
I adjusted a little to suit my family's (read: my) preference - hehe....



What you need:

6 hard boiled eggs

3 cloves of garlic - crushed

1 onion - julienned

2 tablespoon chilli paste

2 tablespoon tomato ketchup

a little water, oil, salt and sugar to taste

Heat oil, pan fry eggs til slightly browned - set aside

Remove oil and leave a little oil to fry onion followed by garlic til fragrant

Add in chilli paste and tomato ketchup - stir

Add in water, salt and sugar - mix well

Add in fried eggs, bring to boil til sambal mixture reduces in liquid