Fish Trip Cafe

This is an excellent method of cooking a salmon fillet.

Slowly steam the salmon with sake in a paper is that keeps the salmon soft and very juicy, and all the flavour of ingredients are retained inside a paper package.

Also, it’s easy to clean up!

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— Paper Wrapped Salmon Fillet (serves 1 package) —

1 baking paper sheet (approximately 15 inch x 15 inch)

1 piece (150g) salmon fillet

20g spring onion

40g shimeji mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms (Shimeji mushrooms: base discarded, mushrooms separated. Shiitake mushrooms: sliced)

15g butter

1 tablespoon sake (rice wine)

1/2 garlic clove

1/4 teaspoon salt

A pinch of black pepper

1/2 tablespoon soya sauce

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Slice the garlic very thin, chop the spring onion diagonally.

Season the salmon fillet with the salt and the pepper, and place on a baking paper sheet.

Place the mushrooms, chopped spring onion in the side of the salmon, put the butter and sliced garlic on the top of salmon, sprinkle the sake.

Pull the paper edges together, folding edges tightly to make a paper bag. Make sure that there is space inside the paper for the hot air to steam the salmon.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F, place the paper package in a baking tray and bake in the middle of oven for about 20 minutes.

Cut cross on the top of the wrapped paper to open.

Drizzle the soya sauce and serve.

I had a very busy weekend and had strange dreams all night long. Dream brings me to the different world and it’s fun even if it was a nightmare but I was exhausted when I woke up this morning and my skin looks tired.

I need to eat a quick and easy nutritious dish for my tired body and skin today. So I decided to cook my favorite healthy ingredients ‘tofu’.

This is very easy & tasty tofu steak, and it’s suitable for vegetarians too.

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— Teriyaki Tofu Steak (serves 2) —

350g tofu (firm, 1 standard size block)

1 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon corn flour

some chives, finely chopped

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— for the teriyaki sauce —

1 & 1/2 tablespoon soya sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine (sake)

1 tablespoon sugar

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Wrap the tofu in a clean tea towel or some layer of kitchen papers, and place a heavy thing (such as a pan) on top of it to force out excess water, then leave it for about 10-15 minutes.

Mix all the teriyaki sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Cut the drained tofu block into 4-6 thin blocks.

Mix the flour and the corn flour, and then coat the tofu blocks.

Heat the oil in a frying-pan and fry the flour-coated tofu over medium heat on each side until golden.

Add the teriyaki sauce in the frying-pan and shaking the frying-pan gently and cook both side until the sauce has thickened.

Garnish with the finely chopped chives.

Sushi is the most famous and popular Japanese dish in the West.

But it’s not popular to cook sushi at home.

Maybe because,

1. Don’t know how to cook sushi rice.

2. A bit scary to deal with raw fish.

3. Can’t be bothered to roll up rice.

OK, here is the solution; Box Sushi. Ta-dah!

You can make this pretty sushi without special technics.

It just needs a box, a chocolate box or a biscuit box or any kind of box. And then place ingredients in the box, press them and cut like mini cakes.

This is a great home party dish.

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— Box Sushi (box size approx. 7 inch x 4.5 inch, hight 1.5 inch, serves 4) —

200g smoked salmon slices

1 avocado, thinly sliced

some cappers

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– for sushi rice –

400g rice (Japanese short-grained white rice, or sushi rice)

5 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

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– for soya sauce cream sauce –

3 teaspoons soya sauce

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

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To make sushi rice, rinse the rice in a clod water, changing the water several times until the water runs almost clear.

Drain the washed rice in a sieve and place in a saucepan.

Pour 500ml water in the pan and cover with tight-fitting rid.

Bring to the boil over high heat and let cook for 2 minutes.

Reduce the heat to the lowest and simmer (always cover the pan with a rid) 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat, still covered, and leave the pan for another 10 minutes.

Transfer the cooked rice into a large bowl.

Mix the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the rice, mix the vinegar mixture and rice (do not mush when you mix the rice).

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To make soya sauce cream sauce, mix the soya sauce and mayonnaise in a small bowl.

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Line the box with a large piece of cling film (should overlap the edges)

Lay the smoked salmon slices on the bottom of the box.

Spread half sushi rice on top of the salmon, press the rice with fingers (the rice is sticky, you need to wet you hands).

Lay the thinly sliced avocado on the sushi rice and spread the remaining sushi rice on it, press the rice with fingers.

Cover the top of rice with cling film and place a hard board (cut to fit inside of the box), and put a weight (book or something) on the board and leave it 1-2 hours.

When serving, turn the box and carefully remove the sushi out onto a chopping board and cut into square blocks with a wet knife.

Garnish with the soya sauce cream sauce and cappers.

Miso is fermented soya bean paste, made from soya beans and normally rice or barley are mixed with salt and koji (a formentation starter) and allow to ferment for six months to five years

It comes in many colours, creamy white, yellow, red brown and dark brown, etc..

Usually the light coloured miso has light flavour and dark coloured miso has strong flavour.

Also yogurt is the queen of fermentation food product as you know.

Both fermentation foods pull together and made a great result to a piece of fish.

The cod fillet became tender and savory.

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— Miso Yogurt Marinated Cod (serves 2) —

2 pieces cod fillet

80ml miso (light brown coloured miso is preferred)

100ml yogurt (plain)

Some flat-leaf parsley for garnish, finely chopped

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Mix the miso and yogurt  in a bowl.

Put the miso yogurt mixture into a shallow container, place the cod, and coat all sides with the mixture, cover and refrigerate for overnight.

To cook, lightly wipe off any excess miso mixture (but don’t rinse it off).

Preheat broiler, place the cod on a baking sheet and position the backing tray approximately 6 inches away from top heating element. Broil about 7-10 minutes, until nicely golden and flakes easily.

Sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

It’s a Japanese tradition to eat soba noodles on New Year’s Eve.

Soba noodles symbolize longevity because it’s physically long. And, Soba noodles are easy to bite and cut off, so it’s considered to sever any hardship that have happened during the year.

I was thinking it’s a strange custom.

But when I looked up the nutrition of buckwheat (the ingredients of soba noodles), I started to think that the custom might make sense.

Buckwheat is very high in rutin, an essential nutrient that is not found in other grains. Rutin is powerful antioxidants that fight free radicals which are responsible of some of the major health problems such as cancer, arteriosclerosis, strokes, and age-related senility. Also, buckwheat is rich in vitamin B1 making them a good option got those recovering from stress and wanting to regain a decent energy level.

Good. I eat soba noodles today, wishing good health and not to carryover any bad things to 2011.

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— Soba Noodle Salad (Serves 2) —

160g Soba Noodles

40g rocket

Some sesame seeds

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— For the dressing —

1/4 onion

5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons soya sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

A pinch of salt

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To prepare the dressing, peel and grate the onion, place the grated onion, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, soya sauce and lemon juice in a bowl and mix well. Season to taste with a pinch of salt.

Cook the soba noodles in large pot of boiling water until cooked (follow the package directions). Drain and rinse well under cold water and drain again.

Transfer the soba noodles to large bowl. Add the dressing and toss to coat.

Add the rocket and toss gently.

Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve.

Teriyaki sauce is a popular Japanese sauce and it’s easy to make.

The only problem is you have to make an effort to go to an Oriental grocery and get some special ingredients if you don’t live in Japan.

No. I don’t want to make a long journey to get them on a freezing cold day like today…

So, here is the easiest way to make the new Teriyaki sauce. Only 3 simple ingredients; honey, soy sauce and sake. It tastes good as traditional Teriyaki sauce.

And then, it takes only 10 minutes to make this Teriyaki fish dish.

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— Honey Teriyaki Swordfish (Serves 2) —

2 swordfish steaks

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons soya sauce

2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)

A pinch of salt

Vegetable oil

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Mix the honey, soy sauce, sake together in a small bowl and set aside.

Sprinkle a pinch of salt evenly over the swordfish.

Heat the vegetable oil (just a little bit) in a frying-pan, place the swordfish over medium heat, fry for few minutes on each side until almost cooked.

Turn down the heat to low. Pour over the mixed sauce on the swordfish, cook for 1–2 minutes until the sauce being to bubble, then turn over the fish and cook for 1 minutes (be careful not to burn the sauce!)