Baked Batang Fish

My hubby and I went to JB on Monday night and we went to one of their night markets to get some groceries. We found a stall selling very fresh Batang fish and bought some home.

I always find cooking fish a challenge as I can only cook with fish fillets as my kids are not good with eating whole fish with bones. With the exception of pomfrets. So whenever I cook fish, I have to consider my kids safety. And it has to agree with their palates too.

One of my cell group friends gave me some Indonesian small red onions which she bought for me. I am not sure if it is psycholigical but it seems to be more fragrant than it's local counterparts. It looks very cute, with a fat body and a long stem head. I will have to deep fry a batch to see if it's really more fragrant. But in the meantime, I am thankful for this friend, Sally, for remembering me.

This is a very easy recipe to follow. Just get the ingredients ready and pop the whole aluminium parcel into the oven. I have given out the weight of the belachan. This makes it easier rather than saying things like a thumb size or a small piece which is not very helpful. The chilli paste that I used is the ready made ones sold at supermarkets. Of course you can make your own chilli paste if you want to. For me, I just like to keep it easy and simple. I love my Moulinex grinder, it's really very powerful and can grind anything (even lengkuas) to a fine paste. It's 800 watts of grinding power! It is cheaper than some grinders I know but it does the job very well.

I use gula melaka syrup rather than grated palm sugar, as it saves work and it's easier to use and measure out. But for those who don't have this, you can use grated palm sugar in the same amount stated in the recipe. Brown sugar can be used too, but it tastes better with gula melaka. As for the assam juice, I just took 1tbsp of assam paste and added some water to get about 1 tbsp of assam juice. Remember to strain the assam juice.

Wash a few banana leaves and lay them on top of the aluminium foil (see pic). Put the fish and all the rest of the ingredients on top of the banana leaves. Wrap it up and marinade in the fridge for 1/2 hr. This way you don't have to use another bowl to marinade the fish in. Also by doing it this way, the vegetables gets additional flavour too. Once it's done marinating, just pop the whole aluminium parcel into the preheated oven to bake.



Bake in the oven for about 30mins. If you prefer the vegetables to have a bit more bite to it, bake for about 28 mins. This dish is great to serve as a one dish meal as it has meat (fish) and vegetables (lady's finger). So if you are in a rush for time, or just want something simple, this is it. And there's no stir-frying involved, just wrap everything up, marinade and pop it into the oven.

Baked Batang Fish

Ingredients:
3 Batang Fillets
6 Lady's Finger
1 Red Onion (cut into sections)

Marinade (grind to paste):
6 Shallots
2 cloves Garlic
30g Belachan
1 Lemongrass
50g Chilli Paste

Seasonings:
1tbsp Lime Juice
1tbsp Tamarind Juice
11/2tbsp Palm Sugar (grated)
1tsp Salt
50g Coconut Milk
1tbsp Sugar
4pcs Assam Peel

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Rinse fish and pat dry with kitchen paper towel.
3. Prepare a large piece of aluminium foil. Place banana leaves on top. 
4. Place fish, lady's fingers, onion, the marinade paste and seasonings onto the the banana leaves. Wrap it up and place parcel in the fridge and marinade for 1/2 hr.
5. Bake in preheated oven for about 25-30mins.



Forbidden Word

Last night at about 11pm plus, my hubby caught my daughter accidentally saying the forbidden word to my son. Of course she got reprimanded. But she said that it was not directed at her brother. Nonetheless it was still wrong to have said the forbidden word. My son was upset and he said that 'jie jie' should be punished for saying it. But my hubby explained to him that a reprimand was enough.

I've been trying to teach my kids not to say the forbidden words. But kids nowadays are so influenced by their friends and media. I have tried all ways to teach them. Perhaps someone can share with me a better way?...

Orange Chiffon Cake - My First Post!

With the encouragement from a fellow Internet friend, I've decided to start a blog of my own. This is the very first time I'm doing this, so if there are any errors, please pardon me. I hope to blog better as I go along. This blog will be about me having a blissful time (hence the name) in my home. Initially I started the blog with Teresa Kitchen Bliss, as the kitchen is my favorite place in my home. But I changed it as I also wanted to blog about other stuff too. My family and I live in a HDB maisonette. It is our second home after marriage. Other than our master bedroom, the kitchen is my favorite part of my home. Although my kitchen is not a designer built one, and the kitchen cabinets are the same ones left by the previous owner. I still love it. Cause it's here that I labour in love for my family and friends by cooking up lots of goodies. I always believe that you don't need to have a very beautiful kitchen to cook in, the food will always turn out wonderful as long as the 'home chef' cooks with love.

So if you have just a simple kitchen, or are still waiting for your dream kitchen, fret not. Your family and friends will still love your cooking if you add the ingredient of love ;)

I have been baking a lot of chiffon cakes lately after attending a baking class. With many experiments, I've tweaked the recipe a bit. My kids and I just love the soft and fluffy texture of chiffon cakes.

This Orange Chiffon Cake has a very nice natural orange fragrance due to the orange liqueur. I would usually get the brand Grande Marnier orange liqueur as I thought that it smells better. But I wasn't able to get that, so I got Cointreau orange liqueur instead. Cointreau sounds like a french name of a coin of sort lol. But as it turns out, it is very good too. In fact, I will now prefer to get this brand in future as it is cheaper and comes in smaller bottles - great for people who use it mainly for baking.

There are two important things to note if you want to be successful with chiffon cakes. First, you have to whisk the egg whites properly. In the case of chiffon cakes, it is better to over whisk than under whisk. When you over whisk, you just have a slightly drier cake. And also it takes a bit more effort when folding it into the egg mixture. But if you under whisk it, you will find that your chiffon cake will rise while baking in the oven. But will drastically sink when cooled. With practise and experience, you will be able to whisk the egg whites to the right consistency and texture.

Second, the folding of the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture is very important too. Use a large balloon hand whisk to do this. The hand whisk will help the egg whites and egg yolks mix easily and evenly. Using a spatula is ok too, but it is less effective and sometimes some parts of the batter does not get evenly mixed. So a large balloon hand whisk is the most ideal if you have one.

Getting the right size tube pan is also very important. This recipe needs a 25cm pan. If you feel that the cake is too big, you can half the recipe and use a 23cm tube pan. Do not grease or line the pan. This is one thing I like about this cake. I find greasing and lining a cake pan quite a hassle, I'm lazy lah. So anything that can reduce my workload is always a plus for me ;)

25cm Tube Pan

Orange Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

(A)

8 egg yolks

140g orange juice (freshly squeezed)

1tsp vanilla essence

1tbsp orange liqueur

zest of 5 oranges

120g corn oil

160g cake flour (sifted)

10g baking powder (sifted)

120g castor sugar

(B)

10 egg whites

120g castor sugar

3g cream of tar tar

Method:

1. Using a stand mixer, with the balloon whisk attached, whisk egg whites till foamy. Slowly add in castor sugar and cream of tar tar. Use high speed and whisk till egg whites are glossy and stiff.
2. Use another clean mixer bowl and whisk (A) for 3 mins on high speed. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into (A), mix well. Add in the rest of the egg whites and fold till well mixed.
4. Pour batter into a 25cm tube pan (see pic above).
5. Bake in the oven's lowest rack at 180C for 80 mins. Place an oven thermometer inside the oven. Check every 15 mins to see if the temperature is maintaining well. Adjust accordingly if the temperature drops. If you are using a turbo fan oven, then reduce temperature to 150C.  
6. Use a wooden stick to test the doneness of the cake. Poke it into the centre of the cake, if it comes out clean, then it's done.
7. Invert cake onto a small bowl or a stable bottle. Place  damp cloth on top and cool completely before removing it from the pan. It is important to raise the tube pan from the table while cooling. This is to prevent the cake surface from water condensation.
8. Once it's completely cooled, takes about an hour, carefully flip the cake over. Use a flat sharp knife and run the blade along the sides of the pan. Once the sides are properly dislodged, use the knife to run through the base of the pan. When you run the knife through, be sure to press the blade against the tube pan and not onto the cake.
9. Cake keeps well in a airtight container for about 2-3 days. If you need to store it longer than 3 days, please keep it in the fridge.