Clam and fish porridge

What do you need?
- 1 cup rice (for 2 pax)
- 1 pack of clams
- 4 pieces of fish (marinate with soya sauce, sesame seed oil and pepper)
- 4 pieces of sliced ginger
- 2 stalks of coriander






How to do it?
Wash clam, soak clams in salt water (add generous pinch of salt) for at least 30 mins.
In a clean pot, wash rice grain and cook porridge.

Rinse clam well, add clams to pot of boiling water with ginger slices, boil for 3 mins or until all clams are opened.

Fish out the clams, remove clam flesh and put them into the porridge pot. Remove the ginger.

Pour clam soup into the porridge, bring to boil.
There is usually sand at the bottom of the soup. Be careful not to stir soup. Scoop soup gently from the top.
Add slice fish cook for 3 mins until fish is cooked.
Keep adding clam soup to achieve the texture of your preference.
Personally i like thick porridge, not those watery ones.
Add chopped coriander.

Serve with dash of pepper, sesame seed oil and soya sauce to taste.
Garnish with fried shallots and coriander leaf.

Marusui Fish Market

For a long time (about 2-3 years already), hubby and i are 'fans' of Sakuraya fish market and will visit once every 2-3 mths. As we dont drive, we have to take the bus there to have sashimi fix every once in a while.

One fateful Saturday, hubby and i wanted to grab a quick snack at vivo basement (i love the fried vege pancakes they have).

As usual, he is the vivo guide and he took escalator near Marks & Spencer and make me walk through the carpark. Though i dont quite agree its a 'shortcut' route, i dont know the otherwise correct route so i just follow...

And to our pleasant surprise, we chance upon Marusui Fish Market.

The concept is very similar to Sakuraya: fresh sashimi on sale in chillers (they will slice it for you immediately if you want to dine in), ready made sushi and bento sets; some bread, green tea, japanese sauces on shelves; as well as tables and chairs for casual dine in.

I am attracted by the snow crab (cooked but cold) which is on promotion - $8 for half snow crab.

So instead of grabbing a quick snack, we had early dinner at 5pm and finish off with 3 scoops of Bens & Jerry for desserts! Yummy.



The freshness of the sashimi cannot match Sakuraya but for the price, it still ok.

4 sashimi (Scallop, salmon, sword fish and something-else-i-cant-remember), 1/2 snow crab, 1 bowl of sushi rice with a can of Asahi and one cup of green tea - total damage ~ $50

Will i go again? Probably yes, for a quick sashimi fix. The bentos and handrolls look very good, will go back to try them one day.

Full address:

Fried Tioman fillet

Simple saturday afternoon lunch. Healthy and hearty meal...

Rub fish with salt and wash off.
Slice fish horizontally midway.
Pat dry, sprinkle with salt and pepper to marinate.


Coat fish with corn flour before frying in shallow oil.

The trick to frying fish is to keep pan covered. This will ensure that the heat trapped in the pan penetrates the fish and cook it thoroughly. Only remove the lid to turn the fish.

Another advantage is that it will prevent the oil from splitter splatter. When cooking fish, the juice from the fish will seep out into the oil and cause it to splatter... scary....

However, you need to be careful when removing the lid as the water vapour accumulated under the lid will cause the oil to splatter if you accidentally drip it into the pan. Remove the lid in one swift and quick motion. Have a cloth beside the pan to allow water to drip onto the cloth before covering the lid again.

Another advantage is that because removing the lid is so dangerous, you will not want to do it many times. This will prevent you from checking on the fish too often and the result is a nicely fried crisp fish skin.

Remove fish from pan, drizzle dark soya sauce onto the fish immediately.
Serve.



My lunch... stir fried chye sim (stole 4 stalks from the 2 packets i bought for making suan chai - yes, its my 3rd attempt)... fried fish, fermented beancurd and a nice bowl of hot porridge.

Fried black pomfret

Went to Bukit Merah NTUC and is always tempted by the display of fresh fish at the wet market section.

Can sense how deprived i am??

Bought a black pomfret and the only known way to cook it is to fry it.



What do you need?
- 1 black pomfret (mine cost $2.50)
- salt and pepper
- peanut oil

How to do it?
Get the supermarket staff to gut and scale the pomfret for you.

Check the stomach and make sure its cleanly gutted.
If not, use a scissors and cut off whatever reddish 'leftovers' inside.

Rub inside and outside of the fish with salt and rinse off immediately.

Using a sharp knife, slice the flesh of the fish horizontally on both sides.
This will cook the fish faster as well as marinate it better.

To marinate, sprinkle salt and pepper on fish and rub it into the flesh.
Allow it to marinate in the fridge for 20 mins.

Before cooking, coat the fish thinly with corn flour.

Heat oil in pan to medium heat and slow fry fish.

The fish will take approximately 15 mins, flipping it from side to side every 3 - 4 mins.

Serve immediately to enjoy the crispy fish skin!