Sweet and Sour Fish

It's one of those fairly ubiquitous dishes that you can almost always order in a North American Chinese restaurant, though as usual, the quality varies from place to place. Below is my own attempt at doing this from scratch after trying a so-so ready mix (Maggi brand, no less). The recipe is modified from stuff I found using google, with the chilli thrown in "for effect" (I'm Singaporean after all). Works fairly well, but I'm still open to further modifications.


Now where's my green bell pepper...

Fish and Vegetables:
1 pound fish fillets (e.g., cod, haddock, sea bass; I used (frozen) basa, which is not only inexpensive, but worked very well), rinse, pat dry and cut into bite-size pieces
1 bell pepper, cut into wedges (I prefer a green one, for color)
2 tomatoes (small/medium), each cut into 8 pieces
1 onion (small/medium), cut into 12 pieces
Pineapple cubes (from a can is fine)
1 stalk green onion, chopped into half inch pieces
1 red chilli, seeds removed, cut into small strips
1 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped

Marinade:
1 tsp salt
1 egg white
1 tsp cornstarch

Sauce:
3/4 cup chicken broth (Knorr plus water would do)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
3-4 tbsp ketcup
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp water (this should be separate from the rest)

Also:
Enough oil for deep-frying

Method:
1. Marinade the fish for about 15 min (mix well; best using fingers). Deep-fry until golden brown, then drain (e.g., on paper towels or rack).
2. Mix together the ingredients for the sauce, except for the last item, which should be in a separate bowl.
3. Stir-fry ginger in about 2 tbsp of oil for about 30 seconds. Add the onion, green onion, pineapplec and chilli and fry for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes for a quick fry. Add the sauce and bring it to a boil. Add cornstarch-water mixture, stirring to thicken. Turn off heat. Add the fish and mix everything with the thickened sauce. Serve.


Preparations (what am I going to do with that left-over egg yolk?)


'Deep'-frying the fish


Mental note to self: add the tomatoes later next time so that they don't disintegrate...

Mom's Crunchy Rolled Oat Cookies

Got this recipe from my mom. That my largely cookie-indifferent dad likes these says much about them. They're very easy to make and to my mind an absolutely delicious and wholesome snack. And, as you can see in the pictures, I also made some smaller cookies using the same dough but without the coating of oats, and had each cookie dotted with a pecan for some variety.



Ingredients
(A) 200g margarine, 100g icing sugar, 1 egg & half tsp vanilla essence
(B) 300g wholemeal flour, 75g rolled oats
(C) 90g rolled oats

Method
Beat (A) till creamy, stir in (B) to form a dough. Make dough into small balls, coat on (C) and flatten them in a tray. Put in oven and bake at 180 degrees C for 10-15 minutes. Cool cookies and store in an airtight container to keep them fresh and crunchy for days.

Our Favourite Chicken Pie

The following is a somewhat rough guide to baking our favourite chicken pie. I say "rough" because I do not have precise proportions for the ingredients for the filling. The pie pastry recipe is, happily, more precise. I started baking this pie about 4 years ago and have baked, at times with the help of my dad and my husband, approximately more than 35 of them! They are usually well-received, and what follows is a recipe I typed out, on request, for our friends at Hamilton Square Baptist Church after we served them these pies as a farewell thanksgiving treat.

Ingredients (amount of each tailored to your own liking):
Chicken meat (I like to use thigh meat)
Cornflour (to keep the meat tender while cooking)
Oyster-flavored sauce (available at most major supermarkets such as Safeway and Albertson’s)
Pepper
(Garlic) salt
Parsley flakes (optional)
Potatoes
Peeled baby carrots (for greater convenience)
Onions (I used lots of this)
Canned clam chowder
Canned mushroom slices
Eggs
Butter, or margarine, or "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" (I used this)
1-2 cheese slices

Method:
1. Dice chicken meat, and marinate well with some oyster-flavored sauce (approx. 2 tablespoons per pie?), pepper and cornflour (about 1 tablespoon per pie?); cover and set aside in refrigerator to keep fresh as you prepare other ingredients
2. Dice potatoes and carrots, and begin boiling them in some water
3. Dice onions and sauté them in some ‘butter’ until they are rather soft
4. Add sautéed onions, chicken pieces, clam chowder and mushrooms to what feels like ¾ cooked potatoes and carrots (drained of excess water), and let them cook at medium-medium high for about 10 minutes more until chicken pieces are just cooked [I prefer to use fully cooked pie fillings to make sure that refrigerated, unbaked pies stay fresh for at least a day or two]
5. Taste, and add salt and pepper accordingly, if needed
6. Hardboil the eggs, dice them and mix, together with cheese, into the rest of the pie filling

Non-flaky Pie Pastry (for one 9 inch pie pan; still, just an estimate)

Ingredients:
Slightly more than 1½ cups plain flour
About 2/5 tsp salt
95g / about 3.4 oz combination of soft margarine and butter, just margarine, or "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter"
Maximum 2/5 cup cold water

Method:
1. Sift flour (unless using flour that does not need to be sifted) and salt into a bowl
2. Rub in 'butter' until mixture resembles coarse crumbs
3. Stir in enough water to bind, gather the dough into a ball and wrap in clear film
4. Chill for 20-30 mins. before rolling out thinly (or as preferred) on slightly flour-dusted surface, and covering slightly buttered pie pan [Spoon pie filling on to the bottom crust]
5. Poke some steam vents on top crust, and brush on some egg yolk, being careful not to clog up the vents.

Bake pie at 425 F for 10-15 mins., followed by another 25-40 mins. until golden at a reduced temperature of 350 F.