Red Snapper Fillet In Thymato Sauce

I bought a small pack of Arrowroot powder sometime ago but it's not been used as much as I planned. I used it in soups but haven't test it in stir-fries. My house helper bought me some nice and fresh Red Snapper fillets and large prawns last week from a fisherman, selling by the road side :-D She's really good at sourcing such produce and I'm really happy with her service :-P I even told her that I mentioned about her in my blog... she's so happy :-)

I decided to use the arrowroot for this recipe that used tomatoes before it's due date :-P I read that arrowroot is works very well with acidic liquid (example; tomatoes in this recipe or maybe pasta sauce?). It's neutral tasting it's the best among the starch thickeners besides surviving the freezer with no effects of odd taste or spongy. It also gives high gloss to your dishes ( I think it's fabulous with pie fillings!). One thing of caution though, arrowroot doesn't work well with milk based sauces as I found out when I use it to make ice cream when I ran out of cornstarch :-(

Here's a recipe that I wanted to share. You must be wondering what's this 'Thymato Sauce' :-P It's the combination of 'Thyme' and 'Tomato'. You see, when I upload my recipe and picts to food sites, they have this word/title limits to certain count. So, to shorten the process (actually, my laziness :-P), I decided to call the fish's sauce/gravy as 'Thymato'. I think it sounds better than 'Thymemato'. Hmmm... sounds like one of those weird science projects, huh? Well, If you can have 'Tamarillo', why not 'Thymato'? Hee heee heeee... :-P

Red Snapper Fillet In Thymato Sauce

Serves 2-4

300 g Red Snapper Fillet (or any white fish fillet) ~ skin on

400 g Tomato ~ skinned and seeded

2 pcs Lebanese Cucumbers

1 Tbl Fresh Thyme ~ fully packed/1 tsp dried Thyme

1 clove Garlic ~ minced

10 g Arrowroot Powder **

Some oil for shallow frying

For Fish Marinate:

2.5 g Salt (approx. ½ tsp)

3o ml Ginger Wine (I'd posted a recipe if you don't have ready-made wine)

Some Ground White Pepper to taste

For Seasoning:

60 ml Water

30 g Raw Sugar

2 g Salt (approx. ⅓ tsp)

20 ml Tomato Sauce (Tomato Ketchup)

10 ml Rice Vinegar

Thickener Glaze:

30 ml Water

12 g Arrowroot Powder**

* Unless stated otherwise all cup & spoon measurements are level.

** For this recipe you can use other starches as thickener or glaze like Cornstarch, Kudzu, Potato Starch, Tapioca or Water Caltrop Starch.

Method:

1. Rinse fish fillet and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut into pieces (depends on the size of fillet, you can have about 3 or more portions). Mix gently the pieces with marinade for 10± minutes.

2. Slice the skinned and seeded tomatoes into wedges. Cut the cucumbers into quarters lengthwise and then dice coarsely. You can cut into rounds as well ~ as long as the cucumbers cook evenly.

3. Add the Kudzu powder to the pieces of fish and mix well (it's easier to mix with fingers).

4. Heat some oil in a deep pan. Fry the fish pieces on both sides until medium-well done (62.8°C/145°F degrees core temp). Dish out and set aside. Remove the used oil.

5. In the same pan, heat some oil. Stir-fry the minced garlic until fragrant. Add in tomato wedges. Stir for awhile. Add in the seasoning and fried fish pieces. Let it cook for few minutes.

6. Add in the diced cucumbers and fresh thyme. Gently mix the ingredients so that the fish pieces are not break apart.

7. Add in the thickener mixture and gently stir until it thickens. Dish out and serve.

Enjoy!

Tomato Chicken Stew

After a week of bad coughing, sneezes and lack of sleep, I really need something to perk me up. Something spicy and sourish yet doesn't hurt my sore throat (big grin), to get back to my usual self... I had to cook the deboned chicken breasts & drumsticks I bought before expired. My brain still shrouded with sleepy lambs as I typed this entry and I still need to finish the antibiotics... urghhh! Please excuse me if there's typo error... :-D Outside, it's raining heavily and windy since yesterday morning. I don't mind though... it helps to cool down the hot weather several days ago. After this, I'm going to make a cup of hot cocoa... hmmm... maybe a jug?

Tomato Chicken Stew

Serves 2-3

500 g Chicken, chopped into 5 cm pieces (or drumsticks/breast meats)

Pinch of Salt & Tumeric powder

1/2 cup Oil (for shallow frying)

2 nos Onions, sliced

1 small can Tomato Purée

2 nos Tomatoes, quartered

1 tbl Sugar or to taste

1 tbl Salt or to taste

Some Water

Spices (ground/blend finely):

6 nos Shallots

3 cloves Garlic

6-10 Red Chillies, seeded

1 pc Lemongrass (use the plump white portion only)

2 cm knob of Ginger, skinned

Method:

1. Rub chicken with a pinch salt & tumeric powder. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a deep pan/wok over medium fire/heat. When hot, fry the chicken in batches for 5 minutes. Remove chicken, drain on kitchen papers and set aside.

3. In the remaining oil, stir-fry the ground spices until fragrant and oil separates - about 3 mins.

4. Add sliced onions and stir-fry until they start to soften - about 1 minute. Stir in tomato purée and bring to a boil.

5. Add chicken and mix well. Pour some water to cover the chicken by 3/4 (about 2 cups). Bring to a boil.

6. Reduce fire/heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add quartered tomatoes and continue to cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender and gravy is thick. Season to taste with salt and sugar. Garnish with chopped spring onions or coriander.

Notes: This is a Malay style stew. As with stews, it tastes better the day after. Prepare it a day ahead and warm up to serve. You can serve with rice, fried rice or even on pastas.

If you like really hot, you can replace the chillies with Dried Red Chillies but soak it first, remove the seeds and then ground/blend together with other spices.

Hope you like it... :-)