7pax 鸦片鱼头dinner

we had 7pax home dinner this evening with OPS bros, LH, & J on 25.1.2018. wife also joined dinner. missing M& CH2.

My OPS bro WT returned from shanghai 2 weeks ago.  he brought back 桂鱼&鸦片鱼头（not available in singapore) & gave me 1 large 桂鱼& 2 鸦片鱼头.

i went with sis & bil to hong kong 14-18jan2018, so when i got back, i arranged for dinner at home to enjoy the 桂鱼&鸦片鱼头 from shanghai.

葱焖鸦片鱼头scallions baked flatfish head – the best!

I did first time 葱焖鸦片鱼头..this the best!!👍, recreating shanghai old jessie’s signature dish..i like this best!

葱焖鸦片鱼头scallions baked flatfish head – the best!

there were a lot of food, so i cooked only 1 鸦片鱼头. the next day i did the same 葱焖鸦片鱼头scallions baked flatfish head for my family 5pax dinner. wife, son & JH all loved it…it was just so good!

葱焖鸦片鱼头scallions baked flatfish head – the best!

鸦片鱼头 has meat texture like flaky cod, and fish head bone texture like salmon head softbones. the scallions flavoured the fish & was itself very tasty with the best grade light soy sauce. the sauce marinade was similar to the usual hong kong steamed marinade, with 3 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp olive oil, squeezed some lime & baked at 250degC for 10mins.

baking gave a firmer, drier texture than steaming & more intense flavours with less liquid.

桂鱼 mandarin fish

also did first time a butterfly fan cut steamed 桂鱼.

& it was quite excellent..just that for me the 葱焖鸦片鱼头scallions baked flatfish head  was even better!

excellent 桂鱼 mandarin fish dish

i usually do hong kong steam in one go, lazy to steam the fish separately.

for this 桂鱼 mandarin fish i was uncertain if it was very fishy so i decided to steam separately as i did for the cheap 鲈鱼 ( 桂鱼 mandarin fish of course a much better fish).

as i butterflied & fan cut already, so i just steamed for 8mins. it was a large fish maybe 800g+ so would have done about 11mins otherwise.

i steamed with ginger & some shaoxing wine, and some chopped scallions, then removed the fish & disposed of the liquids.

then i fried ginger & cut chilli padi, and leek in 2 tbsp olive oil & added 3 tbsp light soy sauce. & poured the sauce over the fish. then rearrange the sliced ginger & leek etc & added the scallions.

it was really an excellent dish..

claypot rice 沙煲饭

claypot rice 沙煲饭

did my usual claypot rice 沙煲饭 . always good this, very flavourful, with tender chicken, nice pork & live sausage from hong kong & wonderful smokey flavours with salted fish.

song fish head 松鱼头

song fish head 松鱼头

did also the usual spicy black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头.

WM said it was overwhelmed by the 桂鱼&鸦片鱼头, and the dish would go better with plain rice. anyhow i think this evening the sauce was not as good as my usual.

lar pok – crispy lard

lar pok – crispy lard went especially well with the song fish head 松鱼头 . 🙂

braised pig trotters korean jogbal style

braised pig trotters korean jogbal style

i did the braised pig trotters korean jogbal style. also similar to the 酱猪蹄 at七宝 in shanghai or at 老街in 深圳.

LH said it was very tasty. the texture was meant to be crunchy. i liked it but i like my usual softer tender 元蹄texture more.

light soy sauce steamed minced pork

light soy sauce steamed minced pork was the usual & quite a favourite dish too. light soy sauce is truly a god send, does wonders for every dish…

romaine lettuce油麦菜

WT did the romaine lettuce油麦菜, very nice indeed!

a really wonderful dinner with dear friends…i especially enjoyed the airflown 桂鱼&鸦片鱼头 from shanghai.

c.h.e.f andy