Excellent Fish Head Curry

fish head curry was very good

fish head curry was very good

recently, i have made fish head curry a number of times & happy to say it has consistently good everytime, and my friends all thought the fish head curry was the best dish. ^^

mak's curry paste for fish head curry

mak’s curry paste for fish head curry

first time i did fish head curry was 14.3.2016. it was a 10pa curry rice lunch + bakuteh post JB trip. ^^

i grabbed a curry paste from sheng shiong. found this mak’s nonya fish head curry S$2.45, used it for the first time.

fish head curry

fish head curry

wife went to chinatown & bought me an angkoli (sea bream) fish head. i though it was very expensive at S$16.

anyway it was super fresh, meat was firm & sweet.

fish head curry

fish head curry

cooking was easy. i just followed instructions at the back of the sachet-

  1. fry first the sliced yellow onions, curry rempah & some coconut milk.
  2. add cut okra (lady’s fingers) and fry another few minutes.
  3. add fish head & coat thoroughly both sides with rempah
  4. add cut egg plant, chicken stock & coconut milk, covered, simmered about 8 – 10mins
  5. add cut tomatoes.
fish head curry

fish head curry

i did this a few more times, & it was good, in fact excellent, every time-

fish head curry

fish head curry

what i like was the simplicity in the preparation.

fish head curry

fish head curry

& that it is consistently good without fail.

i am planning to do this for the community meals at teban gardens & at bathesda bedok.

fish head curry

fish head curry

i am good with using premix for my cooking. if they works why not? why invent the wheel? no hang-ups for me. 🙂

i do have a good recipe for nonya curry chicken, so for that i do not use curry paste, but there is no fix rules, whatever works, works for me la…

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

  • 1 angkoli (sea bream) fish head about 1kg (or garoupa)
  • 1 Mak’s fish head curry sachet
  • 1 small yellow onions (sliced)
  • 5 ocra (1cm cut)
  • 1 egg plant (1.5cm cut)
  • 2 tomatoes (cut into 8 or 12 pieces)
  • 200ml coconut milk
  • 750ml to 1000ml chicken stock

Directions:

  • wash fish head with salt thoroughly & drain.

i just followed instructions at the back of the sachet-

  1. fry first the sliced yellow onions, curry rempah & some coconut milk.
  2. add cut okra (lady’s fingers) and fry another few minutes.
  3. add fish head & coat thoroughly both sides with rempah
  4. add cut egg plant, chicken stock & coconut milk, covered, simmered about 8 – 10mins
  5. add cut tomatoes.
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RI Friends 10pax curry rice lunch+bakuteh post JB trip 14Mar2016

had a really fun JB trip last week with my RI buddies. we had really good bakuteh at shoon huat at sentosa JB & roast duck from ya wang opposite, and dinner at canton-i at city square, but we missed out on the kam long fish head curry.

the guys were coming to my place for lunch & watching jeju slides & guide from a friend who had been there.

so i decided to do a curry rice lunch + bakuteh (reminiscence of the recent JB trip) on 14.3.2016. ^^

7 dishes = curry rice + bakuteh + dessert

7 dishes = curry rice + bakuteh + dessert

i had 7 dishes –

bakuteh singapore style
fish head curry
nonya curry chicken
sayur lodeh (using thai red curry)
kueh chap (pig head, pig ear, belly pork)
sio bak (roast pork)
lotus ginkyo nut cheng chow 莲子白果凉粉

for bakuteh i bought the frozen prime ribs from sheng shiong. it’s the le bao brand 乐宝, just S$10.95/kg.

i used the usual ILC bakuteh sachet, about S$1.50 for 20g sachet.

the bakuteh was excellent! soup was very tasty. many friends so commented.

1 used hara fried bean curd puff this time, i think this had more sweet 黄豆 flavours than the usual bean curd puff i used, the overall soup flavour was excellent, very tasty. a friend said it enhanced rather than overwhelmed the bakuteh sachet.

i think my soup was almost as good as shoon huat, and my pork ribs itself clearly better, more meaty, fatter & more flavoruful & excellent taken with my dark sauce which was very “pang” & not so salty.

fish head curry

#2 fish head curry

it’s the first time i cooked fish head curry.

mak's curry paste for fish head curry

#2 mak’s curry paste for fish head curry

i went to grab a curry paste from sheng shiong. found this mak’s nonya fish head curry S$2.45 i think, used it for the first time.

fish head curry

#2 fish head curry

wife went to chinatown market on sunday. i didn’t go. she bought a angkoli (sea bream) fish head. i though it was very expensive at S$16, but i had not bought this before not really qualified to comment on the price.

fish head curry

#2 fish head curry

anyway it was super fresh, meat was firm & sweet.

cooking was easy. i just followed instructions at the back of the sachet-

  1. cut okra (lady’s fingers) and fried first with sliced yellow onions, curry rempah & some coconut milk.
  2. added cut egg plant, fried another few minutes.
  3. added fish head & coat with rempah
  4. added chicken stock & coconut milk, covered, simmered about 8 – 10mins
  5. added cut tomatoes.

curry was very tasty, maybe could be stronger, almost as good as outside, think curry wok.

i did my usual nonya curry chicken.

i did this nonya curry chicken recently for teban gardens community breakfast.

today though, it was just slightly below my own expectations.

my friends all liked it. the curry was very flavourful & lemak. they said just like outside nasi padang stall.

i did my usual kueh chap too.

i was also not all that satisfied with the flavours. i felt the texture was great but the braising sauce flavours not “pang” enough.

my friends told me i ate too often. for them it was fine. 🙂

sayur lodeh

#5 sayur lodeh

the sayur lodeh was quite fine. the long beans & hara fried bean curd puffs went very well with the cabbage & curry.

sayur lodeh

#5 sayur lodeh

i used the dancing chef thai curry paste, but added the wrong one yellow instead of red (hard to tell from a previously open sachet w/o cover description) so it looked a bit more yellowish & just like sayur lodeh instead of red colour, by accident…haha! 🙂

sayur lodeh

#5 sayur lodeh

anyway this dish i was quite happy with, nice vegetable for curry rice.

airfryer sio bak

#6 airfryer sio bak

& a repeat of my recently “mastered” airfryer sio bak, learned from a friend.

i thought the belly pork was a bit too fatty. & i over compensated by grilling it 5mins longer. i told them this third time was poorer than the first 2.

airfryer sio bak

#6 airfryer sio bak

but all my friends thought it was very good, the skin was crispy.

one friend said the skin was crispy on most, but some parts were tough. i told him probably because i used a fork to furiously stab the skin, kind of primitive, so not evenly done.

lotus ginkyo nut cheng chow 莲子白果凉粉

#7 lotus ginkyo nut cheng chow 莲子白果凉粉

i made the easy dessert we all enjoyed at hoe kee dessert 浩记甜品馆 during our jan2016 hong kong trip- lotus ginkyo nut cheng chow 莲子白果凉粉.

just boiled the lotus & ginkyo nuts in syrup & added to the cheng chow from sheng shiong. almost no effort & so enjoyable, refreshing to have.

friends brought strawberries & also longan & a friend brought a red, a bottle of michel torino.

after lunch we watched the slides on jeju. looks like a great place to eat & hike. according to guides, oct & nov are the best time to visit, dry & cool weather.

c.h.e.f andy

Great Fish Head Curry @ Curry Wok on 4Mar2016

S$62 4 dishes set meal for 3-4pax(2) = curry fish head, pig trotters, ngoh hiang & chap chai

S$62 4 dishes set meal for 3-4pax = curry fish head, pig trotters, ngoh hiang & chap chai

went with sis & bil to watch a movie monster hunt 捉妖记 on 4.3.2016. a friend joined the movie. i quite enjoyed it actually – effortless, relaxing. haha!

curry wok @ coronation road

curry wok @ coronation road

before the movie 3 of us went to have dinner at curry wok. friend was busy having dinner with his family.

curry wok @ coronation road

curry wok @ coronation road

i have not been here for very long as son is away no one to eat the pig trotters with me la.. 🙂

S$62 4 dishes set meal for 3-4pax(2) = curry fish head, pig trotters, ngoh hiang & chap chai

S$62 4 dishes set meal for 3-4pax(2) = curry fish head, pig trotters, ngoh hiang & chap chai

we ordered the S$62 set meal, with 4 dishes for 3-4pax. we computed the ala carte price would have been S$67 so just S$5 discount. well still a discount if you wanted the dishes, so ok la.

curry fish head

curry fish head

it came with curry fish head (angkoli), pig trotters, ngoh hiang & chap chai.

curry fish head

curry fish head

the fish head was yum yum, very good, drank up all the curry.

fish was fresh & sweet, quite enough meat for 3 of us.

i like this curry much better than that at sanpo food court, blk 431 clementi ave 3 (like for like). somehow that curry taste a bit off for me, not the one i had in mind whereas this one fits perfectly.

& i like this better than the assam fish head at dulukala peranakan restaurant at beauty world centre. that was a different style & assam not bad too but i prefer this chinese style fish head curry.

braised pig trotters

braised pig trotters

the braised pig trotters was something i missed, not taken for a long time.

braised pig trotters

braised pig trotters

it was still good, especially the gelatinous skin, but actually quite below my expectations.

braised pig trotters

braised pig trotters

the starchy sauce was so so for me, & the quite sinewy meat was below par for me thought the skin & gelatinous parts were good.

i think my own braised trotters much better than this in terms of both flavour & the texture of the meat, tender, with bite & not sinewy.

ngoh hiang

ngoh hiang

the ngoh hiang here was really good. crispy skin, & tasty fillings with some crunch. tops!

chap chai

chap chai

chap chai was good too. better than dulukala’s version of chap chai.

dinner for 3pax was S$70. i supposed ok but no particular good value.

i may still come back here for the curry fish head la, but no more the pig trotters.

c.h.e.f andy

Poor Fish Head Steamboat 鱼头卢 & Crab Beehoon @ New Food Town Seafood on 12Nov2015

crab beehoon

S$25 crab beehoon

went with sis & b-i-l to the new zi char stall at 6th avenue kopitown coffeeshop for dinner this evening on 12.11.2015. the stall occupies the 2 stalls which the roast duck noodles was previously, which has now moved to an inside stall.

i came by the other day & took the roast duck noodles at tao xiang kitchen which was expensive & not great.

new food town seafood @ kopitown 6th avenue

new food town seafood @ kopitown 6th avenue

we thought of having crab bee hoon & did not want to go far.

crab beehoon

S$25 crab beehoon

we ordered a crab beehoon.

it was only S$25 for maybe 400g crab but it was quite poor actually. the photos gave it too much credit.

crab beehoon

S$25 crab beehoon

if the crab beehon at ming kee & at kamjiazhuan is 9 & 8, this one would be like 3.

my own crabless beehoon is much more tasty than this. 

fish head steamboat 鱼头卢

S$25 fish head steamboat 鱼头卢

& the fish head steamboat was even worse.

fish head steamboat 鱼头卢

S$25 fish head steamboat 鱼头卢

not even 1 point out of 10.

it was angkoli fish (red snapper). but there was not much fish for S$25, and not very fresh fish.

& the soup is (thumbs down), miles off the excellent intense broth we had at whampoa keng recently.

crab beehoon

S$25 crab beehoon

i want to support the small new zi char actually, but this was not worth eating, even though it was just S$50.60 for 3pax.

wouldn’t go back for sure. 😦

c.h.e.f andy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NEW FOOD TOWN SEAFOOD  新食城

ADDRESS

10E Sixth Avenue
#01-01/02
Singapore 276474

OPENING HOURS 

Daily (closed Thursday):
08:00am – 04:00pm

CONTACT:

+65 91992646

Very Expensive Kaiseki & Way Below Expectations @ GOTO on 23Oct2014

#1 sakizuki – a selection of small appetizers

#1 sakizuke – a selection of small appetizers

we had good recent experience of GOTO’s S$68 omakase lunch on 1.10.2014.

my wife wanted to buy me a good dinner & also to invite her close couple friends. since GOTO will start renovation very shortly & remodel to a casual non kaiseki restaurant, we decided to order the S$280pax omakase dinner on 23.10.2014.

food was good of course, but relative to the exorbitant price, it was really far below expectations, compared with keyaki, kuriya, hachi & of course mikuni. 😦

#1 sakizuki – a selection of small appetizers

#1 sakizuke – a selection of small appetizers

the #1 sakizuke – a selection of small appetizers 先附 was of very good standard, with a very nice pickled sanma (秋刀鱼) pacific dory which i liked, duck, a periwinkle?, prawn, cured squid, ikura, pickled shimeji mushrooms & spinach.

#2 dobinmushi

#2 dobinmushi

#2 dobinmushi

#2 dobinmushi

#2 dobinmushi was a very good soup, very clear, tasty soup, with pieces of fish fillet, mushrooms etc.

#2 sashimi moriawase

#3 sashimi moriawase

#2 sashimi moriawase

#3 sashimi moriawase

#2 sashimi moriawase

#3 sashimi moriawase

#3 sashimi moriawase

#3 sashimi moriawase

#3 uni - sashimi moriawase

#3 uni – sashimi moriawase

the #3 sashimi moriawase was a very large serving than the usual served in a kaiseki or course meal. there were 2 chutoro, 1 botan ebi, 2 hotate, several thick cut tako, 2 kampachi, hirame & tai, & uni. it was good standard but no better, in fact the toro was distinctly poorer c/w the S$45 chirashi don (after 50% feed at raffles discounts) at mikuni.

#6 braised kinki (expensive japanese fish)

#4 braised kinki (expensive japanese fish)

#6 braised kinki (expensive japanese fish)

#4 braised kinki (expensive japanese fish)

the #4 braised kinki (expensive japanese fish) was a good tasty fish but to me it tasted like angkoli (red snapper), so i didn’t really understand why it was expensive. this was a nitsuke or simmered dish.

#5 minced prawn in lily bulb paste

#5 minced prawn in lily bulb + yan paste

the #5 minced prawn in lily bulb paste was an interesting, unique dish. the lily bulb + mountain yam paste had the slightly sticky yam texture, and the dish was very tasty overall. 🙂

#6 miso ebi tempura

#6 miso ebi tempura

#6 miso ebi tempura

#6 miso ebi tempura

as with the S$68 lunch, they served a dry miso tempura. it was very nice. 🙂

#8 kagoshima wagyu

#7 kagoshima wagyu

#8 kagoshima wagyu

#7 kagoshima wagyu

#7 kagoshima wagyu was very good, but the better marbled much tastier kagoshima wagyu ishiyaki at mikuni only cost S$37.50 alacarte after 50% discounts.

#9 gohan - chicken shimeji musroom rice

#8 gohan – chicken shimeji mushroom rice

#9 gohan - chicken shimeji musroom rice

#8 gohan – chicken shimeji mushroom rice

the #8 gohan – chicken shimeji mushroom rice had good mushroom flavours but otherwise no comparison with any kamameshi at sun with moon wheelock or a unagi chahan at zen japanese.

#10 dessert tray

#9 dessert tray

#10 dessert tray

#9 dessert tray

they offered very good dessert – very good japanese melon + grapes. yuzu ice cream, orange jelly & strawberry mousse.

macha - nice end to dinner

macha – nice end to dinner

& i always enjoyed macha.

the kaiseki dinner was very good standard, but for me price was far too exorbitant relative to other good kaiseki restaurants & it was not at all value-for-money.  one could get a very good omakase dinner at hachi for S$118pax. and at this price i would want to try kumo anytime.

c.h.e.f andy

Simple Enjoyable Zi Char at Forture Restaurant on 25Oct2014

thai fish head curry (S$25)

thai fish head curry (S$25)

had simple zi char dinner with wife & daughter last evening at forture restaurant at old holland road on 25.10.2014. 🙂

went there about 6.50pm. luckily i found a parking lot in front of restaurant. the place was 90% filled with many tables of western expat families.

it was very popular eating place. for me that’s a good thing really, that expats, western & others, were enjoying nice local zi char food. there would always be concern if some dishes would be adulterated, but it didn’t really affect the dishes we ordered much (maybe the cuttlefish kang kong sauce & the satay sauce).

we ordered our favourite, the thai curry fish head. used to be S$15 (guess that was eons ago..haha), now S$25. i ate this here more recently on 2.4.2014.

we were lucky we were served like in 5 mins. not always the case & place was quite packed.

the thai curry fish head was really good. it was tangy, sweet, very tasty, lot of vegetables. it was a large 1/2 angkoli (red snapper) fish head. the nonya song fish head at keng eng kee, also S$25, i had on 9.6.2014 came close. the sauce was thicker, same tangy sweet flavours but a red snapper head was always going to be better than song fish head for curries.

seafood hor fun (S$4)

seafood hor fun (S$4)

seafood hor fun (S$4)

seafood hor fun (S$4)

we like the hor fun here & occasionally “tapao” (did a take-out). usually wok hae (pan flavours) very good. this time it was ok average.

thai fish head curry (S$25)

thai fish head curry (S$25)

cuttlefish with kang kong

cuttlefish with kang kong (S$10)

cuttlefish with kang kong

cuttlefish with kang kong (S$10)

we ordered the “jill her eng chai”- cuttlefish with kang kong (S$10). the kang kong was very good. the cuttlefish was good, came with an unusual sweet sauce (looked & tasted just like yong tau fu very red colour sweet sauce). it was not the usual sambal. i didn’t mind it actually but i guessed the usual sambal should be better.

beef &  chicken satay

beef & chicken satay

beef &  chicken satay

beef & chicken satay

the satay were very good, very tasty & not dry or tough. the sauce was watery & a bit sweeter than most satay sauce (to cater for expat diners maybe?) but still nice. I thought this was a very good satay if only they served a usual better sauce.

the dinner for 3pax was S$45 exclude drinks. it was not cheap but not expensive also, just the going price i guess.

c.h.e.f andy

Affordable Family Dinner @ Hong Kong Street (Sin Rong) Blk 325 Clementi Ave 5 on 5Sep2014

minced pork, salted fish on deep-fried bean curd

minced pork, salted fish on deep-fried bean curd

my brother wanted a family dinner for mid-autumn festival 中秋节. this time arrangements were a bit last minute and many were busy so we could not do on the actual 八月十五, and had to do it earlier on 5.9.2014.

even then there were only 7 of us. still it was good to get together whenever we could. my eldest daughter who could not attend called my s-i-l afterwards to chat briefly. 🙂

my brother was busy that day, so we decided to just go downstairs to makan.

we walked over to hong kong street (sin rong) at blk 325 clementi ave 5 located in kopitiam coffeeshop alongside botak jones.

we ordere 8 dishes. for me the best dish for the evening was the minced pork, salted fish on deep-fried bean curd. this a common dish among zi char stall & 1 of the best minced pork bean curd i had was at kok sen, followed by the one at muliangzai liang kee. couldn’t really say this was better but it was different as it had the salted fish making it quite distinctive. 🙂

assam fish head

assam fish head

the assam fish head curry was good, but for S$20, the tiny, almost disappearing or disappeared fish head (ikan tengirri??) was really pathetic. compare this with the fish head (angkoli) at forture restaurant which is more than twice the size! this more the size of the S$6 fish head at guan kim coffeeshop at tanglin halt. I would never order this dish again however good the curry. 😦

pork ribs with bitter gourd

pork ribs with bitter gourd

the bitter gourd pork ribs was good, competent, no difference with kok sen or the hong kong street chun kee at commonwealth crescent.

claypot sea cucumber

claypot sea cucumber

the claypot sea cucumber was ok, average, to me a neither here nor there dish – some gluey sauce, cheap sea cucumber, threw in some veg.

har jeong kai (prawn paste chicken)

har jeong kai (prawn paste chicken)

har jeong kai (prawn paste chicken) never my favourite. these ones ok competent. i like my homecooked chicken wings better though they did not have the prawn paste flavour.

san loh hor fun (生捞河粉)

san loh hor fun (生捞河粉)

san loh hor fun (生捞河粉) was nice, flavourful, but of course many stalls now do it at this standard or better. 🙂

sambal kan kong (马来风光)

sambal kan kong (马来风光)

garlic kailan

garlic kailan

i liked both the vegetables – the sambal kan kong (马来风光) & the garlic kailan.

the dinner came to S$94 all-in included some drinks. quite ok & a very pleasant evening together with family.

c.h.e.f quak