japanese bento Archives ⋆ Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby

Teriyaki Saba Fish (mackerel fish with homemade teriyaki sauce)

Chris-budgetpantry — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 07:44:03 +0000

I have a love-hate relationship with Saba (mackerel) fish. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I don’t. Most times I do, depending on my mood. The same can’t be said about my relationship with fried chicken or hainanese curry png. I always love fried chicken and hainanese curry png. There’s no two ways about it.

Eating fish is “supposed to be” a healthy affair. Fish is good for you yes, but before you order that saba fish set from the food court Japanese stall, have you wondered how it is prepared? Peep into their kitchen next time you order Japanese food and you’ll most probably see the cook drop a perfect saba fish into the deep fryer. Yes, most of these “healthy” saba sets are deep fried to save time.

The fish above was airfried for 8 minutes. No oil was added and the “fishy smell” wasn’t too bad at all as compared to panfrying. There was minimal clean up (just soak the airfryer basket, wash and go!) and the fish came out perfect. With the Philips Airfryer, I never cook fish any other way, unless if the fish is too big to fit, then I use the oven.

Teriyaki Saba Fish
(with homemade Teriyaki Sauce from Just One Cookbook)
Makes 1 serving. Total cost per serving: $1.63

What I used:
1 portion saba fish fillet
2 tablespoons homemade teriyaki sauce (combine all ingredients below- the amount below makes about 150ml which is more than enough in case you like more sauce):
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon corn starch
2 tablespoons water

Steps:
1. Clean the saba fish and remove as much bones as possible. Pat dry with paper towel and sprinkle some salt front and back. Put it uncovered in the fridge for an hour to force out the water.
2. In the meantime, make your teriyaki sauce. Combine sugar, mirin and soy sauce and bring to boil in a small saucepan.
3. In another bowl, mix the corn starch and water together. Add this solution to the saucepan and quickly whisk or stir to combine.
4. Lower the flame and cook for 3-4 minutes until the sauce gets thicker and is reduced to the consistency that you like.
5. When the hour is up, take out the fish from the fridge and pat dry. Spoon 2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce on top (more if you like!) and coat well.
6. Use your grill pan or line the airfryer basket with baking paper/ foil, place the fish skin side down and airfry at 180 degrees for 8 minutes. Alternatively, pan fry it with a little olive oil til crispy and done.

How much I spent:
$1.63 for saba fish (I used frozen saba fish portions from Giant)
Everything else from my pantry

The fish was moist and flaked beautifully. If you prefer, you can add some grated ginger plus ginger juice to your teriyaki sauce. I left that out because I was pressed for time, but this fish was still amazing and flavourful as it is. I’ll never order deep fried saba fish outside ever again. This is the absolute best way to enjoy fish.. lightly prepared with zero oil. Try this, I promise you won’t be disappointed!

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Japanese Potato Salad

Chris-budgetpantry — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 05:00:11 +0000

I adapted this fabulous Potato Salad recipe from Just One Cookbook and am just so glad I made it for lunch today. This was the first recipe I’ve tried from Nami, and going by how quickly my family devoured this, it certainly won’t be the last!

Jason has a thing for potato salad, specifically the potato salad from Pacific Coffee from HONG KONG from the outlet at The Peak 山顶. Yes, he is a bit 坚持 like that, when it comes to potato salad. Haha.

I used regular mayonnaise instead of Japanese mayonnaise, reduced the mayo from 12 tablespoons to 5 (I really think we don’t need that much!), increased the amount of carrot and cucumber, added one extra potato and egg, plus added some sugar. I loved the result, and am positive you will, too!

Japanese Potato Salad (budgetpantry.com)
Serves: 6
Total cost per serving: $0.34

What you need:

3 russet potatoes
2 hardboiled eggs
1 small Japanese cucumber, washed and sliced into small circles. no need to peel or cook. If you wish, you can peel them in intervals to create a striped pattern, like in the picture
1 small carrot, peeled and sliced into small half-circles, then boiled til just cooked and still crunchy
3 tablespoons of mixed vegetables (You know those frozen peas, corn, carrots? Defrost them with some hot water, or you can use just corn kernels)
Black pepper
Half teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons mayonnaise
1-2 teaspoons sugar, to taste

Steps:

Peel and cut potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Fill a pot with enough water to cover all the potatoes, and boil til potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes. Insert a fork to test.

At the same time, place two eggs in a separate pot and fill with water. Add some salt (so that it peels easier) and bring to boil. Cook for 15 minutes from the time the water started boiling. If you can, use eggs that you’ve bought for some time (4-5 days) as fresh eggs are a nightmare to peel. When 15 minutes are up, quickly transfer to a bowl and fill with tap water. Peel immediately and slice them up. No need to mash yet. We’ll mash them all together later.

When potatoes are done, pour away all the water and put the pot back on the stove on medium heat to evaporate away the rest of the moisture, about 30 seconds. Be careful not to burn the pot.

Mash the potatoes (I used a whisk) in a large bowl. Leave some chunks for bite. Add the salt, mixed vegetables, cooked carrots, cucumber, mayonnaise and black pepper, and mix well.

Add the sliced egg and mash them up in the same bowl. Don’t mash them too fine. Add the sugar and mix everything together.

Chill in the fridge til ready to serve. I put it in the freezer and it was cold and nice in less than half the time!

How much I spent:

$0.90 for potatoes
$0.20 for Japanese cucumber
$0.30 for carrot
$0.60 for eggs
Everything else from my pantry

I don’t know if being on detox has anything to do with this, but this is the most delicious potato salad I’ve ever had. Yes, I cheated a bit on this round of detox because when you cook, you gotta taste. It’s not an excuse.. it’s a fact of life! I had a small bite of this potato salad and they’re so good, I am quite positive I can finish the entire bowl on my own! If you’re feeling fancy, add some freshly fried bacon for an even better version of the best potato salad you’ll ever have, promise!

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Japanese Ginger Pork (Shogayaki)

Chris-budgetpantry — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 03:25:55 +0000

When I feel like “splurging” on some Japanese bento when I eat out, I almost always opt for stir-fried ginger pork. Sometimes I go for pork katsu in curry over rice, but most of the time, ginger pork. Most places use Kurobuta pork for its intense flavour (and fat), and I like it, just that in regular home-cooking, not many of us would have the luxury or wouldn’t choose to use Kurobuta. What if amateurs like us destroy the meat? And so, I used thinly sliced pork loin fillet. I’ve not seen this version anywhere except Sheng Siong, so if you’re looking to cook this dish, pop by Sheng Siong and grab some. This is a good alternative to shabu-shabu pork for steamboat, too. It is sliced thicker but still juicy and tender. All the better for the dancing chef chilli dip to cling on to.

Look at the subtle amount of fat, and how the meat remains pink and soft, almost ethereal, after a very light pan-braising. I shudder at the thought of cooking and eating dry and lean pork loin, and after last night’s pork loin dinner, I probably will never buy pork loin again. I just can’t develop a relationship with pork loin chops. “You need fat in a piece of pork”, is all I can say. If you can’t find thinly sliced pork loin, you can make this with shabu-shabu pork.

Most recipes also call for sake and/or mirin. If you don’t have either, you could use white wine and sugar instead.

Japanese Ginger Pork (Shogayaki) (budgetpantry.com)
Serves: 3-4
Total cost per serving: $1.38

What you need:

500g very thinly sliced pork loin or shabu shabu pork
1 large yellow onion, sliced into rings
4 tablespoons sake or white wine
4 tablespoons mirin
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon grated ginger (with juice)
1 teaspoon olive oil
A pinch of cornflour
Kailan or asparagus, blanched lightly

Steps:

Make a marinade with the white wine, sugar, ginger and soy sauce. Clean and dry the meat completely, the marinate for 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour on top and mix well.

Heat up the oil in a wide frying pan, then add the sliced onions and fry til softened, about 4 minutes.

Add pork from the marinade and fry for 3 minutes, til there are no visible pink parts.

Pour in the marinade, mix well and allow to cook for another 2-3 minutes, til just starting to boil. Serve immediately with blanched kailan or asparagus.

How much I spent:

$4.70 for pork
$0.30 for onion
$0.50 for kailan
Everything else from my pantry

This is one of the easiest and seriously yummy pork dish I’ve cooked. The entire preparation + cooking time took me less than 20 minutes, including blanching the vegetables. The amount of time you spend in front of the stove is like, what, 10 minutes? This is something that I will cook over and over again because it is so good, and simple to make. Tuck in!

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