expatdiva: Baked Salmon in Black Bean Sauce

I am lucky I came across this friendly group of local ladies when I went for walks every morning (Monday - Friday) at Seremban 2 City Park more than a year ago. I enjoyed doing the line dance and the Chinese traditional exercise called qigong . The place is very popular among the locals, and it has the 'up to you' kinda relaxing atmosphere.

I have found the line dance in particular very refreshing because of its happy go lucky songs. They are cheerful, wonderfully light and entertaining mix of not only the popular English Oldies, but also the Chinese, Malay, Thai and even Indonesian songs all of which make it so versatile and enjoyable ...Malaysia Boleh!

In the earlier days of my arrival in Seremban 2, some of these ladies offered to chauffeur me around, and show me where all the amenities are, for e.g; the supermarkets, the local shops, the post office, the hospitals and not to forget, the local restaurants, stalls selling food, etc...

On and off, we went out eating and, I must say, usually they were such a treat! Each time it was trying out a different joint. "Where to eat?" - a discussion of such can easily take up to 10 minutes. This is a totally new experience for me! "...where to eat, what to eat, air-con or no air-con. And of course I would prefer WITH AIR-CON please! Our discussions would be something like this "That restaurant's fish is damn good, its so fresh!" or "We do not want that restaurant because that particular dish was not good the last time we ate." so on and so forth.

I had been going out eating with them for a while and then I decided it was high time I invited them home for a meal as a token of gratitude. I love to share good wholesome, delicious, home-cooked food but then had not realized that I was going to serve a group of food critiques! No kidding!

You see I had just been to Norway a few days before I hosted this lunch. I had gone fishing there and caught a Salmon that weighed about 1.5 kg. This Norwegian Salmon was in my freezer and I was wondering, How am I going to serve it to guests who, in my opinion, might only be familiar with Salmon as a Sushi ingredient? My dilemma was how am I going to prepare it to suit their palate. Whaaa! Should I deep fry, stir fry, braise? Obviously, Salmon is not a common Asian staple food. My dilemma developed when browsing through the internet into panic! If you are unaware of this, FYI, the local people (especially the Chinese) are very particular about the freshness of their food and more so their seafood! And it is very true!
Eventually I decided on Chinese style and you wouldn't believe if I told you it was so easy to cook it that way. By using only a few ingredients, this 'catch-of-the-day' turned out to be a hit! I myself was surprised how delectable it turned out and eventually the dish was consumed and appreciated. Done, finito!

8 person

Recipe:

1 tablespoon oil

1.5 kg salmon

1 tablespoon oil

200 gm ginger (scraped, sliced thinly)

7 tablespoons Lee Kum Kee Black Pepper Sauce

Fresh ground black pepper

Aluminium foil

5 stalks of cleaned and coarsely chopped spring onion

7 stalks of cleaned n coarsely chopped coriander

2 side way sliced red chilies

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

2. Use a baking dish (the size is important to the size of your fish), use 1 tablespoon oil (any of your preference) to oil the dish so that the fish will not get stuck on the dish, at least it makes it easier to wash up afterwards.

3. If the fish is still frozen, clean and scrap the fish while it is still frozen. Pat dry with kitchen towel. Cut three or four incisions on both sides of the fish. Coat/rub the fish with oil, inside out, so that the baked fish will not be dried.

4. In a medium size bowl, mix thoroughly with the thinly sliced ginger and the black bean sauce together. Let it rest for about 10 minutes.

5. Cover both sides of the fish completely with the sauce.

6. Use at least remainder of one big tablespoon of sauce and put it into the stomach. Cover the fish with freshly ground pepper.

7. Cover the fish completely with aluminium foil. It is advisable to pull and tear the aluminium foil, twice the length and twice the width, so that it is underneath your baking dish. Another reason, you will not lose your grip of the hot baking dish.

8. Bake for about 20 - 25- 30 minutes, depending on how well you would like it to be baked.

9. Remove from oven, sprinkles with the wonderful prepared Asian herbs on top.

10. Serve immediately.

Bone Appetite!

Tip:

Do you know that baking is the easiest way of food preparation. It enables you to control the cooking temperature. Your work station is always clean, does not involve a lot of cleaning after cooking.