Thursday, July 31, 2014

assam batang curry

I was craving for batang. It is the local name for mackerel.

I love batang!! Love! Love! Love!

When I was pregnant with Aden, all I wanted to eat was fried batang. But I was unable to go near a hot stove so the LAM learnt to fry batang the way I liked, which was basically to fry it to death. Aromatic and crispy and salty. YUMMY!

Anyway, I digress.
So, as I was saying, I wanted batang, and I wanted curry.

The obvious thing to do was to combine them and make a batang curry!

To start, I fried the batang pieces in some oil until they were brown. They were set aside.
In my hot Dutch oven, I sauteed sliced red onions in vegetable oil until they were well-cooked.
Into this, I added curry leaves. I always put a ton of curry leaves in my curries because, well, I like them a lot, and we have a curry tree growing in our estate. How convenient, hehe. I also added lemon grass. And stirred them around for a couple of minutes.
I added fish curry paste and gave everything a stir.
This was followed by fish curry powder.
This was cooked for about 2-3 minutes.
Before I added water.
Once the water came to a boil, I added the okra and egg plant which I had lightly sauteed in hot oil.
Finally, I added the batang, as well as fish sauce and assam.
I garnished with plenty of fresh coriander. You can also add sliced green chili.
This was so good, I ate it with rice two nights running.

And I rarely eat the same thing twice in a week!

A GIVEAWAY!
The really nice folks at Tovolo would like to share a few of their fantastic products with readers of The Domestic Goddess Wannabe, and as such, I am hosting a giveaway for a Better Batter Tool and a Cupcake Scoop.

Fancy winning one (or all) of these? Here's how to take part!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Giveaway ends on Tuesday, August 5, 2014 at 12:00 a.m. Pacific time. The winner(s) will be selected by random.org and contacted by email. If there is no response after 48 hours, another winner will be selected. Open to residents of Singapore only.

RECIPE
Assam Batang Curry (Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
5 pieces batang, about 1.5cm thick)
1 large eggplant (brinjal), cut into pieces
5 okra, cut into pieces
1 large red onion, sliced
3 stalks lemon grass, white part only, sliced
4 sprigs curry leaves
2 tablespoons fish curry powder
1 packet (about 200-250g) fish curry paste
3  tablespoons assam (tamarind) soaked in 1/2 cup water
2 cups water
1 teaspoon fish sauce, or to taste
1 bunch coriander, chopped
2-3 green chili, sliced (optional)

Method:
1. Saute eggplant in a little oil in a hot skillet until slightly brown. Remove and set aside. Repeat with okra.
2. Add a little oil to skillet. Saute onions until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Add lemon grass and curry leaves. Stir to mix.
3. Add curry powder and paste. Stir until mixed.
4. Add water and bring to a boil.
5. Add eggplant and okra. Lower heat and simmer 10-15 minutes, until vegetables have softened. Add fish sauce and liquid from soaked assam. Add fish. Stir to mix. Check and adjust seasoning.
6. Garnish with coriander and green chili and serve, hot, with rice.

Starting tomorrow, I shall be hosting the Little Thumbs Up linky for the entire month of August with Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of my little favourite D.I.Y.

Flour is an essential ingredient in my (and I am sure, many of your) kitchen. It is the base of pastas and noodles, cakes and biscuits, or even as thickening agents in the making of a roux. The list of food items made using flour is endless.

As such, we will be limiting the theme to mainly Wheat Flour, namely,

1. All-Purpose (also known as Plain) Flour
2. Bread Flour
3. Cake Flour
4. Self-raising Flour
5. Pastry Flour
6. Wholemeal Flour
7. Hong Kong (also known as Waterlily) Flour
8. Superlite Flour
9. Top Flour

You must use one of these flours in its raw form in your recipe and you must use at least 1 tablespoon or 10g of one (or more) of these flours in your cooking.

So if you have a food post in the month of August that includes flour, do come link up! :)

4 comments:

  1. Hi Diana,

    I love love love Batang fish too!!! ... but they are sometimes available only during summer :( ...plus they are not cheap too :p

    I bet Aug will be a busy month for you with many links... Are you ready for LTU?

    Zoe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Zoe, oh dear.. we do take batang for granted here!!!

      I am so ready for LTU this August!! Bring it on! :D

      Delete
  2. Diana, this assam fish curry is certainly different from my grandma's but I am sure it is very, very delicious! Quite honestly, I am hopeless with fish, terribly hopeless! But I am bookmarking this recipe of yours to try. Wish me luck with the batang! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  3. as i'm scrolling down your step by step pic, my mouth is watering! love asam curry!....noted about the LTU flour theme :)

    ReplyDelete