Pressure Cooked Fish Stew

 Pressure Cooked Fish Stew

Every time we go back to Burma around July, there will be at least religious event and robe offering ceremony around this time every year.
As a Buddhist culture, we offered food to the monks and the people as a big feast.
At most of the big event in the monasteries, a group of people would volunteer to cook with the big pot and big stove to feed more than 100 people. Chicken curry and coconut rice, Chicken Bariani, Plain Rice with different kinds of curry are the most popular party food for the food-offering events.

Among that party food, I think this fish item must be the most expensive item nowadays because of overfishing. The fish called Hilsa fish is a very popular fish in south-east Asia. This fish was not that expensive though at that time and is one of the boniest fish among others. But this fish was my mother's favorite item every time she went to the market and always on the list for the weekly menu.
As a child, I liked to eat meat either chicken or pork instead of bony fish, but my mom never gave in what children wanted. We had to follow her menu since she manages the family meal on the daily basis. But now, we crave for that dish just like my mother cooked.

Our Mom sometimes cooked this fish with tomato and lemongrass to mask the fishy flavor. And it was also delightful pressure cooked fish stew. Since I arrived in America, I tried to make this type of fish curry with a different kind of fish such as salmon or lake trout.
Because of the fish, taste is a little different but the flavor of the dish is quite similar.
Even though I use lake trout, because pressure cooked, the bone are soft and can be eaten together with fish meat. We can also use Salmon to get more fish meat.

Pressure Cooked Fish Stew ( 3-4 Serving)

Ingredients

3 lb Fish (lake trout or Salmon with skin, cleaned)
2 cup   Onion ( finely chopped)
1 tbsp  Chopped Garlic
1 tbsp  Fine chopped ginger
2 cup  Tomato ( rough chopped)
2 stalk Lemongrass ( washed and Pounded)
1 tbsp  Chili powder
1 tbsp  Lemon Juice
2 tbsp  Fish sauce
1 tsp    Salt
1 tsp    Turmeric
1/2 cup Oil

Procedure

1. In the pressure cooker, lay the pounded lemongrass ( reason: Fish is delicate, Not to stick to the pan)
2. Cut each trout into 3 pieces, marinate with salt and turmeric powder. Align fish pieces on the lemongrass.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, chopped onion,  chopped garlic, and ginger.
4. sprinkle all the lemon juice, fish sauce, and oil onto the fish pieces.
5. add 2 cups of water, seal the lid and heat the pot with medium-high heat for about 1 hour.
6. After, 1 hour of cooking, release the pressure of the pot and check the bone has softened.
7. If the bone is soft, open the lid and cook with medium heat to thicken the gravy. ( for about 15-30) minutes.
8. When the gravy has thickened,  we may taste and add salt to our taste then It is ready to serve with whit Jasmin rice.
9. The mango salad is a great accompaniment for this dish.
10. We can also enjoy the fish sandwich after the next day if there is left over in the fridge.

Grilled Beef Lettuce Wrap

Sweet & Savory Summer Treat with Sweet Corn

Each year, around the end of June throughout July,  fresh sweet corn is available in most of the store. It reminds me of my school days when I was young. Traditionally June has always been the start of school days in Myanmar since I was little. When the Monsoon start, the schools from high school to kindergarten open their doors. Sometimes, we played in the puddles in front of the school gate on heavy rainy days at end of school. We never complained about the heavy rain or curse the monsoon.

I remember the steam sweet corn, my dad bought for us as an after_school snack. Sometimes at home, mom cooked corn with shallots as a side dish for the family meal. We could also make corn fritter with fresh corn and tempura batter. Also, we could cook it with sweet sticky rice and turmeric powder to make sweet rice snacks as an afternoon treat paired with green tea.

Sometimes in the summer, we usually grilled corn on the cob to enjoy with other grilled meat and vegetable also a satisfying meal too. We could also make the grilled corn Asian style salsa to mix with grilled beef to enjoy as low carb meal. As I grow some herbs as summer vegetable, the lemon basil, Thai sweet basil and lime leaf are a great contribution to the salads and soups.

The Thai lettuce cup menu used to be available at one of our favorite restaurants, but now they have removed that item. I really do not know the reason. I would like to try making that dish myself at home. Hope it will be enjoyable for others too.

Grilled Beef (Grilled Meat) Lettuce cup in Asian style ( 3-4 Serving)

Ingredients

1 lb          Beef tenderloin ( or chicken)
2 counts   Butterhead Lettuce head
1 cup       Red Onion (Small Diced)
2 cup       Grilled Corn
1/2 cup    Cucumber ( Small Diced)
1 cup       Red sweet bell pepper ( small cube diced)
1/2 cup    Cubed Celery
1 tbsp      Garlic (finely chopped)
1 cup       Thai sweet basil (small chopped)
1 tsp        Thai green chili ( small chopped)
1 tbsp      sugar
1 tbsp      freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp      Fish sauce
1 tbsp      garlic oil or olive oil (optional)
2 tbsp      Freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp      Hoisin Sauce
1/2 cup    Chicken broth
1/2 cup    crushed peanut ( optional)

Instructions

1. Rub salt and pepper to the pre-cut tenderloin meat. Grill as you prefer.
    I love medium well just to get a little pink color in it. Set it aside to cool it down.
2. In the bowl, add cold water and peel the lettuce leaves to clean the sands and other impurities. Rinse 2-3 time with cold water and strain.
3. In the cooled and dry bowl, add olive oil, fish sauce, green chili, lime juice, orange juice and chicken broth then mix with the whip.
4. When the meat is cooled, dice them into small cubes.
5. Then in the dressing bowl ( step 3), add cubed meat, cut grilled corn, cubed cucumber, diced red bell pepper, celery, onion and chopped basil. Toss all the ingredients together with the dressing thoroughly.
6. We can prepare the dish with meat salad bowl in the middle surrounded with clean lettuce leaves.
7. As the final touch, add a few sesame seeds, the crushed peanut and cilantro leaves as the garnish on top of the meat salad.

( Note: We could also use chicken satay meat instead of red meat ( grilled beef )