What's For Dinner?

It has been a while since I had mackerel curry. I was putting away some frozen strawberry and blueberry for my smoothie when I saw two stiffed mackerels in a ziploc hiding at the far corner in a freezer.

I bought them two weeks ago when I was at Super88Market and I forgot all about it. B likes them broiled and with salsa mangoes on top. Except for curry leaves, I have all the ingredients for fish curry. I still have one big packet of curry powder Mak sent me last year. I keep them in veggies section in a refrigerator. I prefer to use Malaysian made curry powder as it has different mixture from Indian or Carribean curry powder. B thinks it's not that they have different ingredients, but it's more toward my loyalty to Malaysian made food. He knows how excited I am when ever I come across Malaysian made food.

I was thrilled to learn that I don't need to do the gutting and the cleaning the first time I bought the small fish here. I was about eight or nine years old when Mak showed me how to clean the fish. I'd watched her did it many times before. Between stirring the boiling rice in a pot, grated the coconut, Mak gutted and cleaned two or three katis of fishes effortlessly.

"Make sure you have a handful of coarse salt and limes (can substitute to tamarind juice) nearbybefore you clean the fish" Mak told me, "You don't want your whole kitchen smell like fish."

While she was washing the vegetables, I clumsily trying to hold the slippery and slimy bugger. I was glad they were dead; Holding the sharp, pointed knife in my right hand, I squeezed the poor fish's head so hard I almost crushed its skull.

Tail went first, followed by pectoral fins on both sides. If the fish has scales, they had to be scraped. Scraping the scales fish was one of many steps of cleaning fish that I hated. The scales fly all over the place, they landed on my face, hair and shirt. Usually by the time I was done cleaning the fish, I almost looked like a mergirl (if not a mermaid). Scrape the scales from way up to the head. Turn it over and scrape the other side too.

With a steady move, make an incision from the gills down to the vent. Remove the guts from the cavity. Without damaging the fish head, remove gills by nipping a small piece of its throat. Clean the fish under running water. Make sure all the dark red-brown kidney are out.

When all the fishes gutted, clean the fish, soak in salt and lime juice water for a few minutes. This is the ultimate step to make sure the fish doesn't smell too fishy.

The second cleaning need to be done under the running water. Clean inside out.

It wasn't that hard to clean the fish when I did three or four times a week under Mak's sharp eyes. Cleaning fish is like doing everything else, it becomes natural with practice.

The first time I prepared fish curry it was all watery and bland. After many times of trials and errors, I'd learned how much cooking oil and how hot should it be before I throw in a pinch halba (fenugreek seeds), slice shallots and crushed garlic. I'd learned once the curry powder is added to it, it should be stirred constantly, other wise it'll burn. We had the curry with jasmine rice, and baby spinach salad sprinkled with toasted almonds. After the dinner, B took out oblaten, a delicate and crispy wafer cookies. This time he got vanilla flavor. It's said oblaten was introduced to Roman emperor in 1349. (please correct me if this wrong). Back home, we call it Kuih Sepit. It's popular during Chinese New Year. It was so good, kruup, kruup, kruup , half of the container was gone in no time and a lot of crumbs left behind. The last time I bought it, I only ate a few pieces. Then I had to leave due to some crisis at work. When I returned a couple of hours later, the golden round container wasn't on the coffee table. I went to the kitchen, there he was stuffing his face with the last four pieces of oblaten, all at once into his mouth while stirring the pasta sauce on the stove. I was ready to pout my mouth when he turned around and said as nothing has happened, "Hi babe, you're're back.." The corner of his left mouth and his mouthache were laced with oblaten crumbs. I burst out laughing like a langsuir.

Comments

[anasalwa]

Hmmm...masak taucu, that sounds delicous. Good idea ...:))

[Lisa]

whoa looks good! Now you make me crave for mackerel curry too! The last time we had mackerel - I made masak taucu with Miso hehehehehe - I have some taucu here but was experimenting. Now I must go get Mackerel tomorrow but the toko doesn't open on mondays so will get the rest of the supplies on tuesday ;-)