Today I was going to be very busy. Mum’s still overseas in Singapore, so it was on me to organise our traditional steamboat night to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Yesterday I had rushed around like crazy to purchase all the ingredients necessary so that I could just concentrate on preparing them today. Before I get stuck into it, me need food for energy!
Smoked Salmon with Sundried Tomatoes, Zucchini & Chives
in a Creamy White Wine Sauce
On some wonderfully helpful advice from a friend’s dad, I went to the Asian supermarket on High Road in Willetton to buy the fresh fish salad kit. It’s called different things in different dialects, but I’ve come to know it as ‘lo hei’. Now this is my first time making this, so I had no idea other than to buy this kit. Lucky I asked my friend’s dad when I saw him yesterday, because he clued me in on the most important ingredient. Fresh fish. I went out and bought a slice of sashimi grade salmon from the seafood store at Carousel, Cannington. They’re pricey but I wanted to get a good quality sashimi grade salmon for this salad.
Secondly, my friend’s dad told me to grate some carrot and finely slice some red cabbage and blanch it by pouring hot water over it, draining it, running it under cold water, and then refridgerating it so that it would be cold by the time I had to serve it in the ‘lo hei’. At the Asian supermarket, one of the staff working there also suggested I used Chinese white radish, so I bought one. What the heck, I thought – it’s either going to be a huge failure or a huge success...I’d prefer the latter so any advice I will be taking onboard! I’ll be preparing the salad just before everyone arrives so that all the ingredients are fresh and have time to chill in the fridge.
I soaked some bee hoon in water and put them aside. I also washed some coriander, enoki and wombok (Chinese cabbage).
For the actual steamboat, I had some fluffy deepfried pieces of tofu that I cut in half to form triangles, then stuffed them with fish paste. Yum! I also had a bag of frozen prawns and some mixed seafood dumplings.
I prepared some squid pieces from a squid tube and sliced a piece of red snapper and a couple of chicken thighs. I seasoned the squid and fish with some pepper. For the chicken, I seasoned it with pepper and combined an egg with it. I’m not sure why my mum does this whenever she prepares pork, beef or chicken but I love it because the egg helps to thicken the steamboat soup. I also prepared a few little ramikins with soy sauce and fresh cut chillies.Everything went into the fridge.
Our first guest, Raymond arrived. He’s one of our cousins on Dad’s side whom we haven’t seen or heard from for over ten years. It’s ironic, we’re closer to our cousins on my mum’s side, who live in Singapore, than our cousins on my dad’s side who live in Perth. Anyhow, we reacquainted ourselves quickly and we had a laugh over the fact that it was infact Raymond that taught me how to drink wine. I never used to like it and couldn’t stand the taste. One night, at a wedding we were both at because our cousin was getting married, he taught me how to drink wine. I have not looked back or stopped since then!
Next, our next and final guests arrived – Marissa and Teresa. They went to so much trouble to respect our Chinese traditions! They brought us a bag with some mandarins and a box of New Year biscuits. They took their shoes off at the door. On the other hand, Raymond was walking around our house with his sneakers on, he didn’t come bearing gifts, and he didn’t even know what steamboat was. *shakes her head* Funny though!
I rushed off to have a shower and then came back into the kitchen, refreshed and ready to make SANGRIA for everyone!
I brought out the ‘lo hei’ that had been chilling in the fridge – I have to say I was so happy with how it turned out! I poured the seasonings that came with the kit over it, then the sweet plum sauce...and then just as we were about to dig in, Jocelyn asked, ‘What about the croutons!?’In my excitement, I had forgotten about them! We quickly threw those on and then everyone dug in with their chopsticks, thinking happy, happy thoughts and wishes of wellbeing and prosperity.
Time for...DESSERT - Jocelyn and David had bought a cheesecake, not knowing that Marissa and Teresa were going to bring dessert. Nevermind though, we did a good job polishing most of it off.
filled with a rich delicious homemade custard.
After dinner we sat around with a pot of tea. I’m very happy with tonight – I feel good knowing that I successfully managed to maintain our yearly tradition of a family dinner.
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