When my mum was still alive, she used to make this occassionally as one of the dishes for dinner. I used to love eating this as it contains 2 of my favorite food: fish and egg. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to get the recipe from her. And it was just a couple of days ago that I remembered this dish... oh, how I long to be able to taste my mum's cooking and the regret of not learning to cook all the yummy dishes from her when she was alive...
I remembered how my mum made the fish paste. She would go to the wet market in the morning, buy a certain type of fish (can't recall what name) and back home, will start scrapping out the fish meat and smash them in the mortar using the pestle until the fish paste mix nicely and sticky enough.
Anyway, I did some research around the Net and more or less got the idea of how to make this dish again. I don't have the luxury of time and energy in smashing fish meat in mortar and pestle, so I took a shortcut and bought the ready-made fish paste from the morning wet market.
There are other versions of this dish if you Googled it around, such as other ingredients which you can add in, like carrots slice, chilli, scallions, or even a seaweed sheet on top of the omelet. But this dish that my mum made is very simple and easy. Just fish paste and egg. So I'm sticking to that. And hence, this is my 1st attempt of making:
STEAMED FISH PASTE EGG ROLL.
PREPARATION TIME: ABOUT HALF AN HOUR
* Less than 5 minutes to pan fry the eggs
* Less than 5 minutes to prepare the fish paste egg roll
* 10-12 minutes for steaming process
Ingredients / Tool Required:
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* Fish paste (quantity up to you!) * 2 eggs (at room temperature) * Few drops of cooking oil* A pinch of salt (optional)* Optional: Vegetables of your choice-broccoli, carrots, cauliflower etc!
Tools: Non stick pan, plate, knife, steamer
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What to Do?
* Beat the eggs and add in a pinch of salt (optional). * Heat up a non-stick pan and pan fry the eggs into thin omelet.* You can add in your vegetables on the add at this point of after the eggs cooled down.
* Transfer the omelet to a clean chopping board (I used a plate) and let it cool down. * Spread a layer of fish paste on top of the omelet. (If your layer is thick, then fish paste portion is more)
* Slowly roll up the omelet, make sure it's firmly rolled.* Carefully transfer the fish roll to a steamer.
UPDATES ON 8th Feb 2014: * If you don't have a steamer, you can also steam this in your rice pot. I tried this method recently where after the rice was cooked in the rice pot and it was in 'Keep Warm' mode, I just put the plate with the rolled egg into the rice pot and leave it to steam by itself.
* Steam for about 10-12 minutes or until fish paste turns opaque.
* Cut the fish roll into slices (thickness up to you)* You can serve with your choice of dipping sauce or eat it as it is.
THE RESULTS
CLOSE UP SHOT
UPDATES ON 8th Feb 2014: Added carrots onto the egg
REACTIONS FROM MY "GUINEA PIGS"
So there you go.... my 1st STEAMED FISH PASTE EGG ROLL attempt!
Overall, I'm very happy with this attempt though I can only take credit for the egg roll and on the preparation/presentation side . After all, the fish paste was bought elsewhere and all I did was just slap on some onto the egg sheet and roll away! Though I'm happy to inform the dish is all eaten up with compliments on how delicious it is. What a good way to boost up my cooking morale! And I'm really happy cos it brings back memories I have when my mum made this dish.
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