[With Recipes] Lunar New Year Lunch Gathering With Relatives

This year mum and I decided to do a combined New Year lunch gathering to invite our relatives over for a festive lunch. We hope to take this opportunity to get touch and mingle with everyone since we seldom get a chance to eat together as a big group during normal days of the year.

Cooking With Shiokoji

Not long ago, I come across a new seasoning from Japan known as Shiokoji (塩麹 - salted malt rice) which was given to me by another food blogger friend. For short, Shiokoji is a traditional condiment made from fermented malted rice, salt and water. And if you happen to find Shiokoji in Singapore or during your trip to Japan, do grab hold of some and you would be amazed on the dishes it could produce.

GRILL SALMON WITH SHIOKOJI

Although the above grilled salmon requires only Shiokoji as the main seasoning but the end product surprisingly brings out the flavour of the salmon with hint of fragrance and savory taste. This happens because Shio-koji imparts a rich savory flavor that makes any dish delicious and it acts as a great seasoning on fish or meat too.

(Serves: 1 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 6 - 8 minutes)

Ingredients:
150 - 180g of Salmon Fillet
2 Teaspoons of Shiokoji

Method:-
1. Marinate salmon fillet with Shiokoji for about 5 - 10 minutes.

2. Drizzle some olive oil on griddle pan, grill salmon fillet with skin side down for about 4 minutes (depending on the thickness) on each side over medium heat till slightly golden brown in colour.

Tip:
~ As Shiokoji tends to burn easily, remember to lower the heat during cooking to prevent it from getting burnt.

Sometime we love simple meal like the above and it would be great too if you just want to narrow down the menu to only Onigiri (rice ball) plus one main dish. But if you have time, you could always add on another simple side like hard-boiled egg or boiled Edamame.

STIR-FRY MACKEREL WITH SHIOKOJI AND FRENCH BEAN

Simple Stir-fry Mackerel with Shiokoji and French Bean

(Serves: 2   | Preparation: 10 minutes |  Cooking: 15 minutes)

Ingredients:
200g of Mackerel Fillet, Sliced
3 Teaspoons Of Shiokoji
150g French Bean, trimmed
Some Carrot, Sliced

Method:-
1. Marinate mackerel with shiokoji for at least 5 minutes or not more than 30 minutes.

2. Preheat a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, pan-fry the marinated mackerel for 2 minutes on each side or till slightly golden brown in colour. Remove and set aside.

3. Next add in another teaspoon of oil, stir-fry the carrot and french bean till french bean change to darker green colour, toss in mackerel fillet and give it a quick stir till well-combined.

4. Remove on serving plate and serve with steamed white rice.

Other than the two fish dishes above, I also used Shiokoji to marinate chicken fillet which taste great as a simple dish on itself. And just for your information, the portion of Shiokoji to any meat ingredient weight is 1:10 which means for each 100g of meat, use 10g(1.5 teaspoons) of Shiokoji. But then it is still up to individual to adjust the amount of Shiokoji used according to their taste preference.

Chawanmushi is one of our favourite egg dish and nothing would go wrong when you follow Nami's (Just One Cook Book) quick and easy  Japanese recipes on her site. Here I followed one of her savory Chawanmushi recipe which includes step-by-step illustrations that helps to make this delicious Japanese Steamed Egg Custard. So do check up Nami's website for more recipe ideas too!

Spicy Gyoza In Chilli Oil

When comes to vote your favourite CP Frozen Food product(s), I believe most of us would choose their "CP Shrimp Wonton" which is a delicious convenient food for most household. And just recently CP Food has launched a few new products such as Japanese Crispy Gyoza, Shrimp Wonton in Tom Yum Soup and Chicken Gyoza which mentioned in this post.

There are many ways that you could cook this Chicken Gyoza like steamed, pan-fry, deep-fried or even add it into your soup together with other ingredients.