Monday, April 26, 2010

Learning About Fish

Due to similar dietary preferences amongst the humans, seafood and vegetables have dominated the meals so far. I'm not complaining! I'm happy that we don't have to look at meat as a compulsory item. Many of the official lunches contain the dreaded chicken. Thankfully, there's always something tofu or gado gado to go along with the main stuff.

I've been on the prowl for sustainable fishes that I can eat without guilt. It's quite sad that many of my favorite fish in this region are endangered too. Indonesia's been teaching me many things about fish. I've been introduced to the ikan empurau, the mahi mahi. I'm liking this ikan gurame. Deep fried, this gurame served to us still retained the moisture beneath its crispy surface. It made for quite a filling meal. My hosts were rather taken aback when they realized I didn't need any rice with the meal.

The only problem, these fish taste better when fried, which isn't exactly the healthiest way of eating fish. Sigh. I've tried them steamed and they just don't taste as good as the other usual sea water fish. :(

7 comments:

Jo said...

oh.. that's not the right sambal to eat with the fish.. Must eat with sambal belachan!! or rather sambal terasi (as it's called there).

imp said...

jomel: it's some sweet chilli sauce that they pour more as a decoration. (sweet chilli worked with the cumi) they served sambal belachan at the side which i loved. but the fish was fresh and it was good plain too.

Jo said...

actually, carp can be steamed too, the Chinese way, with ginger, onions, garlic, coriander leaves, and seasoning. Nice. But I have never come across carp in the supermarket here.

Missy P said...

Gurame has very muddy taste so it can only be deep fried...I try to avoid it for a long time after knowing they basically eat all kinds of rubbish,or should I say the farmers feed them all kind of rubbish...

imp said...

jomel: i must have tried that. it's kinda an oily fish right? But i don't recall liking it very much... i'm not sure if sgp supermarkets sell carp. i must go check it out and try.

missyP: that's prob why they taste better fried! that's quite the usual for alot of farmed fish, pork, chicken and other animals. that's always the difficulty now in picking my food. sustainable resources, yes. but which farm is it from? that's a more difficult question to answer.

lovexiaolongbao said...

indonesians like oily, sweet and hot! betul ngak jomel? hehe.

imp said...

lovexlb: i notice the sweet bit for sure!