自家製 :: ポンフレットとあさりの潮汁

I've been completely zonked from sleepless nights. (Thanks to the dog.) That day, I wanted hot soup and fish for dinner. These are my comfort foods. I didn't want to buy. I wanted to cook them to my preferences, light, clean-tasting yet full of flavors. Cooking = cleaning the kitchen counter and stovetop + moping the floor. That's why I sometimes hesitate before deciding whether to cook on any given day. Still. These would be easy items to sort out and the clean-up is easy. 

Stopped by 100AM mall to get groceries. Was stunned when I realized Donki didn't have fresh saba or yellowtail fillets. They had no fresh fish fillets or even frozen, except for Atlantic salmon fillets. NOPE. I popped downstairs to Fairprice to see what they had. The shelves were pathetic too. Only a small golden pomfret looked good enough. Okay can. Luckily Donki had clams, cabbage, tofu and beans. 

Boiled up a Japanese clear clam soup (あさりの潮汁). Set aside a dollop of red miso for the man who would want to stir it into his soup. This soup wasn't salty at all. It was a light dashi broth. It was done in about 30 minutes. Then the clams went in.  

Okinawan tofu and cabbage went into it as well at the end. I considered stir-frying the cabbage, but I was too lazy to get out the frying pan. Hurhurhur. Putting the cabbage into the soup made my life easier.  

Whipped up a mixed bean salad. I most certainly didn't painstakingly boil up those beans. Boiling beans is the most annoying thing in the world. Those beans came out of a jar, cooked. HAHAHA. Then I simply blanched two pieces of okra, sliced them up and added to the beans. Popped the whole thing in the fridge to be served cold later as an appetizer.  

I think the golden pomfret is actually a pompano or butterfish. What's a pomfret called in Japanese anyway? The golden pomfret was fresh, and nice enough to be steamed. I was hoping not to pan-fry it or even sear it. Steamed it in a mish-mash Cantonese style. Yup, there were plenty of spring onions and coriander. It was only about 400g, and the size was just right for us both for a meal.

Once the fish was done, I drizzled a ponzu yuzu sauce over it before serving. L had given me a bottle of ponzu yuzu sauce that's really delicious and tangy. It's a good dipping sauce, and it would go beautifully with fish too. Went for broke and had Japanese white rice along with the meal. Sprinkled bonito furikake over it too. Mmmmm.

The man is in love with these Shine Muscat green grapes. He prefers the Korean varietal. Okay whatever. Today Donki had only the Japanese varietal, so I got a small bunch of that for dessert. They're pretty nice. I'm not a huge fan though. And grapes rolling around in a house with a dog is just a no-no.