01

November
2008

Dreams of Swordfish

category: recipes
by Yun,

Remember times when I was still at college. I used to have potluck parties with my classmates and my Indonesian friends. That year was the first year I started learning how to cook. Before, I didn’t even know how to cook a simple dish. What I could do for cooking was only to prepare an instant noodle. Although not knowing how to cook is quite unusual in US, it is not uncommon for Indonesians. Amazingly, not long after I began learning to cook, I found that cooking was actually fun, especially when cooking the food I love to eat.

One day, I had swordfish in my fridge which I didn’t even know what to do with it. Haha… That’s one of my characters. I regularly buy meats and fish without precedently thinking what and how I want to cook. At that time, I never tasted swordfish before. And I had to serve something for the potluck meeting held at my apartment later that afternoon. Uhm…

“Can you cook the fish with basil?” A (who likes basil very much) suggested as I had no idea what to do with my swordfish. Then I thought about it for quite a while and then replied…”Why not?”

My first cooking experiment began. I prepared everything I needed for the dish. I cut the fish, started cooking, and voila… It turned out that everybody in the potluck loved my cooking, including A. He claimed that he became a big fan of swordfish since that time. He said that he loved the natural texture and the taste of swordfish. In addition, basil also really gave a strong flavor to the sauce. It was just perfecto.

And then after almost six years, I never cooked the same swordfish again until yesterday. One reason why I rarely repeat my cooking is because I like to try new recipes. Couple times A gave me a hint to cook swordfish again but I never made his wish come true… Oh poor A! Yeah, I know swordfish is one of the fish that contains high levels of mercury. Many times I said to A that it was part of my reason for avoiding swordfish. But A always answered “It won’t be a problem for us since we only eat swordfish once in many many years…”. He knew that it’s better for him not to anticipate that I would cook the same menu again soon. Hehe… And yesterday I finally cooked it especially for him. He was very surprised knowing that I unexpectedly cooked his favorite swordfish dish after all these years.

Below is my swordfish recipe.

Swordfish with Basil Sauce

Main ingredients:

1 lbs swordfish (just get 1 big piece at grocery, and it would be enough for two people)

A pinch of salt and pepper

Cut the fish to small pieces and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the fish.

Coating:

1 egg white, beaten

All purpose flour

Coat the fish with the flour, and toss them onto egg white. The last step is coating the fish with the flour until completely coated. Heat the oil and deep fry the fish until golden brown.
To make easier, please use two separate bowls for the flour. One for the first step and the other one for the last step.

Coating alternative (a simple one):

A pinch of seasoned salt

Corn starch, mixed with seasoned salt

This is what I did yesterday. Just heat oil, completely coat the fish with the mixture of corn starch then deep fry the fish until golden brown. Easy, huh?

Sauce:

3 tbsp of dashi (Japanese fish stock)

2 cup of water

1 pack of fresh basil

1 tsp cornstarch, diluted with water

Heat the pan, add dashi and water, and let them boiled.
Add basil, cook for two minutes, reduce the heat to medium.
Add cornstarch to make the sauce thicker.
Add the fried fish onto the sauce, let them sit for two minutes, while stirring
Seasoned with salt if necessary, served with steamed rice.

Comments

4 Comments so far

Rina | 03 November 2008, 02:25
Yun, gile! Gue bener2 amazed deh sama lo. Hebat banget sih masakan lo Yun, kayak pro! Hm… should give it a try, someday. Jadi pingin belajar masak juga nih, Yun. Nyenengin hubby, hehe

huehe ayo cobain aja elo juga pasti bisa kok rin… emang ya kalo di Indo ga perlu masak tp makanan udah tersedia… hiks lucky you
Im3th | 04 November 2008, 22:58
Wahhhh mantab Yun..jadi laper niy…

sakit2 tapi masi aja ngiler ya meth kalo liat makanan…?
FanG | 05 November 2008, 08:06
Wow ..hebat tenan Yun! Ternyata pinter masak, suka bereksperimen dan kreatif! Bravo …

Thank you yaa…
Lawrence | 06 November 2008, 08:46
wuih,mahuuu

tukeran ama babat yuks!

Recently Written