Suquet de Mero con Almejas

This is a Catalan fish stew that I picked up from Jose Andres. His recipe uses Scorpion fish which is not available here. I replace it with golden grouper which has a tasty, firm, white fresh. The stock is prepared from fresh fishes, shells of prawns, celery, carrot, onions and garlic. I added a few slices of ginger to remove the fishiness.

For the stew, diced, parboiled russet potato is sauteed in olive oil before adding tomato pulp, a pinch of saffron, sugar and pimenton (Spanish smoke paprika). Strained stock is then added to the pot, just enough to cover the slice of fish and cook for about five minutes. The clams are then added.

Mash a garlic clove with salt, parsley and a piece of potato from the stew and add to the pot. Serve.

Sardine Bruschetta

It is rare to find fresh sardines in the tropics. When I saw them in the market, I wasted no time in taking away 2.5 kilos of the delicate fish. For the sardines, I use a Japanese marinate made from mirin, sake, soy sauce, sugar and rice vinegar. The fish is lightly powdered with plain flour, then pan fried in medium heat in a non stick pan. Layer and layer of the marinate is applied until the skin appear to have a shiny glaze.


It is easy to debone sardine. Once the head and guts are removed, use a paring knife to free up on half of the meat from the bone. When the bone is exposed, you can lift it up with your fingers and pulling slowing towards the tail end.

Mooncake with Black Garlic and Chestnut

It is the mid-autumn festival and I decided to have a go at making snow skin mooncake. Almost all mooncakes available commercially has a high sugar content, usually made with lotus paste, and fairly unhealthy when paired with salted egg yolk. I decided to create my own blend, pure chestnut puree with black garlic paste, some olive oil and butter, without adding any crystalline sugar. Fermented black garlic has none of the garlic sharpness, a natural sweetness with a hint of balsamic. I rely on this for the overall taste. I would say, this mooncake has the highest antioxidant and polyphenol level in the market. As it turns out, bonishimo!