Recipe: Smoked Salmon Dip

Simply the best tasting smoked salmon dip and always a hit at parties:

Ingredients
12 oz smoked salmon, roughly chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 stalks of green onion, finely chopped

Instructions
Warm the cream cheese in the microwave until soft.
Mix in the cream cheese and chopped smoked salmon until combined.
Continue by stirring in the tabasco, sour cream and mayonnaise until smooth.
Stir in garlic and green onions.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Serve with crackers/chips.

Aluminum Foil Steamed Fish

Steaming is a common way to prepare fish for many asian families. I learned how to steam fish the traditional way from my father in law. However, I've found that steaming fish in aluminum foil is extremely easy and just as tasty. I consider it the lazy man's way to steam fish. Here's how I do it:

Ingredients:
1-2 lb whole fish (scaled, and cleaned)
1/4 cup Shoyu
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
Green Onions, diced
2-3 slices of Ginger
1 Tablespoon Butter
Salt and Pepper
Garlic, minced (optional)

Preparation:
Start off by scaling, and cleaning the fish. Once the fish has been cleaned, pat dry to remove excess water. Season the fish with salt and pepper and insert the butter into the belly of the fish. Tear off 3 sheets of aluminum foil approximately 6 inches longer than the fish and stack the 3 sheets on top of each other. Place the seasoned fish onto the foil and fold the ends up for now (we will be pouring sauce on shortly). Place the small pieces of Ginger on top of the fish.

Sauce:
In a saucepan on medium heat, add the shoyu and brown sugar and garlic and cook the sauce until the brown sugar melts and the garlic cooks thru. Add the green onions and cook for an additional 20-30 seconds. Remove from heat and pour over the fish in the foil.

Fold the ends of the foil up and together to create an air tight seal. Throw in the oven set to 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Be careful when removing from the oven, as the foil and it's contents will be hot. When fully cooked, the meat should easily flake off.

Pan Fried Nabeta

Jon caught a couple of Nabeta that he was generous enough to share. He caught them fishing off his kayak near Waikiki. I've heard so many stories that Nabeta is one of the best eating fish so I had to give it a try... Here's a picture of the before:

Ingredients:

• A couple of pan sized Nabeta
• 2 Tablespoons butter (for frying)
  
• Garlic salt
• Pepper
• Shoyu

Preparation:
Clean the fish (gut and gill). Removing the head is optional, but do not scale the fish.

Heat the pan over a medium heat. Once heated, melt the butter and let it get hot enough to fry. It's important not to use high temperatures as the butter will burn and smoke very easily. While the pan/butter is heating, sprinkle garlic salt and pepper on both sides of the fish. When the butter is ready, fry the fish for about 4 minutes per side (more if it's a large fish). When done, remove it from the frying pan, blot with a paper towel, drizzle shoyu over it and enjoy!

Makes 1-2 servings.

Here's a picture of the after:

Pan fried Menpachi and Aweoweo

One of the most delicious ways to cook up small pan size Menpachi and Aweoweo is to fry them up whole. This recipe is fairly simple and can be modified to suit your taste. Here are the steps I use:

Ingredients:
Pan size fish (between 6-8 inches)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Cooking oil

1) Clean and gut the fish. With Aweoweo, removing the scales is optional, but if it is a large one, I recommend scaling it.

2) Cut some diagonal slits into the side of the fish. These slits are to absorb some of the spices as well as to easily check the status of the fish during cooking.

3) Blot the fish with paper towel and rub salt and pepper on the outside and inside of the fish.

4) Add some oil to a frying pan or wok to about the 1" level (more if it's a thick fish).

5) Heat the oil, but the trick is to make sure the oil isn't too hot. If the oil is too hot, the fish will burn on the outside and still be raw on the inside. I usually put my stove on medium heat.

6) Dip the fish in cornstarch to lightly coat each side.

7) Put the fish in the oil to cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side. Do not disturb the fish while it is frying. Moving the fish too early will damage the skin of the fish. For a large fish, you may need to fry it for a minute or two longer per side.

8) Remove it from the pan and place on a paper towel to absorb the oil.

9) Top with garlic salt (or shoyu) and enjoy with steamed rice.