When I
was young, we always had a whole salted fish hanging in the kitchen like some
dried up artifact from the museum. In fact, the smell of the salted fish and
the well-used kitchen always gave me a comfortable feeling of home.
Salted
fish was cheap, and it could keep, and was versatile. Needless to say it was a
regular fixture on the dining table: steamed by itself or cooked in what seemed
like 101 ways with meat and vegetables, or even in soups.
There
are many kinds of salted fish in the market. The soft types have more pungent
smells and intense flavors; they are great for steaming just on their own or
cooked in combination with other meats, vegetables or fish. The hard types of
salted fish usually need to be deep-fried before being consumed; they are great
with fried bean sprouts or kailan.
Salted
fish is no longer cheap; in Singapore and Malaysia, salted mackerel in the soft
form are most prized. These particular variant comes from Malaysia and they are
expensive.
My
family firmly believed in not wasting any food; every part of the salted fish
was put to good use, even the head. We’d cook the fish head in sauce or as a
stew or soup. Here are two recipes that we usually prepared at home.
Salted Fish Pork Trotter Stew
Pork
trotter (fore leg) 800 g, chopped
Garlic ½ kg, whole
Fried
salted fish 3 tbsp.
Stock 3 cups
Salted
Fish Sauce
Oil 6
tbsp.
Shallots 10, minced
Sugar 2 tbsp.
Garlic 5 minced
Salted
fish/head 200 g, bone removed
Water ¼ cup
Method:
1.
Boil
pork trotter for ten minutes. Drain and rinse the trotter thoroughly than dry
it.
2.
Put
trotter, 250 g of garlic, salted fish sauce and stock in a heavy saucepan.
Rapid-boil the trotter for 10 minutes and continue to simmer for 1½ hours.
3. Replace the remaining garlic and
continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.
4. Season it with sugar and salt.
5. Serve the trotter with the
garlic, and sprinkle fried salted fish over it before serving.
Salted
Fish Sauce
1. Sauté shallots and garlic until
it turns translucent.
2. Add sugar and continue to fry
until it is caramelized.
3. Add salted fish and water and
simmer until it reduces by 1/3.
4. Cool and chill for further use.
