STIR-FRIED BROCCOLI AND FISH FILLET

Budget: 150-200 (S$6)
Serves: 2-3 pax

Finish Product

Ingredients:
(Add/replace as you wish)

• Fish fillet (250 grams, cut into bite size, white-meat preferred but may be more expensive)
• Broccoli (1 pc medium, stems cut and hard skin peeled, cut into smaller pieces)
• Carrots (1 pc medium, cut in circular shape)
• Ginger (1 pc of 1-2 inches in size, refer to photo)
• Butter (1-2 tbsp)
• Chicken cube (1 pc, substitute with soy sauce if none, or chicken stock if possible)
• Corn starch (1 tbsp, dissolved in a very small amount of tap/warm water for thickening)
• Sugar (1/2 tsp) 
• Garlic (enough for saute, minced)
• Water (1-2 cups depends on how much sauce you want, I used 1.5 cups for this demo)
• Pepper (to taste, add according to preference)
• Salt (A pinch, to taste) 
• Cooking oil (1 tbsp)

Toman fish fillet. Look how pinkish and pretty that is!

Refer to uncut ginger on left for size

 Directions:
 (Alter as you wish)

1. Blanch vegetables: Rinse carrots and broccoli then put it in boiling water for 3 minutes. Put a pinch of salt. Remove and drain immediately. Run it with normal temp/cold water to stop the vegetables from further cooking. Set aside. (You may not blanch the carrots anymore, I just did so to cook it at a lesser time later)

Water is actually boiling. Just not visible in photo

2. Pre-cook fish: Melt butter in a pan/wok. Once it turns a little brown, cook the fish for about 2 minutes each side. Remove from the pan. (The photo below shows the state we want it to be before removing it from the pan. Don't worry if it looks a little undercooked as we will be cooking it further later)

3.Sauce: In the same pan (with all the burnt stuff removed), heat cooking oil/butter, whichever you prefer. Add ginger and cook for about a minute, pounding/crushing it in the process to release more flavor. Add garlic and saute till brownish in color. Toss in the carrots and increase heat to high (Remember: to stir-fry means to cook in high heat for a short period of time). Add water, chicken cube (or chicken stock or light soy sauce), diluted corn starch, sugar and pepper. Cook uncovered for 5 minutes or until sauce reduced to half.

4. Mix everything: Add in the precooked fish and let it stay for 2 minutes. Mix in the blanched broccoli into the pan. Carefully mix everything for a minute to avoid breaking the fillet and broccoli into pieces. Let it sit in medium heat for a minute to soak in the flavor into your meat and vegetables. (Tip: Using a tooth pick, gently prick the fish to create holes to let more flavor in)

5. Serve hot. Bon appétit!