Red Garoupa Fish

Red Garoupa Fish Porridge

If there is a fish porridge that I like better than Batang or Bay Kah fish porridge, it would be Red Garoupa. The firm flesh of the fish just makes for very nice fish porridge, though some older folks will say that it is loh koh (read: hard to eat). I say porridge but you might call it congee. It is the same to me actually.

But it is a fish that is a joy to work with. Slicing is so easy and the flesh is firm and tender at the same time. Just a simple marinate of light soya sauce and the fish slices when cooked is a lovely sweet savoury flavour, and flaky too because that is an indication of freshness. Then add a garnish of shredded Chinese celery and you are good to go.

Recipe

Ingredients

Red Garoupa steak (about 150 grams for 1 portion)
Chinese Celery 2-3 stalks (these are very thin stalks)
Light Soya Sauce 1 tbsp
Sesame Seed Oil 1 tsp
Dried Chinese Scallops 5 pieces
Half a cup of Rice (to be boiled for porridge)

Method

1. Boil the uncooked grains of rice in a pot for about 15 minutes over medium heat. Longer if you want it to be very mushy. Add more water if you like it watery. Throw the scallops into the pot to flavour the porridge.

2. Slice the flesh of the Garoupa meat thinly and marinate it with the soya sauce and sesame seed oil. Leave it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

3. Once porridge is boiling and rice grains are soft and broken down, you can add the fish slices in to cook. As seafood doesn’t need to cook very long, about 5 minutes would be suffice. The flesh should be paper white and nicely curved after cooking.

4. Add the shredded Chinese celery into the porridge for that lovely flavour. Add some more light soya sauce if you want your porridge tastier.

Bon Appetit!

Marinated slices of fish

Shredded Chinese celery