Tau Cheong Fish Head Claypot

Fish Head is a traditional Malaysian/Singaporean delicacy. It is basically cooked in two different ways - Fish Head Curry, which is the epitome of cultural melting pot as it mixes the spices of typical South Indian curry with some Chinese influenceor the other option which is Chinese style using Tau Cheong (fermented bean paste , Chinese version of miso).

For some, fish head is usually thrown away as it is not the part one would find “delectable”. Honestly, I used to think it was gross when I was younger and I only started to enjoy eating fish heads after my 30s. You will be thinking why, well the joy of picking on the bones and tasting every bit of the fish is the key to enjoying a good fish!.

When cooked right, fish head is a preferred part over other parts of the fish, as it gives better flavour and sweetness of the fish meat blended with the gravy. For those who still think this is gross, you may replace it using fish fillet with bones as an alternative. It may not give you the same umami flavour but it will be the closest you can get.

I would usually keep fish heads in the freezer, freshly caught from the sea by my “Lau Gong aka hubby” whenever he brings it home or just call up Fish Prince for one. Since it is a delicacy for me, I will usually prepare this when I serve guests at home because it is easy to prepare and taste great so long as I have the fish head and other simple ingredients. I like my fish head paired with different coloured veggies so I usually find whatever I can get in my fridge. My friends always say ‘you have so many things in your fridge, I pity the machine as it is about to burst!”

The beauty of this dish : You can serve this in less than 45 minutes, best eaten with rice cooked (add some pandan leaf)

Ingredients

1 fish head - garoupa, red snapper (I usually love red emperor snapper)

1 brinjal

1 big red onion (coarsely chopped)

3 garlic bulbs (finely minced)

5 thin sliced old ginger (carefully stack thin slices of ginger and cut them lengthwise into matchsticks then crosswise into mince

Pepper (half teaspoon)

Fish sauce (one spoon)

Light Soya sauce (one teaspoon)

Black soya sauce( half teaspoon)

Chinese rice wine (one spoon)

Sesame oil ( half teaspoon)

Sugar snap peas ( I usually cut in half and throw in about 7 of them)

Long red chilli – (1 chilli, cut into fine strips (don’t worry about it as you will putting it to cook)

Red capsicum - one capsicum cut into fine strips

Preserved Soya Bean Paste – 1.5 spoon of paste

Cooking method :

1. Chop the fish head into a few pieces. Depends on the size you prefer it is flexible but I would suggest you get your fish monger to chop it up for you and tell him/her that it is for frying (he would know).

2. Mix the fish head with salt and pepper. After that coat the fish head with some light corn

flour. Just a little so that the fish can fry easily.

3. Pour oil (use Knife brand peanut oil) into wok and make sure the oil is hot before putting the fish pieces slowly one by one into the hot oil. Make sure you do not overcrowd the wok with too many pieces so do that with a few pieces first as the first batch until cook. When it is

golden brown the fish is cooked and you can take it out and let it rest. Repeat until finish

cooking the fish pieces. Half fry the brinjals too using the same oil used to fry the fish head. Oh yes, trick to know how your oil is ready just put your wooden chopsticks into the oil and see if there are bubbles and if there is then the oil is ready.

4. Heat up the clean wok and pour olive oil into wok. Once the oil is hot put in the onions and ginger in and stir fry for about 6 to 8 seconds then add the minced garlic and sliced chilli. Stir fry until fragrant then add bean paste, sesame oil, fish sauce, dark and light soya sauce. Put sugar peas and capsicum and continue to fry for 5 seconds and add in a small cup of water and continue to let it boil. Add chinese rice wine afterwards and let it come to a boil.

5. Add fried fish head in the wok and stir to coat the sauce with the fish. Put the lid on for

about 2 minutes and taste to decide if it is salty enough before you turn off the heat.

6. Take it out and put everything into the claypot. Add garnish (finely sliced spring onions and coriander (if you like) and serve!