Lisa's Lemony Kitchen

Step into any fish market in Perth... you'll be spoiled for choice with its varieties ... Tasmanian Salmon, Snappers, Trouts, Trevally (equivalent to our ikan kembong), Barramundi...etc and its all fresh with its ' gooey' stuff still flowing from the gill!! Our all time favourite is Hiramasa...its a Japanese fish - with its white flesh, quite firm and very... very sweet. Unfortunately its not easily available... For this fast and easy meal...I used Swordtail fish steaks... it took less than 30 minutes, and its ready to eat... Coriander Pesto 1/2 cup firmly packed fresh coriander leaves 2 tbspn vegetable oil or peanut oil 1 tbspn roasted peanuts 1 fresh chilli 2 tbspn lime Blend all the ingredients above into a paste. Brush fish steaks with half of the pesto. Cook fish on heated bbq or grill plate. Serve fish with the remaining pesto, with salad, boiled potatoes or crusty bread. ~AWW - seafood

When I am feeling lazy... or felt that we had too much ' meat ' during the week, I'd go for this quick fix meal... may take about less than 1/2 hour in total time from preparation to the table... 350 g spaghetti 425g canned tuna in spring water 1/4 cup lemon juice 3 teaspoon lemon rind 2 tbspoon olive oil 1/3 pine nuts 1 cup of baby spinach 1/3 cup of parsley - chopped salt and pepper Cook pasta as per packet instruction. Roast the pine nuts until golden brown. Mix oil, lemon juice and zest in a jar, shake well. Place tuna in a bowl. Add pasta, the lemon oil, pine nuts and baby spinach to the bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. ~sfi

This is for you, Salina aka Ms Red Hat... bubur kacang hijau....some would add ginger but this is my mum's version .... Wash and soak the mung beans (kacang hijau) overnight. I prefer to cook the beans in a slow cooker as I am a lazy person to watch over the stove. Fill up the slow cooker pot with water... up to the half mark (for at least 1 1/2cup of dried beans). Throw in a couple of daun pandan and a stick of cinnamon. Let it cook for 3 hrs until soft... watch out for the water level after your second hour as it could dried up. Add coconut milk, brown sugar and a bit of salt... Ta...da...All ready for you to dive in....

Yes...finally... we get to eat mussels. After what it seems like ages to clean up its beard...until my thumb and fingers were numb... I get to put my feet up while Mr H did the cooking. If I were to cook.. I would hear comment like 'its overcooked' or 'its undercooked'.. so the best thing to do is - let the Master do the work.... Chopped up garlic, either use fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes, chopped up chilli and basil. Saute the garlic in olive oil, then add chilli and tomatoes. Add the yummy mussels. Cooked about 5 minutes, turn off the heat. Discard the unopen mussels . Add basil last. Tip: fresh mussels are very salty, don't add salt!!

This is one of our favourites 'salad'... We usually cook the acar in a big pot, dish out the amount required, and freeze up the rest. The acar will last about 1 month in the freezer.... and will still retain its crunchiness. Use any 'crunchy' vegetable you can get in the market.. like carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, french beans... Cut them up into bite size. Bring the water to boil in a big stock pot, add some vinegar, tumeric powder and salt. Blanch the vegetables(tip: blanch one type of vegetable at a time). Strain and drain the water. Sauce: 1 stalk lemongrass, 10 shallots,5 cloves of garlic, 3 candlenuts, 3 tbspn coriander seeds, 2cm fresh (frozen or powder)tumeric, 2 slices galangal, 1 tbspn belacan (Maggi belacan is used). Blend all these spices into a paste, and heat oil in a wok and fry the blended spice until fragrant. Add sugar and salt. Put it aside and let it cool completely before mixing it up with the blanched vegetables. Add fresh pineappl...

There are 2 types of Miso paste... white or red. White is supposed to be ' sweet ' while the red is supposed to be ' salty '. Either one is OK ...depending on your preferences. This is really easy peasy lemon squeezy..... What you need is a packet of bonito powder, Miso paste, water, soft beancurd(cheaper to get it from Coles for the 500g packaging),dried seaweed or wakame (from Asian grocer or Jusco in M'sia) and some spring onion (optional). Boil water in a pot. Add bonito powder and miso paste ... suggest that you try a little bit at a time of the miso paste.. like starting with 2 tablespoon: 250ml water.. and add on as desired. About 1 tablespoon of wakame. Once boiled, add in diced beancurd (diced as small or as big as you wish). Bring to boil again. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle with the spring onion. Serve with Japanese rice (short grain).

This is a great breakfast alternative for the kids... Danial would go for his toasts with vegemite without fail... day in- day out, while Della is a bit picky; cereal, or baked beans on toast or sometimes just water.. This Banana Toasties would do just nice for both.... carbo + energy...to start the day... Place the sliced banana on the bread, sprinkle with cinnamon and grill... until golden brown. Drizzle with maple syrup or honey... Tip: to have a crusty slice... pre- toast the bread

Red Curry Duck... we must have some kind of affinity with our neighbour across the Northern Border. We just love... Thai Cuisine.... YUM!! This was shown on tele many.. many... moons ago... Thai chef was cooking Red curry Duck with Lychee... who would have thought that lychee, red curry and duck?? chinese roast duck (from Luv-a-duck) 1 can coconut milk 3 tbspn red curry paste 1 tbspn fish sauce 1 tbspn lychee juice (from canned lychee) 4 lychees or more kaffir lime leaves sweet basil option: pea eggplant... I used 1 cup frozen peas instead.. Cut up the duck into bite size pieces. Heat up 1/2 of the coconut milk in the saucepan over medium heat. Add red curry paste and stir to combine. Add kafir lime leaves and cook for 5 minutes or until oil starts to surface. Add duck, fish sauce, lychee juice, lychees, peas and the remaining coconut milk. Cook for a few minutes and turn off the heat. Lastly add basil leaves...