[recipe]: Kickin' Tilapia (w/ Soba!)
Kickin' Tilapia (w/ Soba!)
blatantly stolen from iverin
Ingredients:
-Dashi stock made to taste
-Soba of any tasty variety (enough for one or two people)
-Dried or fresh seaweed (I used dried)
-Soy sauce (strong flavor)
-Vietnamese hot sauce
-Tilapia (fresh or frozen, I used frozen)
Make sure your tilapia is thawed before you start, and this will be about a ten-minute meal!
Alright! Set your tilapia to marinating. I used a normal dinner plate and let them soak in a puddle of soy sauce (make sure you pour some over the top!) with hot sauce to taste. The hot sauce has a tiny bit of sweetness to it, so I'd get familiar with a balance that you like first! I used perhaps a teaspoon and a half, but I could stand hotter.
Put the water for the soba on the stove. While it's getting to a boil, prep your dashi to taste. Also, this is where I rehydrated the dried seaweed as per package instructions.
Once the water is boiling, toss in your soba. Then, put your tilapia in the MICROWAVE with the marinade (remember, it's a shallow puddle!) covered with some microwave-safe plastic wrap. READ THE DIRECTIONS ON YOUR TILAPIA. It should be fine, but check anyway. I set mine for three minutes.
When the tilapia is down to about one minute left of cooking, turn it over, then re-cover and finish cooking. Drain the seaweed well (if you were rehydrating) and let it sit, or wait a little longer if you want it soggy. Again, follow package instructions if they differ, here.
Take out the tilapia and let it cool for a minute, which you will use to prep the rest!
Get a small plate and a pretty decent-sized bowl. Put about half of your seaweed into the bowl; set the rest aside. Take your soba (should be finished!) and drain it well, but DON'T cool it. I really like hot soups, and actually soba loses its heat fairly quickly, so. Right, put as much soba as you'd like into the bowl, then pour your dashi over it.
Uncover your tilapia and put a portion for yourself on the plate. IMMEDIATELY refrigerate anything unused and like... eat it for dinner. XD Arrange the remaining seaweed over the tilapia, then take the tiniest bit of dashi stock from your soba bowl and pour it right on top of the tilapia.
Then, just grab some chopsticks and a good drink, and ENJOY! 8D
As made, it can serve two as a relatively light but TASTY meal. I divided the end result in two, leaving me half of it for dinner after work~ This is because the tilapia I used (frozen, skinned) comes in a pack of two, and every soba bundle is pretty much enough for two people.
NOTES:
I think doing a bolder flavor with the stock would suit me better, but the dashi stock I made really suits summer more than something strong. I'm not ZOMG FULL from eating this, but I'm also a bottomless pit before my meds kick in. I really do think this is a great summer meal, though. There's a tiny bit of heat, some bitterness, a light fish flavor (very summery to me!), and it's perfect to share. It's NOT that expensive because the quantities go a really long way. You only need a bit of seaweed, soy sauce can be bought cheaply AND at decent quality, the hot sauce lasts FOREVER, dashi is WORTH the price, and the tilapia was $3 for a pack of like 8 fillets (two in a pouch). I feel satisfied in both the tummy and the tongue, and energized! I ended up having tea, but following this up with a cool glass of umeshu or some fruit juice would be a lovely finish.
The tilapia can be cooked on the stove or in a broiler, but it will take longer. Package instructions are quite simple, though I'd marinate it longer if I was going to do that. The advantage of covering it in the microwave is that you really get the sauces drawn up and cooked trough, rather than just spread out into a pan. Also, the nice thing about tilapia is that the fish flavor is light. You can TASTE that it's fish, but it's not fishy... If that makes sense. The fishiness of this comes from the dashi, actually, which can be a bit strong in the smell department. However, the way it complements the soba is beyond delightful.
I'm really digging my random Asian synthesis cooking. It's light but delicious, and the taste satisfies me for HOURS~
blatantly stolen from iverin
Ingredients:
-Dashi stock made to taste
-Soba of any tasty variety (enough for one or two people)
-Dried or fresh seaweed (I used dried)
-Soy sauce (strong flavor)
-Vietnamese hot sauce
-Tilapia (fresh or frozen, I used frozen)
Make sure your tilapia is thawed before you start, and this will be about a ten-minute meal!
Alright! Set your tilapia to marinating. I used a normal dinner plate and let them soak in a puddle of soy sauce (make sure you pour some over the top!) with hot sauce to taste. The hot sauce has a tiny bit of sweetness to it, so I'd get familiar with a balance that you like first! I used perhaps a teaspoon and a half, but I could stand hotter.
Put the water for the soba on the stove. While it's getting to a boil, prep your dashi to taste. Also, this is where I rehydrated the dried seaweed as per package instructions.
Once the water is boiling, toss in your soba. Then, put your tilapia in the MICROWAVE with the marinade (remember, it's a shallow puddle!) covered with some microwave-safe plastic wrap. READ THE DIRECTIONS ON YOUR TILAPIA. It should be fine, but check anyway. I set mine for three minutes.
When the tilapia is down to about one minute left of cooking, turn it over, then re-cover and finish cooking. Drain the seaweed well (if you were rehydrating) and let it sit, or wait a little longer if you want it soggy. Again, follow package instructions if they differ, here.
Take out the tilapia and let it cool for a minute, which you will use to prep the rest!
Get a small plate and a pretty decent-sized bowl. Put about half of your seaweed into the bowl; set the rest aside. Take your soba (should be finished!) and drain it well, but DON'T cool it. I really like hot soups, and actually soba loses its heat fairly quickly, so. Right, put as much soba as you'd like into the bowl, then pour your dashi over it.
Uncover your tilapia and put a portion for yourself on the plate. IMMEDIATELY refrigerate anything unused and like... eat it for dinner. XD Arrange the remaining seaweed over the tilapia, then take the tiniest bit of dashi stock from your soba bowl and pour it right on top of the tilapia.
Then, just grab some chopsticks and a good drink, and ENJOY! 8D
As made, it can serve two as a relatively light but TASTY meal. I divided the end result in two, leaving me half of it for dinner after work~ This is because the tilapia I used (frozen, skinned) comes in a pack of two, and every soba bundle is pretty much enough for two people.
NOTES:
I think doing a bolder flavor with the stock would suit me better, but the dashi stock I made really suits summer more than something strong. I'm not ZOMG FULL from eating this, but I'm also a bottomless pit before my meds kick in. I really do think this is a great summer meal, though. There's a tiny bit of heat, some bitterness, a light fish flavor (very summery to me!), and it's perfect to share. It's NOT that expensive because the quantities go a really long way. You only need a bit of seaweed, soy sauce can be bought cheaply AND at decent quality, the hot sauce lasts FOREVER, dashi is WORTH the price, and the tilapia was $3 for a pack of like 8 fillets (two in a pouch). I feel satisfied in both the tummy and the tongue, and energized! I ended up having tea, but following this up with a cool glass of umeshu or some fruit juice would be a lovely finish.
The tilapia can be cooked on the stove or in a broiler, but it will take longer. Package instructions are quite simple, though I'd marinate it longer if I was going to do that. The advantage of covering it in the microwave is that you really get the sauces drawn up and cooked trough, rather than just spread out into a pan. Also, the nice thing about tilapia is that the fish flavor is light. You can TASTE that it's fish, but it's not fishy... If that makes sense. The fishiness of this comes from the dashi, actually, which can be a bit strong in the smell department. However, the way it complements the soba is beyond delightful.
I'm really digging my random Asian synthesis cooking. It's light but delicious, and the taste satisfies me for HOURS~