the simple poisson

the poisson or fish is one thing that i find very hard to cook right. it demands the simplest seasoning to bring out the sweetness of the flesh and precise timing, regardless if you deep fry or steam these swimmers, to get them cooked just right. maybe that's why pak law tends not to experiment that much with the simple poisson and stuck with the good old red meat suspects....but this girl is secretly glad that pak law has found inspiration from chef rick stein and begun to develop quite a perfect repoitre of fish mains, using the fab local variety no less!

i love fish...i mean aside from it being nature's brain food, the fish is really in a food class of its own as  it not only possesses fantastic flavors and textures, every single fish can be cooked in a multitude of ways, giving fresh perspectives to its taste. we are all so familiar with the cods and snappers, tunas and salmons and while i do admit that they are yummy, i have to commend pak law for thinking somewhat out of the box and developing his poisson repertoire adopting the use of ocally available fish. aside from the  lemon grass infused fish dish pak law put together some time back, his most recent fish dish attempt quite literally blew the one six b regulars away. just imagine nasi lemak style deep fried fish, with a crisp, tumeric tanged outer layer and sweet, tender and juicy white meat interior. pak law used the ikan pasir pasir, seasoned them fantastically with tumeric and other spices before deep frying them till golden and crisp. the end result was pure poisson perfection....judging from the pile of cleaned out fish spines on everyone's plate, i think pak law's got a winner with this ikan!

the ikan terrbok is the other fish that pak law cooks, and cooks really well. we don't get to eat it very much as these swimmers are hard to find and apparently seasonal. pak law usually scours three markets in search for enough of this fish to serve up at dinner and believe you me, it is really only served up upon request. with no seasoning other than the banana leaves the fish are wrapped up in, this fish has a fluffly yet creamy texture and amazing sweet and crisp flavor. dipped in some of my mom's awesome chilli and black sweet sauce, these fish is so good that pak law caters one for every one of us! the somewhat downside to the terrbok is that it has a gazillion bones...and i do mean a gazillion. so its eaten sans cutlery and with the fingers....which i believe really adds to the entire sensory experience! just imagine the smells from the banana leave, the creamy and sweet meat dipped in sweet and spicy sauce melting in the mouth. it does get messy...but it is so so worth it!