Sweet Sour Siakap, A Thai feast that ends with an Argument

Want to know what me and my brother argued about? Wait till the end of the post. This time we will be doing a set of thai dish for RM20 fit for five adults.

We'll be having Siakap Sweet and Sour, Sambal Sotong and Fried Mushroom. 3 dish together, no time to document em all, so Sweet and Sour Siakap will be the main character today.

The fish is bought from Tesco. The one you're seeing here cost about RM10. Standard procedure is to have the Tesco people clean the fish (siang ikan) so that when we reach home, all we had to do is to clean the fish with tamarind( asam jawa), wrapped in flour and fry it. Sounds easy right?

Everything that could go wrong is in this picture.

• We have a big fish and the only thing bigger then it is a wok. Don't use wok. Use a non-stick pan. A huge one.
  
• We only had a wooden ladle-spoon thingy. Don't use it. Use stainless steel.
• We skimp on the oil. Don't do that. Oil should cover the whole fish.

If you follow the dark path, the fish's skin will stick to practically any surface it touches. After tossing and turning the fish to make sure it's thoroughly cooked, you'll end up with a messy fluffy fish. Totally unpresentable. Luckily we can hide it with the sweet and sour sauce. Only gordon ramsey from hells kitchen won't be too happy with it. Tsk tsk tsk..




For the sauce its easy, reuse the frying oil, add cili boh (lotsa them) and plum sauce (4-5 big tablespoon of em). Let it simmer for a bit. Add tomatoes and the usual salt and sugar to taste.

pour the sauce on the fish ( to hide the evidence)..

Together with siakap we had hot fluffy rice, oyster mushroom dip in egg and fried so oily that we had to leave it on tissue. We bought 2 packets of medium sized mushroom for rm5... I know some like the crispy mushroom but we're like the soggy mushroom enthusiast..

and of course, not forgettin Sambal Sotong..Ahh divine..

Oh yeah in the end what's there to argue? You remember "Goreng pun Sodap"? It all started with my brother pointing out that an old skool advertisement, Seri Murni Cooking oil shows the husband bringing home a fish from the river and its Siakap. Which is impossible because Siakap is only available at sea.

Well I thought Since Siakap sounds like Sea Carp , so its possible to have carps in freshwater right?

Argument went nowhere. We had no choice but to wiki.

Did you know that Siakap in english is Asian Sea Bass? We end up both a bit wrong, but i know bass lives in freshwater! so I'm kinda right!