Grilled Stingray - My Style :)

The first time I tried Grilled Fish was at Midvalley food court The Portugese Grilled Fish and it's something I got hooked on it. Every time I visit KL and if I'm brought to Midvalley that's the meal I always have. Though it's something I love to have but one ingredient that I disliked most was the amount of sugar in the sambal. Yeah I know no sugar no nice...with history of diabetes in my genes all my cookings are without sugar and santan and anything that could contribute in that direction.

I started improvising recipes that I find or given or even create my own recipes to cater for my kinda cooking style.

This is one of the improvised recipe that I got from someone. I am not sure if it's completely healthy but it's something someone with diabetes or high cholesterol level able to enjoy without feeling guilty or afraid if it'll damage their system.

This is what I did to get it my style..

I first washed the fish and then coated it with salt and lemon juice and let it sit for about 10 mins before rinsing off and let it drain.

I didn't strictly follow the original recipe, obviously otherwise it wouldn't be me...hehe...I added 1 big red onions, about 4 - 5 shallots, maybe an inch ginger, 4 - 5 cloves of garlic and hmm..about 6 dried chillies (soaked in hot water to soften it), oh also some serai 2 stalks just nice. All my signatures dishes don't carry the exact measurement of ingredients I use. They vary and I can't cook the same dish tasting the same again, not sure if it's an advantage or disadvantage...whatever it is at the end of the day it's edible :)

The original recipe calls for belacan paste and sugar...I omitted these two and though me being a penangite belacan should be the key ingredient but making the chilli paste my style I didn't miss it much. Maybe perhaps I'm cooking it...hehe...

I threw them all in the food processor and process it...a blender can be used but in a food processor I get to blend the ingredients without adding any amount of water and that's the key to the grilled fish sambal. Otherwise, it'll be too watery and the taste will be off. With the chilli paste done...I moved on to the next ingredient.

I use adabi asam jawa as its already in a paste and I just need to dilute it in some hot water and it's good to go. Unlike the conventional type that needs to be seeded and sifted, this doesn't need all that. And if you are doing fast cooking this is the best solution.

In my first try a tablespoon of asam was a bit too much since I didn't add any sugar and belacan the sour taste kinda overwhelmed the spicy taste. So, this time I only used 1 tsp of asam in 3/4 cup of water. Yes, for this I did have a standard measurement coz I didn't want it too sour or too watery hence I kept to the measurement. Well I had to since my first try was too sour.

I heated the pan with some olive oil and added the chilli paste to simmer...after a while I added the asam jawa and let it simmer for a few minutes. I cook on low heat to avoid burning it and I didn't added any extra water other then the asam jawa mixture. Therefore, cooking the sambal in high heat would burnt the dish. Add salt...stir here and there and it's done.

Now it's the fish's turn...nice stingray I got there maybe it's not the biggest but it's just nice for the 2 of us minus the dogs. I drained and pat the fish dry with tea towel. I placed it on the aluminium foil.

I coated the fish with the sambal, it's a bit dry that's because when the fish is grilled, it will produce some juice and that'll make the sauce a little more wet later. So, I didn't wanna ruin that by adding too much water in the beginning itself, then it might get a lot wetter later.

Yes, I added four angled bean, okras will go great with grilled fish too. I coated the beans with some of the sambal before burrying the fish with it. This is to ensure the beans are evenly coated with the sambal.

I should have gotten some banana leaves it'll make the fish taste even better when wrapped with it oh well...aluminium foil will do. Nicely wrapped and ready to grill.

I preheat the oven for about 5 minutes prior with a temperature of 250 degrees set to grill mode. The grilling only takes about 20 minutes in that high heat.

The fish is done and I served with brown rice. Hubby's verdict..."Tonight's dinner is really nice but too bad too little". The two little ones did run around us begging for food as strict as we are, we never feed them from the table. No scraps but they are always ready and waiting and hoping if we will ever accidentally drop food. But not this time...lols...

Well there you have it Grilled Stingray without sugar and belacan paste done My Style...:D