Lightly Pan Fried Pomfret with Ginger Lemon Honey Sauce

Pan frying fish with almost no oil?
What are you? Crazy?!!!

That was what I thought when I saw a shopping center demo of various non-stick, non-chemical coating woks and pans.

I hate pan frying fish.
It sticks.
It needs quite a lot of oil.
It splatters.
It stinks.

Blah!

My friend once asked me how to fry whole fish without splattering and all the other annoying things. I remembered my spontaneous reply...it was..."just don't cook fish". What a useful advice.

Then it started with one "innocent" window shopping trip to a nearby mall (is there such a thing?), I shashayed by a few demos of woks and pans...normally I'd stop by each counter for a couple of minutes, laughing at how expensive the pans are, murmuring that the pans probably won't work (in super low volume of course, I didn't want a heavy wok hitting my head), giggling and proceeding to the next counter.

But this time, I stopped at the last counter and watched a little closer.
I have been using cheap non stick pans and the teflon coating peels off after a while. I was tempted by the idea that these pans are non stick because of its uneven surface (they call this air cushion), without chemical coating. I need a saute pan to replace my old teflon, so I bought myself the cheapest of the bunch.

I didn't wanna bet big, in case it doesn't work. The 28 cm saute pan costs HK$498 (around USD64).
Hope it works!

The first test for my new pan....the dreaded pan fried fish!
I simply season the fish with salt and pepper (generously), rub it with teeny tiny bit of olive oil and drop it to the pan.

The moment of truth...flipping the fish. Whoa! It really didn't stick!
The fish is naturally curvy and the pan's flat. To ensure that the fish is cooked thoroughly, add a bit of water and cover the pan to let the fish get steamed for a bit. I also squeezed a bit of lemon juice from time to time.
Lemon and fish....they're good friends.

Set the fish aside after pan frying.

Ginger, Lemon and Honey Sauce
- 3 cm ginger, cut into match stick size
- 1 tiny clove of garlic, crushed
- juice of a lemon, a few slices of lemon for garnish
- 2 tbsp honey
- salt, sugar, olive oil, water

Saute ginger and garlic in a bit of olive oil, squeeze lemon juice, add honey, sugar and salt until you achieve the desired balance of savoury, sweet and sour. Add a bit of water to mix everything well. Pour sauce over pan fried fish.

So far, I am loving this pan and if it stays this way, my non stick wok needs to worry, it might get replaced soon.