Hot Winter Drink - Ginger, Palm Sugar & Clove

OK, Hong Kong is currently experiencing the coldest November in...hmm...many many many years.

It's on the news.

It's what people talk about.
It's become the standard greetings...

"Morning. Isn't it cold?" (while making a dramatic hand gesture to the air)

"Morning. Gosh, aren't you cold?" (staring at exposed boobage/thigh)
"Morning. Oh, you live in the New Territories (patronising once over), must be cold out there eh?"
"Morning. No, I've moved to ..*insert a fancy schmancy city flat name here*..so it isn't that cold"

"Morning. Oh, can't wait for my (expensive) exotic tropical island getaway (which will only happen next summer, but tried to make it sound as if it is happening tomorrow)"

Enough already!

I get it! It's cold!
It's still only a little below 10C, people!
Relax and drink your hot drinks...

This time, it's something exotic, something spicy (unlike me).
A little Chinese, a little Indonesian (just like me).

It involves ginger, clove, and this...

Indonesian palm sugar.
They aren't so hard to get. In Hong Kong, you can get these babies at any Indonesian grocery shops (they're all over the city) easily. Much easier than finding a plate of decent scrambled eggs in local char chan tengs.
These babies are mildly sweet, very coconutty with a hint of smokiness.
Perfect for making exotic food and desserts....when I am in the right mood.

Now all I want is to drink something sweet, hot and gingery.

It's so easy, I can't believe I am writing this down. Feel free to adjust the amount liberally, I know that sweet for me is probably bland in your books. Bring a couple cups of hot water to boil (you can make more and refrigerate), I made about 4 cups. Then throw in the rest of the ingredients, used about 5 cm ginger (peeled, sliced and crushed), 4 pieces of palm sugar, 2 tbsp of sugar, and 3 pieces of cloves. Feel free to add nutmeg and cinnamon etc. If you're in the mood for something creamy, add coconut milk. Whatever makes your toes curl, baby.

The palm sugar is pretty grainy, so don't forget to pour the drink through a sieve before serving.

Now that I'm all warmed up...I want ice cream.

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.