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This is a super simple recipe for steaming fish. And since our favourite fish is cod, I normally do this with cod, though you could substitute it with any white fish.

[photo updated in 2014]

steamed cod with soy sauce

If you like coriander, you could prepare the sauce earlier, then soak about a bunch of (washed) coriander in the hot sauce for about half an hour. After that, discard the coriander. Heat up the sauce while steaming the fish and pour it over the fish after transferring the fish to a serving plate.

When I have time (and when I can get coriander in the market), I’d do that. But most times, this easy steamed cod with soy sauce recipe is good enough. Coriander is like icing on the cake so if you don’t have it, don’t fret. 🙂

This is popular with both adults and kids alike so I hope you give it a try! 😀 Bonus is that prep and cooking time are super short!

Steamed cod with soy sauce

Author: Simply Mommie

Cuisine: Chinese

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 1-2

Ingredients

160g cod fillet, rinsed then pat dry
20g ginger, sliced
2 sprigs scallion - 1 spring cut into 3-inch segments, 1 sprig chop into small pieces (for topping the cooked cod)

Sauce

90ml water
15ml light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

Place half the amount of ginger and the scallions for steaming with the cod.
Steam cod for 5-7min (put in the cod only when the water is boiling, timing depends on the thickness of your fillet).
In a small saucepan, heat the saucepan then add the olive oil and sesame oil.
When the oil is hot, add the ginger and scallions and stir-fry till fragrant.
the soy sauce, water and sugar then bring the mixture to a boil.
Simmer on a low heat for about a minute.
Discard the water, ginger and scallions from the steaming plate.
Transfer cod from steaming plate to a serving plate.
Pour the sauce over the cod and top with scallions.

For more fish and seafood recipes, please refer to the Fish and Seafood Index on the blog.

Alphabet fun with the foam mat!

Activities with tots and early pre-schoolers don’t usually last very long and a simple activity could just take up say about 10min of your time. But while the actual activity may seem short, the child still learns from it and most importantly, both you and the child have fun!

Here are two activities I did with Alicia yesterday (one after breakfast and the other after dinner).

Matching lower and upper case:

(Alicia’s familiar with the upper case but not so with the lower case so I focused on the lower case for this activity)

1) Remove some of the lower case alphabets from the mat: I got her to help out with that. 🙂 I focused on 12 letters (pick less if your child isn’t so familiar with the alphabets yet); try to avoid going for all the alphabets as the child would usually tire of the activity before it’s over so just take your child’s cue.

2) Explain what you want your tot to do: match the lower case to the upper case (place them back on the mat).

3) Go through 1 example (or more if necessary): I got her to name the alphabet first then asked her what sound it makes before getting her to place it back in the right place.

4) Repeat the procedure.

5) Stop when your tot starts to lose interest.

Busy fitting the ‘s’ back in

‘b’ and ‘h’!

Figuring out where the ‘r’ goes…

Our after-dinner activity:

Identifying the alphabet

Since we were having fun in her room, I decided that I’d play another alphabet game with her:

I called out one of the alphabets and I quickly (and very enthusiastically – you need lots of this when interacting with a tot!) jumped onto the letter and repeated it a few times with different alphabets.

After a few times, she got a hang of what she was supposed to do and I’d say, ‘Alicia, can you jump onto the letter (for instance), X?’ We got through a few alphabets before she decided to call it quits so we moved on to other activities…