Friday 25 April 2014

Tom Chien A Delicious Seafood Recipe

Vietnam is a country where you can find a myriad of saltwater fish dishes. Here, electricity supply is pretty much irregular and ordinary people rarely have refrigerators. Thus, people catch the fish and dry them under sunlight. This is a great way to preserve the fish for a longer period. A sauce prepared from tiny and fermented fish is a common and ever-present dish in every Vietnamese family. Here, we are going to discuss about ‘Tom Chien’, a delicious and highly nutritious seafood recipe prepared from shrimp and garlic sauce.

Ingredients
 
• 450 g or 1 lb of peeled and deveined large shrimp

• 12 cloves of peeled and chopped garlic

• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce

• ½ teaspoon of salt

• 3 tablespoons of edible oil

• 2 chopped red or green chilies

• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

• 2 springs of coarsely chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

Preparation (including 4 serves)

Step-1: Prepare the shrimp

First, you need to wash the shrimp thoroughly so as to clean the dirt. Take it in a large mixing bowl and marinate with 1 teaspoon chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon fish sauce and ½ teaspoon salt. Allow it to sit for 30 minutes.

Step-2: Cook the shrimp

Put a frying pan over the stove. Switch on the regulator and adjust it to supply high heat to the pan. Add oil to it. As soon as the oil heats up, add the marinated shrimp and fry it for about 5 minutes until the shrimp turn pink. Take the fried shrimp in a serving platter.

Step-3: Add the remaining ingredients

Now, it is time to add the other ingredients to the fried shrimp. Add the chilies, fish sauce, garlic and the oyster sauce to the bowl and stir the mixture thoroughly. After it’s been stirred cook it again for about 1 minute over high heat.

Step-4: Serve and garnish the dish

Garnish the shrimp with fresh coriander leaves for a nice fragrance and beautiful look. Now your delicious shrimp recipe is ready. Serve and enjoy the meal. You can also take rice with it.

Tuesday 22 April 2014

Quality and Safe Frozen Seafood in Thailand

Even though the recent flood just a couple of years back devastated Thailand economically, the country has improved significantly in the seafood industry. On the global scale Thailand is considered as one of the major seafood suppliers. It is known for its quality and safe seafood products. Here, we will be discussing about different types of safe and high quality fresh and frozen Thailand seafood available today.

Seafood
 
Just after another Asian country China, Thailand is known as the second largest producer of prawn and shrimp. Due to the tropical area and the fertile ecosystem Thailand is able to produce plenty of seafood like crabs, shrimp and lobsters, which are really fresh and of superior quality. They are available on the market both fresh and frozen. Consumers more often prefer fresh food products than packaged and frozen food. There are, however, many consumers who purchase frozen food since packaged and frozen products are free from harmful germs.

Ready to eat Foods
 
Thailand has achieved remarkable growth in frozen seafood and ready to eat meals production. The quality standards and flavors have also significantly improved. A few of the ready to eat frozen seafood dishes are:
• Frozen green curry

• Tom Yum Kung (a shrimp recipe)

• Meat with fried rice

• Rice with Stir-fried meat and basil leaves etc

These are some of the internationally popular ready to eat food items. Due to the quality standard, unique taste and the safety Thai foods have been consumers’ favorite. Some of the strong quality standards followed in Thailand for foods is GMP, HACCP, Animal Welfare etc. Right from the production to the table, forward to backward traceability is fixed making sure that the food items are completely safe and of high standard. Because of the constant efforts to improve on safety and quality standards in the food products industry, there are tons of importers looking for Thai food exporters.
These days, fishermen are trained to store the seafood immediately after catching them. This significantly lowers the chance of getting your seafood affected by harmful germs.

Sunday 16 March 2014

Taking Care of Aquarium Freshwater Fish

If you are going to install your first aquarium in your home, you have got to keep freshwater fish in the tank since they are easy to manage. You do not need to be a great expert to look after the fish. Only a little knowledge can do the trick, but, you should not neglect the species. The fish, like all other pets, need proper and timely attention. Your aquarium must provide the perfect natural environment so that the fish can live without any trouble. Here are a few caring tips.

Protect from dust
 
You have got to protect the species from dust or any harmful material tending to enter the aquarium. This is why the cover is an important and essential part. The cover should be chosen in such a way that it would not let the water temperature vary beyond 10 degrees. Do not feed the fishes in excess.

Do not let them fight
 
There are certain fishes that fight with others. If you are keeping many fishes in the tank, make sure that they are compatible with one another and with the aquarium environment. You should also ensure that there are enough plants and oxygen in the aquarium.

Use proper filters
 
Proper filters are required since you need to keep the aquarium clean. A tidy environment in the aquarium helps the species flourish. Proper filters help keep the water clean and fresh. Aside from this, you must also have to keep air pump making sure that both the plants and animals get fresh air and oxygen inside the tank.

Choose the decorative items carefully
 
Decorative items no doubt make the aquarium more attractive, but you should keep in mind that some decorative materials pollute the aquarium environment. Also, these items take some space making less space available for the fishes. Fishes may feel sophisticated in clumsy space since they love swimming. If you are a real pet-lover, you would surely be happy seeing your aquarium fishes swimming.

You should of course discuss with the aquarium vendor about purchasing the kind of fishes. Internet can also be an excellent resource to search and find perfect fishes.

Sunday 23 February 2014

Some facts about Rohu, Squid and Canned Tuna

Rohu
 
This popular fish species belongs to the carp family. It can be found in nearly every river in South Asia. It’s an omnivorous and vertebrate aquatic animal. This species belongs to kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, class Actinopterygii, order Cypriniformes, and family Cyprinedae. According to its binomial nomenclature it’s known as Labeo rohita (with genus ‘Labeo’ and species ‘rohita’).

Species of this fish grow up to a maximum length of 2m (6.6ft approx.) and a weight of about 110kg (240lb). When it is a juvenile, it mostly feeds on zooplankton, but as it grows it consumes more and more phytoplankton as food. All rohu species have modified, thin hair-like gill rakers which suggests that they feed by sieving water. The species is solitary and diurnal. It grows sexual maturity in 2 to 5 years. It lays eggs in the marginal areas of flooded areas.

People in almost all countries in Asia take these fish as food. It has the popularity in many countries around the world too. But, it is most popular in Indian states like Orissa and Bengal where people love to prepare fried rohu and rohu curry deliciously.

Squid

 
These are basically cephalopods. About 300 numbers of species constitute this class. The species belong to kingdom Animalia, phylum Mollusca, class Cephalopoda, superorder Decapodiformes, and order Teuthida. They have a distinct head, arms, two long tentacles and a mantle. Their body is bilaterally symmetrical and the 8 arms are arranged in pairs. Generally all species of this class are able to swim in the water, and some species can even fly out of water for some small distances.

It’s a popular food in many countries like China, Japan, Korea, Greece, Turkey, England, Portugal, Ital, Vietnam and Spain. Recipes are usually prepared by stuffing the entire body or cutting pieces. Almost all parts except gladius (pen) and beak are not eaten. These species contain Zinc and Manganese, Copper, Selenium, Vitamin B12 and Riboflavin.

Tuna
 
It’s a saltwater finfish belonging to the tribe Thunnini which is a sub-group of the mackerel family (Scombridae). This species of fish belongs to kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, class Actinopterygii, order Perciformes, family Scombridae and sub-family Scombrinae. There are 5 genera in this family of finfish known as Allothunnus, Auxis, Euthynnus, Katsuwonus and Thunnus. These 5 genera together consist of 15 species of different sizes ranging from the bullet species (50 cm (1.6ft), weight 1.8kg (4lb)) to Atlantic bluefin species (maximum length 4.6m (15ft), weight 684kg (1,508lb)). Bluefin among all these species can live up to 50 years which grows up to an average length of 2m (6.6 ft).

The unique respiratory and circulatory systems allow these species to maintain the body temperature higher than that of the surrounding water. Canned tuna is a popular dish prepared by canning it in oils, brine, water and different sauces.

Ramen with Canned Tuna is a Great Recipe

If you are looking for an excellent recipe of tuna fish, this is exactly the perfect recipe for you. It is highly nutritious since it contains carbohydrates and protein in huge percentage. Aside from this, this recipe is fast, simple and super tasty to eat. You can master this recipe only with a little learning.
Since it is easy and quick, many people prepare it just after doing some workouts or exercises to get the protein needed for quick muscle recovery. Let’s jump into the recipe straightaway.

Ingredients
 
• 200 grams of uncooked ramen or noodle

• 2 cups of boiled water (1 cup per 100 grams)

• 1 spoon cooking oil (olive oil or plain butter is best)

• 1 fresh canned tuna of your choice

• 2 spoons preserved or fresh lemon juice (sour salt can also be used if you want)

• A little quantity of hot sauce (of any brand depending on your choice)

Recipe
 
• First, you need to put the bowl over the flame and put required amount of water into it. Allow the water to boil and stop boiling it when the volume decreases to exactly two cups. In the meantime setup the noodles by adding a pinch of salt in another bowl.

• Open a tuna can and drain water or oil into the sink.

• Pour the boiled water into the bowl of noodles.

• Put the wet noodles in the microwave for about 10 minutes on a medium heat. The noodles should dry after 10 or 15 minutes, otherwise you can drain the hot water into the sink if you are in a hurry.

• Add a little amount of water to cool it before adding other ingredients.

• Add the butter or oil followed by adding the lemon juice.

• Add a teaspoon of salt and taste it if you want some more salt.

• To finish up add the tuna (without making it too small) and mix it well.

Now, the recipe is ready. Serve it and enjoy a great meal.

Saturday 25 January 2014

How to Keep Seawater Fish at Home

The ocean is the vastest place housing millions of playful, colorful, savage and awe-inspiring water bodies. The colorful and playful lives of salt water species, especially alluring small fishes, have attracted many people to keep these species close at home. How to accomplish it? The salt water fish tank appears to be the solution. The saltwater fish tank would act like a mini ocean and display diversity and range. It allows you to keep popular seawater fishes like Angels, Anglers, Batfishes, Clowns, Cardinals, Damsels, Basslets – the list can go endless.

Education
 
Being an enthusiast what you need to do is buy an aquarium suitably sized for your home. Next is to purchase some alluring colorful fishes along with other decorative objects to establish your aquarium well. But things do not go that easy since a minor mistake while choosing fishes can end up costing you a lot. So you need to educate prior to buying saltwater fish species. The best ways are reading from effective sources like magazines, websites etc, discussing with aquarium shops and the people you know, who have experience on this.

A few things like tank shape and size, water salinity and chemical composition, fish combination, lighting and filtration are what you need to know thoroughly in order to become a good aquarist.

Keeping seawater and fishes
 
You can either use seawater directly in your tank or mix the available salt with fresh water and use it in the tank. While using the seawater you need to make sure that the water is not polluted. Better fetch seawater from ports or harbors. Never mix cooking salt with fresh water to make it marine water.

Choosing compatible fishes is also a great concern. You cannot have fishes in the tank that love fighting with one another. You should acquire sufficient knowledge on this before you choose the fish species. The aquarium shops can come in handy in helping you out. There are plenty of resources available online, so you can help educate yourself to become a perfect fish enthusiast.

Thursday 16 January 2014

How to Choose Fish for Your Freshwater Aquarium

The key to maintaining a successful and healthy freshwater aquarium is buying the right kind of fish. Pet stores or Fish suppliers keep numerous varieties of alluring fish (from juvenile to adult) to make you buy those. But, remember that not every kind of fish is as healthy as you would need to keep in the aquarium. So here are a few things you should consider before choosing the right fish for your aquarium.
Fish health
 
A sick fish may affect the lives already residing in your aquarium by bringing them several diseases. So all you need to buy is a couple of healthy fish for the tank. Observe the movements of the fish in the pet store tank and make sure the species swims effortlessly. Watch if there is any discoloration, folded or damaged fins of the fish. The fish you will choose need to have clear eyes and flat scales. Breathing should be normal and slow. Better feed the fish yourself and look if it eats readily. Never purchase fish from a tank containing dead fish.

Tank suitability
 
As they mature, many species grow bigger which may not suit your tank size. So there should be enough room in the tank for the fish. Also, make sure the fish are not too small; otherwise larger fish may eat them. Therefore, do research to choose the fish of perfect size for your aquarium.


Species compatibility
 
The fish you would keep in the tank must have to be compatible with one another. Instinctively, no biological species lives with heterogeneous species. Same applies to the fish in your aquarium. If the fish in the tank are compatible, they exhibit the maximum health.

Special care
 
Some species need special care to grow healthily. For example, some species need live foods, while some fish require spaces like holes among rocks, or decorative items to hide themselves. Some are prone to stress and various diseases. Some species are even susceptible to seasonal changes. You need to research all these before buying the fish so that they will grow and flourish well in the aquarium.