Roasted plum sauce

The fish had already been bought , ,detoxified  , cleaned and refrigerated in prep for an Asian dinner.  With the spouse miles away I had no cause to worry about sea food allergies and could relax and cook one of the children’s favourite proteins.

On my way back home for lunch I decided to stop by our neighbourhood departmental store , to pick up some millet noodles that I like to use for a meal of this kind. As I wandered the aisles, it dawned on me that I still had not decided on how exactly I wanted to cook this fish. Teriyaki fish was a flavour the kids loved but somehow it felt a little inadequate that particular day. It was at that point that I spotted the blood plums in the fruit and veggie section…. “hmmm how about making a plum sauce for the fish” was my first thought. ” No ! what if it turns out to be a disaster , I would be robbing them out of their rare fish dinners ” was the next thought that followed soon after.

I wandered towards the shelf of sauces and looked for inspiration… black bean sauce , chilli sauce , oyster sauce ..somehow failed to entice ! My mind was made up , I would make the sauce , taste it to see how it turned out before submerging the fish in it ! Once decided, the idea of making my own plum sauce got me all excited. If anyone had watched me during this entire process of self conversing , I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d summoned a van with sirens blazing to cart me off to the loony bin 😀

In retrospect I imagine myself smiling , frowning , gnawing on my lower lip , coming to a stand still and (what my kids accuse me of ) muttering to myself and in all possibility in a state of dishevelment of being out in the sun and open fields ! Oh well , let’s leave glamour to the evenings ,why not ?!  😉

Eagerness to get started on my sauce had me zipping through lunch and in my kitchen all apron-ed and ready. For some reason that I can’t really fathom I did not want to look for a recipe, just felt like creating one. Lucky for me it turned out quite tasty and I’m able to share it with you all. Simple cooking with a few ingredients is really the most fun and usually never lets you down ! I had some slow roasted garlic ,still in their skin , left over from a few dinners ago and thought it’d be perfect with the plums. After tasting the plums , (they were quite tart) roasting them seemed the best option to draw out the sugars and also soften them.

The natural forest honey was definitely needed to get the edge off the sourness , the soy was to add the salty balance and give it the saucy consistency. It was just the flavours I wanted . The last thing left to do was to do a quick fry in the pan with the fish , ginger , garlic and red chillies …add the sauce in the end , loosen with a bit of water , let it come together , toss in a big handful of chopped spring onions and  Voila ! My fish dish was all set to accompany some ,sesame and egg fried organic rice grains and green papaya salad. YUM !