Of Fish Head and Eye Ball

Mum wanted to cook today. The whole time since she was diagnosed, we discouraged her from hassling with the pots and pans, or being too near to the fire. It is understandable that prior to this, she had control over what we eat and the kitchen was her playground. Noticing this point, I decided that I should let her cook at least once. Since last week, she had been looking for an ingredient which she couldn't point out due to her not-too-great memory so yesterday I brought her to a bigger Jusco supermarket in Midvalley Megamall and let her take her time to browse through and pick the items herself.

As it turned out, she wanted miso paste (味噌, みそ). The thick, dark miso paste is typically made of fermented soybeans, or barley and rice, with salt and kōjikin (麹菌, こうじきん) fungus. And the colour of the paste depends largely on the kind of kōjikin used. I didn't realise mum is that familiar with Japanese ingredients. And that was not all, she picked a salmon fish head as well. She said, "I'm going to cook this for you tomorrow". I'm not a fan of fish head but I nodded obligingly.

Even though Mum didn't prepare most of the dishes served for lunch today; dark soy sauce chicken and my favourite stir-fried pumpkin but she did cook one dish in particular, all by herself. Her first attempt with miso pan-fried salmon fish head. She was inspired by a cooking show she watched on TV and so she tried it out herself. It was pretty good. I didn't know salmon fish head could taste good. And strangely, the flesh in the salmon head is not the usual pinkish orange colour. Its texture and colour are just like what you find on chicken meat.

While tucking into one part of the salmon head, I discovered its huge eyeball which Mum asked me take. Never in my gastronomical history have I ever consumed a fish eyeball but Mum was persistent in asking me to eat it and so I did. Heard fish eyeballs could improve vision. Whether it's a myth or a fact, I took a bite and swallowed it in an instant. Not as bad as I imagined, but yeah, I ate it. Yay!