Chinese Steamed Fish
Level up your classic Chinese steamed fish with a special tip from my Dad!
Equipment
- wok with lid, steaming plate, trivet
Ingredients
- 1 fish tail or 1 medium pomfret
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 inches fresh ginger root, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1.5-2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
- Pre-fry the aromatics. Start by heating up oil in wok. When hot, add ginger, garlic and half the salt. (See Recipe Notes 1) Saute until aromatics start to brown. Remove from heat.
- Rub fish all over with the remainder of the salt. Fill up wok with enough water and bring to a boil. Place fish on trivet and cover with lid. Steam at medium heat for 5 minutes until the fish releases its own water. Remove from wok and discard this water.
- Now, scatter the pre-fried aromatics over the top of the fish. Then drizzle light soy sauce around the fish. This will create the gravy along with the natural juices of the fish and the steam.
- Return fish to the wok. Lower heat to medium, cover with lid and steam for an additional 5-8 minutes, depending on the size of your fish, until fish is just cooked.
- Serve with hot rice.
Notes
- Most fish dishes served in restaurants are cooked without pre-frying the aromatics. However, I find that my father's pre-frying technique intensifies the flavour greatly without needing to add lots of other seasonings.
- Instead of salt, you can also add other umami agents like mushroom powder or seafood stock powder to the aromatics before frying.
- When I'm using whole fish like tau tai chong, I also like to stuff the stomach with spring onions and slices of ginger to remove the fishiness.