My Cooking Journal 3 - Steam Fish (清蒸魚)

As a working mum, I would prefer to prepare a dish that is simple and 'quick to cook' for my family. One of the easiest, healthiest and faster cooking method is Steaming. Also, considering the best choice of meat for our diet, fish is generally the best option which is high in protein and lower in fat compare to animal protein. Steam fish is a convenient and simple dish to prepare for dinner (takes about 7 minutes to cook exclude preparation time). And usually, I would use white phompet, red grouper or seabass for my steam fish (清蒸魚). There are two options to cook steam fish. But most of the time, I prefer to use option 1 as it is simple and faster to prepare than option 2.

Option 1

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium whole fish, ie white phompet or 1 slice of red grouper
2. 2 inches Ginger, thinly shredded
3. 1 tomato, cut into 6 wedges
4. 1 red chilli, thinly sliced (optional)
5. 1 dried shiitake mushroom, soak in water and cut into thin slices when its become soften
6. 2 pieces salted vegetable, thinly sliced
7. 1 salted plum (optional)
8. Green onions (thinly sliced) or Coriander leave for garnish (optional)

Note: If you do not have salted vegetable, you can just put 1 salted plum or vice
versa.

Sauce:

1. 1 tbsp light soy sauce
2. 1 tbsp fish sauce
3. 1 tsp sesame oil
4. little bit sugar
5. sprinkler little white pepper on sauce
6. 1 tsp shao xing wine - optional (If you have kids eating this dish, then I will advise not to add wine in the sauce)

Methods:

1. Wash the fish with salt. If it is a whole fish, make a diagonal slits on fish.
2. Place the tomato, sliced ginger, salted vegetable and salted plum on the bottom of plate.
3. Place the fish on top of the tomato. You may place some sliced ginger inside the fish cavity as well. Then, place some more sliced ginger on top of the fish. Also scattered the sliced chilli and sliced mushroom over the fish and around the side of the fish.
4. Pour in the sauce (mentioned as above).
5. Steam the fish for approximately 7 minutes.
6. Garnish with spring onions or coriander leave before serve.

Option 2
Method:

1. Cutted 4 spring onions, green parts cutted into 1 inch size, white parts finely shredded.
2. Scatter the green parts of the green onions and ginger sliced on the plate. Place the fish on top of the ingredients. You can also placed some ginger sliced in the fish cavity. Then, steam fish for 7-8 minutes.
3. Transfer the fish onto a serving plate and removes the ginger slices. Scatter the shredded spring onions (white parts) and coriander leaves on top of the fish.
4. Prepare a small sauce pan, heat up the sauce pan, pour in 1 tbsp of olive oil, heat up the oil and carefully drizzle the hot oil over the fish. This helps to infuse the green onions and coriander leaves flavour into the fish.
5. Now, pour in the sauce into the sauce pan, heat up the sauce and pour in the sauce over the fish.
6. Ready to serve.