Cantonese Style Steamed Fish / 广式蒸鱼

Steamed fish is one of the common home-cooked fish dishes in most Chinese kitchens. Having said that, I am not sure if Hokkien has a signature steamed fish dish like Cantonese and Teochiew though. My mom's steamed fish usually contains ginger, bird-eye chili and soy sauce. Yes, we are Hokkien.

This is T's favourite steamed fish dish. He prefers Cantonese style steamed fish over all other styles. It is relatively easy and healthy too, if less amount of oil is added. I usually add generous amount of garlic oil as it will brings out the flavour and yet we do not really consume the whole amount of the oil added.

I used barramundi (aka seabass) fillet instead of whole fish, it was just right amount for us. Other fish that are suitable for this recipe including cod, snapper, white pomfret, garoupa and so forth. The key point for all steam fish dishes is that the fish must be fresh.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

Cantonese Style Steamed Fish / 广式蒸鱼

Ingredients:

300 g Fish (whole fish/fillet/steak cut) 

1 heap tbsp ginger strips

Few drops cooking oil

1 stalk coriander

1 stalk green onion/spring onion

Sauce

2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

1-2 tbsp cooking oil

1-2 tbsp light soy sauce*

1 tsp oyster sauce (optional)

*I used selected premium soy sauce & oyster sauce.  You may replace it with Seasoned Soy Sauce For Seafood (蒸鱼豉油) .

Methods:

1. Cut the coriander briefly, and green onion into strips. Sock them in water for a minute or two then drain and set aside.
2. Clean the fish and pat dry with paper towel. Rub fish with oil to keep the moist in.
3. Scatter some ginger strips on the plate, put in fish then scatter the rest of the ginger over the fish.
4. Preheat steamer, steam the fish over medium-high heat for 6-8 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a sauce pan and fry garlic until golden brown. Remove garlic and set aside.
6. Add in the soy sauce and oyster sauce into the sauce pan with the garlic oil, cook for few seconds. This can be done when the fish is ready.
7. Once the fish is ready, put coriander and green shallot over the top then pour hot oil together with sauce over them. The oil must be hot enough to cook the greens briefly.
8. Sprinkle the fried garlic, serve warm.

Cook's Notes:

1. If steaming the whole fish, the cooking time for a 600g fish should be between 8-10 minutes.
2. If the fish is very big (above 1 kg), do consider butterflying the fish to save the cooking time.
3. Make sure the fish is completely defrosted for even cooking.
4. To check if the fish is done, insert a chopstick or toothpick into the thickiest part. It is done if it can be inserted easily all the way down to the bottom/plate.