2013 Cooking Club Week 16: Chinese Steamed White Fish with Garlic, Ginger and Leek

Mrs Fox

This is a super simple dish. Made for sharing as a sign of good luck, it's light, clean tasting and fairly healthy. Delicate white fish is ideal, such as sea bass or sole, but you can also use cod, snapper, whiting, turbot, barramundi, monkfish, etc.


Chinese Steamed White Fish with Garlic, Ginger and Leek.
Serves 2-4

Ingredients
2 fillet of white fish, or a whole cleaned and gutted fish.
1 tsp salt
a thumb size ginger, finely shredded
1 carrot, finely shredded
1 leek, finely shredded
3 spring onions, sliced
1 fresh red chilli sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 tbsp light soy
2 tbsp dark soy 
1 tbsp groundnut oil, or flavorless oil such as sunflower, rapeseed, but never olive!
2 tsp sesame oil
Optional: Tender broccoli stems
a handful of mushrooms


**Dark soy missing from photo


Pat the fish dry with kitchen paper. Put a serving/dinner plate into a steaming basket, and place the fish on it. Rub salt on both sides of the fish and leave for half hour.
By the way, I was making two separate plates per fillet as the other one needed to be mushroom-free



Meanwhile, prep all the veg and aromatics.



Scatter the top of the fish with first ginger, then carrots, and then leek. If using broccoli and mushroom, or any veg of your choice, place these on the sides of the fish. The reason I put these down as optional as some might prefer to serve them as a side dish and stir-fry them instead. I just took the easy route and throw them together with the fish. Less cleaning is always good. Besides they add colour to the plate!





Fill a wok or deep pan with 3-4 cups of water. Cover tightly with lid and bring the water to the boil over a high heat. Remove the lid to place the steamer on the wok. Gently steam the fish until it is just cooked. Timing depends on thickness of fish:
Super-flat fish: 5 minutes
Fillet just under an inch: 7 minutes
Fillet over an inch: 10 minutes, plus 2 min for every 1/2" extra
A whole fish: 12-14 minutes.
Also, it's important to check that the wok/pan doesn't dry out, so if need be add more boiling water into it while steaming.



A couple of minutes before the fish is cooked, heat the groundnut and sesame oils together in a small pan. When they are hot, add the garlic slices and brown them.



When the fish is cooked, sprinkle on the spring onions and chillies, and drizzle light and dark soy sauces on top. Pour the garlic-oil mixture over the top of the fish. Hear the sizzling leeks crisp up!



Serve immediately with steamed rice. 

dixiefly

Thanks Mrs Fox, trying to keep an increased amount of fish in our diet so this one is a definite.

carolinespring

That looks amazing and I am going to give it a go over the weekend.

Mrs Fox

dixiefly wrote: »

Thanks Mrs Fox, trying to keep an increased amount of fish in our diet so this one is a definite.

This is definitely an ideal dish to make regularly. Alternate the types of fish and side veg every time, you won't get bored with it.
The other thing I like about it is that although it uses the strong flavoured sesame oil at the end, it doesn't interfere with the delicate taste of the fish.

Curry Addict

looks great, ill be making it this week :pac:

hdowney

Where would I get one of those baskets?

angeldelight

Would this work in a metal steamer? I imagine it would?

Princess Peach

I have a ceramic steamer, from that tesco Pyrex deal Gonna give this a go in it during the week anyway!

Mrs Fox

hdowney wrote: »

Where would I get one of those baskets?

Any good oriental grocery have them, Asia Market and Oriental Emporium particularly. Cooking equipments are generally at the back of the stores. they come in different sizes.

angeldelight wrote: »

Would this work in a metal steamer? I imagine it would?

Metal, stainless steel or electric steamer do the job. The only thing with electric steamer is that I guess if it's a plastic container you might have to take the fish and veg out when they're done and place them on a heated plate before you can pour the hot garlic-oil. Unless the container is big enough to put your plate in.

You can also just put a rack or an inverted bowl into the wok or deep pan, fill the water to boil with tight fitting lid to secure the steam, then rest the plate on rack/bowl when you're ready to steam.

Princess Peach wrote: »

I have a ceramic steamer, from that tesco Pyrex deal Gonna give this a go in it during the week anyway!

They'd do the job. (I'm raging I never got the enamel casserole pot)

GalwayGuy2

I thought I'd wait a few weeks, but I noticed another recipe that, if you liked this one, you'd probably want to give a go.

Curry Addict

i made this today with tilapia, very enjoyable. didnt have time for pics sorry.
thanks Mrs fox.

Mrs Fox

Curry Addict wrote: »

i made this today with tilapia, very enjoyable. didnt have time for pics sorry.
thanks Mrs fox.

Glad you enjoyed it, CA

Mrs Fox

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

I thought I'd wait a few weeks, but I noticed another recipe that, if you liked this one, you'd probably want to give a go.

Fish in parcels are divine, easy and great for dinner parties. Thanks for the link

Dinkie

Thanks Mrs. Fox. Have made something similar in the past, but followed your recipe this time and it was much nicer. Had never thought about putting leeks in before

Forgot to take a photo (made it for guests) but will next time and post it.

Mrs Fox

Dinkie wrote: »

Thanks Mrs. Fox. Have made something similar in the past, but followed your recipe this time and it was much nicer. Had never thought about putting leeks in before

Forgot to take a photo (made it for guests) but will next time and post it.

I think the leeks idea came after watching Kylie Kwong or some other chef, I can't remember. Glad you found it nice, Dinkie!

Princess Peach

I made this the other night. It was sooo tasty!

My question is how do you chop your veg up so very nicely and attractively? I hope it's with some apparatus I can easily purchase.

Mrs Fox

You only need a sharp knife!
Here's a good guide on how to julienne or slice leeks and carrots finely.

That looks really good, Princess Peach. Easy, wasn't it?

Princess Peach

Mrs Fox wrote: »

You only need a sharp knife!
Here's a good guide on how to julienne or slice leeks and carrots finely.

That looks really good, Princess Peach. Easy, wasn't it?

Oh it really was! I just need to work on my chopping skills for aesthetic reasons :pac: Tasted great though! Sent the recipe to my mam just now. Thanks for sharing!

oscarBravo

Man alive, this was good. Today is a low-carb day, and this was the perfect dinner, especially served with small portions of bulgur wheat instead of rice. I can see it becoming a very regular dish in our house. Thanks!

Mrs Fox

oscarBravo wrote: »

Man alive, this was good. Today is a low-carb day, and this was the perfect dinner, especially served with small portions of bulgur wheat instead of rice. I can see it becoming a very regular dish in our house. Thanks!

Cauliflower 'rice' is also a great alternative. Thanks for trying it out