Steamed Fish (蒸魚, Zing1 Jyu6)

 

This recipe was updated on 18 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

When I was a small child, I didn’t like fish. Now that I’m and adult, it’s one of my favorites. Whenever my family gets together at a Chinese restaurant, a steamed whole fish is almost always on the menu. Whenever I prepare fish at home, a whole fish is usually too much (food), so I get a fish tail, in this case a black bass. The advantage to getting a whole fish is that you get the freshest fish (since you pick the fish from the tank to be dispatched) and you get to eat the fish cheeks (the most delectable part), while with the fish tail, the fish has already been dispatched and prepared some time before. While the best tasting fish is “freshly dead” (for you Young Frankenstein fans), almost “freshly dead” isn’t too bad. Regardless if the fish is whole or not, the cooking technique is the same.

 

I’ve always steamed the fish and just left it in its juices, but after looking at the Steamed Fish Recipe at Rasa Malaysia, removing the fish from cooking juice before serving is a better method. This also makes for a better presentation, since you can steam the fish in one plate and then place it on a platter with freshly cooked vegetables if you choose to do so. The recipe’s steaming time is for 8 minutes, which seems like a short amount of time since I’ve always steamed fish for 15 minutes, but 8 minutes works great. Now I steam fish for 8 minutes.

The fish is always finished with heated oil and a soy sauce mixture. You can use a small pot or a wok to heat the mixtures, but I’ve been using the microwave to heat the soy sauce mixture. As always, you need to be very careful when you pour heated oil and liquids on the fish, as the hot oil and liquid will pop and splatter off the fish. Finally, the fish was placed on a bed of baby bok choy. This is optional and while it does make for a good presentation, you need to precook the baby bok choy before putting the steamed fish on it. Again, I use the microwave to zap the baby bok choy on the presentation plate.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1	1	Whole fish or fish tail, in this case, black bass (黑鱸, hak1 lou4)
1 in.	2.5 cm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), julienned and spread on the fish
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Salt (鹽, jim4)
2 stalks	2 stalks	Baby bok choy (小白菜, siu2 baak6 coi3), leaves separated; used to line the bottom of the presentation plate
1 in.	2.5 cm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), julienned to spread on the fish after cooking
2 stalks	2 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) lengths and finely julienned
		Cilantro (芫茜, jyun4 sai1) - optional
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Canola oil (芥花油, gaai3 faa1 jau4) or another neutral tasting oil
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry for the sauce
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sugar (白糖, baak6 tong4) or ground rock sugar (冰糖, bing1 tong4)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	White pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
		Water for steaming

 

Equipment

12 in.	30 cm.	Steamer (or larger)
9 in.	23 cm.	Plate or bowl for steaming
		Plate lifter
12 in.	30.5 cm.	Oblong plate for presentation

 

Fish Steamer Plate

Instructions

1. Fill the steamer with water and place over high heat to boil the water.
2. Wash the baby bok choy and separate into individual leaves. Place the leaves, stalk side out, around the rim of the presentation plate. Lining the presentation plate with the baby bok choy is optional.
3. While the fish or fish tail should already be cleaned of scales, I always find remaining scales that need to be removed. So remove any remaining scales from the fish, 

   

   Presentation Plate

   rub the salt on the fish and in its cavity (optional), and put the fish into the steaming plate.
4. Finely julienne the ginger and place on top of the fish and in its body cavity. Pour the Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry onto the fish and ginger.
5. Put the canola and sesame oil into a small dry bowl, mix together, and set aside. A dry bowl is important since any water will explode when the oil is heated in a wok or pan.
6. Mix 

   

   Steamer

   together the soy sauce mixture in a small microwave safe bowl: add the soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, sugar or ground rock sugar, and white pepper.
7. Once the steamer is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low to medium, and put the plate with the fish into the steamer for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the cooked fish from the steamer using the plate lifter.
8. Remove and discard the cooked ginger from the fish, and then move the fish to the presentation platter, putting the fish on top of the bed 

   

   Steamed Fish

   of baby bok choy (if present). Put the julienned ginger on top of the fish.
9. Microwave the soy sauce mixture on high heat until it just boils (to remove the alcohol; about 1-2 minutes, depending upon the strength of your microwave). You want to time this to be ready just after the hot oil is poured on the fish (see next step). You can also use another small pan to heat the mixture instead of the microwave. Alcohol has a lower boiling point (173⁰F - 78⁰C) than water (212⁰F - 100⁰C), so the mixture doesn’t have to boil. Be careful since the bowl will be hot when removing the mixture from the microwave.
10. Pour the oil from the bowl into a wok or small pan and heat until the oil is very hot. Pour the hot oil onto the fish carefully, since the oil will splatter as it hits the fish. Pour the soy sauce mixture onto the fish, top with the green onions and cilantro (optional), and serve with steamed rice.

Other Variations



Snapper Tail

Black Bass

Striped Bass