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March 30, 2016

Chinese Steamed Fish (6)

I decided to cook Chinese food this week. My trip to the Asian market was definitely in my Zone of Proximal Development (i.e. a learning stretch for me!) since I decided to wing it with no game plan. I can wing it comfortably at places like Sprouts and Trader Joe’s, but Asian markets are another story.

This produced some anxiety that I haven’t felt about grocery shopping for about half a decade, but I think the stretch was good for me. I generally avoid Asian markets because I can’t speak Chinese very well, and they usually can’t speak English very well, and that makes for a frustrating combination… especially when I look so very Chinese. I can feel the judgment creeping in their voices as they stare intently at me and repeat themselves louder and louder, thinking: She looks Chinese. She knows some Chinese, so she must be Chinese. Why can’t she understand me? SMH.

Sometimes they really do shake their heads at me and look at their coworkers in disbelief. Not exactly a confidence booster.

However, Ben recently declared that he LOVES NOODLES. I guess I kind of knew that, but now that it’s official, I wanted to up my noodle game. Ramen, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, roast duck noodle soup, won ton mein. Let’s make it happen.

But we can’t have soup every day, so I narrowed it down to roast duck noodle soup and Taiwanese beef noodle soup for this week. The roast duck noodle soup was easy, since the market does most of the work for me by cooking AND chopping up the duck. All I had to do was boil some noodles and bok choy and infuse some chicken broth with ginger and green onions. Boom. Monday night dinner, done.

Next, we had steamed fish over rice with napa cabbage. Before making the fish, I looked over a whole bunch of recipes, picked one, and tweaked it. We liked it. So I wanted to put my version of the recipe here to save myself all that research again next time! It’s one of our favorite ways to enjoy fish, and a nice change of pace from the usual pan-fried or baked preparations. If you’ve never tried Chinese steamed fish, give this a try!

The next time I’m ready to try something new, I’m going to do this delicious-looking red snapper recipe with- wait for it- lemon, garlic, heavy cream and white wine sauce! YUM! What’s your favorite fish recipe? Share in the comments below!

Chinese Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger, Scallions, and Soy
slightly adapted from this Epicurious recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Rinse the fish in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Season the fish inside and out with salt and pepper. Place the fish on a heatproof plate that is both large enough to accommodate it (a glass pie plate works well) and will also fit inside your steamer, bending the fish slightly if it is too long. Stuff half of the ginger inside the cavity of the fish and spread the remaining ginger on top of the fish.
  2. Pour water into a wok or stockpot and set a steamer in the wok or on the rim of the stockpot. Make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the steamer. Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
  3. Place the plate holding the fish in the steamer, cover, and steam for about 8-12 minutes, until the fish flakes easily when tested with the tip of a knife.
  4. While the fish is steaming, in a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, wine, sugar, and 1 tablespoon of water. Set aside.
  5. When the fish is ready, carefully remove the plate from the steamer and pour off any accumulated liquid. Lay the scallion and cilantro along the top of the fish. In a small sauté pan, heat the oil over high heat until it is hot but not smoking. Remove the oil from the heat and pour it directly over the scallion and cilantro to “cook” them. Drizzle the soy mixture over the fish and serve immediately.

 

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