Bought this wild catch snapper from Ap Lei Chau market (in the South of Hong Kong Island). Wild catch fish is the best! So it's easy to steam fish. Remember to dry the fish body with a clean towel, and put a slight dash of salt on it. Then put some green onion beneath the fish body so that the steam will go in from the bottom of the fish. Then put some ginger on it. For a fish about 20 oz, it should take about 9-10 minutes. But you should note the fish body temperature and the thickness and judge how long it should take. There is no equation but all depends on your experience. Remember steamed fish should be in high heat. Then when it's almost done, put the green onion on it and cover the lid again for about 10-15 seconds. Then pour some heat oil on it. Finish it with the soy sauce. I use 2 different types of soy sauce. One is the traditional one and the other is the soy sauce for steamed fish. Why I use both because the soy sauce for steamed fish is a bit too sweet and it doesn't taste like soy sauce. For the traditional soy sauce, I find it a bit too salty. So I use both half and half to balance it.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
My cooking - steamed snapper
Bought this wild catch snapper from Ap Lei Chau market (in the South of Hong Kong Island). Wild catch fish is the best! So it's easy to steam fish. Remember to dry the fish body with a clean towel, and put a slight dash of salt on it. Then put some green onion beneath the fish body so that the steam will go in from the bottom of the fish. Then put some ginger on it. For a fish about 20 oz, it should take about 9-10 minutes. But you should note the fish body temperature and the thickness and judge how long it should take. There is no equation but all depends on your experience. Remember steamed fish should be in high heat. Then when it's almost done, put the green onion on it and cover the lid again for about 10-15 seconds. Then pour some heat oil on it. Finish it with the soy sauce. I use 2 different types of soy sauce. One is the traditional one and the other is the soy sauce for steamed fish. Why I use both because the soy sauce for steamed fish is a bit too sweet and it doesn't taste like soy sauce. For the traditional soy sauce, I find it a bit too salty. So I use both half and half to balance it.
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6 comments:
This is so great. Thank you for showing us the method of steaming fish. We never steam good fish at home. They are either fishy or no taste. I will print out this and share with my friends here.
There are a few things about making good steam fish. 1. a fresh fish 2. if it's a fish living in a muddy water area, put some dried tangerine peel to take away the muddy smell of the fish. Of course, you should soak the tangerine peel in cold water for an hour and then wipe away the inner white tissue of the peel (that smell and in Chinese it's called "wet hot - meaning hard to be aborbed by our body). 3. dry the fish. 4. steam in high heat. 5. ginger and green onion are the best with steam fish.
No wonder, what we lack of is fresh fish. We only go to Chinese Grocery Store every Sunday night after dinner.
Will try the orange peel in the fish next time.
Question: Do we need to cook the ginger and green onion with soy sauce first, or just throw the ginger and green onion to the fish to steam without pre-cooking?
Mmh... if you can't get a fresh fish (I mean not those frozen or being kept cold for some time), then forget about steamed fish. Shouldn't be the orange peel. It's the dried tangerine peel which is most used for red bean sweet. Those tangerine peel was sun dried and then put in a glass jar for years (some for 15-20 years). No need to cook the giner and green onion (it should be called scallion instead of green onion). The ginger and scallion should be cut fresh and shouldn't be prepared a long time before the steaming. Should be steamed within 15 minutes after cutting. Remember those ginger, garlic, scallion, onion will keep losing their aroma when they are cut. So I often told the others to cut such ingredients right before making the dish. First put the ginger on the fish. For the scallion, cut them at about 1.5 inches length and then cut those vertically for making those look like flower - that's the best for releasing the aroma of the scallion. Or back to my grandma traditional recipe - put the diced scallions together with ginger on the fish body for steaming.
You are right. Steam fish is only good for fresh fish. Otherwise you waste your cooking time and effort with a dead(frozen) fish.
you can buy the live fish at Montery Park CN Supermarkets or even the Kithcen
if we don't have scallion, replace by chive
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