Tjin's recipe: Cantonese steamed fish

Steamed fish with ginger and spring onion is a personal favorite and we eat it almost every week.

Our first memory of this dish is when we, as children, ate at Grandpa and Grandma's house every Sunday. The Toko was closed on Sunday and the whole family, including uncles, aunts and nephews and nieces, came home to Grandpa Tjin to eat together. In an apartment in Amsterdam Slotermeer there were more than 15 of us, one group eating at the round dining table and the rest in the living room with Studio Sport in the background.

On the round dining table, he had a “Lazy Susan”, the classic rotating top that you often find in Chinese restaurants. The table was full of dishes and the steamed fish with rice was one of his specialties.

You can also find steamed fish in Chinese restaurants. Restaurants often serve turbot or sea bass, but in principle you can use any type of fish. Also filleted fish! We recommend going for a whitefish for the best flavor. We use Griet for this recipe. This dish looks impressive on the table, and it is very easy to make within 25 minutes.

We will share many more personal recipes with you in the future, but for now you can try this tasty steamed fish.

Ingredients and supplies

Ingredients:

• Whitefish
• Ginger
• Spring onion
• Vegetable oil

Sauce:

• 40 ml Light Soy Sauce
• 15 ml Dark Soy Sauce
• 15 ml Shaoxing Rice Wine
• 2 teaspoon Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Ground White Pepper

Or you can use Lee Kum Kee Soy Sauce for Seafood.

Toppings:

• Fresh Coriander
• Spring onion

Supplies:

• Steamer
• Dish

Preparation method

Sauce:

• Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl. Adjust the ratio of sugar and light soy sauce to taste.
• Don't feel like making the sauce yourself? Then use this ready-made sauce.

Fish:

• Cut the ginger and spring onion stem into thin strips.
• Clean the fish. Remove any residue from that gill and rinse. Pat the fish dry and put some ginger in the gill. This helps to give the fish a better taste.
• When using a different type fish like sea bass, make sure to slit across the back of the fish and add some ginger and spring onion. 
• Place some ginger and spring onion on the plate and place the fish on it. Use a knife to make a few diagonal cuts in the fish.
• Heat the steamer and steam the fish until done. Depending on the size of the fish, this can take anywhere from 8-15 minutes. In the video below we have a fish weighing approximately 350 grams and it was cooked within 8 minutes.
• Remove the fish from the steamer and garnish the remaining ginger and spring onion over the fish.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan until the oil starts to smoke and pour it over the fish.
• Then pour the prepared sauce over the fish and garnish with coriander.
• Serve the fish with white rice.