With Vouvray Domaine Des Lauriers, 2021
In Hong Kong cooking, steamed whole fish is all about freshness
In Hong Kong cooking, steamed whole fish is all about bringing out the freshness of the fish while eliminating any unpleasant fish smell. Aromatic greens such as spring onions and coriander are quite often used to remove the fishy smell. Light soy sauce (the soy sauce that was made from the first brew) is the main seasoning for steamed fish dish. It is not too heavy, so it won’t overwhelm the fresh flavour from the fish; yet it is salty, so it creates good contrast of flavours to the fish. The soy sauce and spring onion sauce almost acts the same as the salty sea water in fresh oyster – it brings out the best ocean flavour of the seafood. It also preserves the freshness of the ingredient.
Steamed whole fish
Ingredients:
1 whole white fish (e.g. seabass or seabream), scaled and cleaned; keep the fins and head
1 – 2 bunches of spring onions, roughly shredded
1 large bunch of fresh coriander, cut into half or 1/3, keep leaves on stems
2-3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Few pinches of sea salt
Methods:
Pat the fish dry and rub the inside of the fish with sea salt. Sprinkle a small pinch of sea salt on top of the fish. Brush a heat resistant serving plate with few drops of oil, lay the fish onto the plate and let it stand for around 5-10 minutes. This will reduce the amount of water released during the steaming
Boil a pot of water in a steamer in the meantime. Once the water is boiling, put the fish into the steamer. Steam with lid on for 12 – 18 minutes depending on the size of the fish. Make sure that you wipe dry the condensation on top of the lid before putting it onto the steamer
When the fish is ready, take it out from the pot and lay the spring onion and coriander on top of the fish
Heat up the vegetable oil in very high heat in a pan until very hot and bubbling, pour evenly it all over the spring onions and coriander on the fish – this process is called “sprinkling of the cooked oil” in Cantonese. The fish will get all steamy and bubbly. The hot oil will release the flavour of the spring onions and coriander. It will then carry the flavours and penetrate them into the fish from the top, creating a wonderful combination of flavours
After pouring the hot oil pour the soy sauce evenly on the fish. Serve immediately
Tips:
I usually clean and scale the fish myself, but you can always ask your fish monger to clean and scale it for you
Shredding the spring onions maximises the taste and texture as it exposes the inside part (the slightly slimy and sticky part) of the spring onions
When the eyeballs of the fish pop out and the skin of the fish is slightly flaky, it means the fish is ready. If you want to check if it is fully cooked, insert a chopstick to the back loin of the fish. If the chopstick goes through and if the meat loosens up easily, it is cooked
Some people like to add the soy sauce first before adding the hot oil. It is like the debate on whether you should add jam or clotted cream first when eating a scone. I personally prefer the other way round because the oil will create a layer on top of the fish, avoiding the soy sauce from going to into the fish and make it too salty
How to shred spring onions:
You can either shred the spring onions with the chef knife or with a fork. If using a fork, cut the spring onions into 3cm chunks, hold one end of the chunks, insert the fork to the same end and pull to the other end. The spring onions will curl up slightly. My mum likes to shred spring onions this way as it looks good. There are gadgets you can buy to shred spring onions too
Wine pairing:
I have chosen a light white wine with high acidity for this steamed fish – a Vouvray. High acidity wine reacts nicely with salty soy sauce as it freshens up the palate. This wine also has a good citrus flavour which adds a hint of freshness to the fish. The honey flavour characteristic in the background reacts nicely with the sweet spring onion and coriander.
Comentários