I love steamed fish, especially steamed pomfrets, whatever colours they are – black, white, silver or golden. Perhaps it is the Teochew blood flowing in me that makes me crave for it so much. It is also a very simple and healthy dish to prepare at home – one that our parents would make for us every other weekend.
This recipe closely more or less follows what my mum does, though with some adaptations to suit my taste bud. I hope you will all love it too.
Ingredients:
- Ginger: 1 thumb length, sliced into 6 pieces + some slivers for garnish
- Spring onion: 1 stalk, chopped + some sliced into 2-cm lengths for garnish
- Salted vegetables: 80g, washed with water & sliced
- Dried mushrooms: 8 pieces, stalk removed & sliced
- Golden pomfret: 180g, cleaned out, sliced diagonally on both sides
- Fish sauce: 1 tbsp
- Rice wine: 2 tbsp
- Oil: 1 tbsp
- Chilli padi: 2, chopped
- Preserved plum: 2
- Tomatoes: 2 medium-sized, quartered
- Water: 8 tbsp
Method:
- Lay 3 ginger slices, a handful of spring onions, 1/2 the amount of salted vegetables & 1/2 the amount of mushrooms onto a large plate for steaming the fish in.
- Lay the fish on top of the ingredients.
- Drizzle fish sauce, rice wine and oil over the fish. Leave to rest in the fridge for 30 min.
- Scatter remaining ginger, spring onions, salted vegetables, mushrooms, chillies and plums over the fish.
- Place tomatoes at both sides of the fish. Then drizzle water over the whole dish.
- Steam for 20 min. Garnish with remaining spring onion and ginger to serve.
Tricks:
- Putting half the amount of ingredients at the bottom of the fish would help it absorb the flavours on both sides while it cooks.
- Make sure the water is already boiling with steam before placing the fish into the wok for steaming. If not, the fish will take a longer time to cook, which will in turn result in the meat becoming tough.
Disclaimers:
- Among the different types of pomfrets, the white ones are more commonly seen in Chinese and Tze Char restaurants compared to the other types. I couldn’t get a large white pomfret and so got a golden one instead – the one that my mum loves to use for steaming too.
- Adding in the tomatoes makes for a complete meal with both protein and vitamin C. This saves me the trouble of having to prepare another dish for the same meal.
Serving:
3 – 4 persons as side dish
Fiery rating:
👿
