Steamed whole fish is a classic dish in Chinese home cooking. It uses very few ingredients to bring out the great flavor of fresh fish. The fresh ginger and green onion help eliminate any fishiness. The seasoned soy sauce adds a bit of sweet and savory umami to the dish. The fish is cooked with a steamer for the shortest amount of time, so that the finished meat is tender, silky and moist.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb fresh, head-on sea bass (tilapia, flounder, or other small, thin fish with white flesh) scaled, gutted. (Select very fresh fish. If the fish is fresh, it will have clear eyes and metallic scales. It shouldn’t have a fishy or stinky smell.}
• 1 and 1/2 pieces thumb sized ginger, 1 thumb sliced, 1/2 thumb julienned
• 1 c chopped green onion 2.5 inches in length
• 2 Tab Shaoxing (rice) wine (or pale dry sherry)
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 Tab peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
• 2 dried chili peppers
• 1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn
• 2 Tab seasoned soy sauce for seafood (you can use one part of regular soy sauce plus one part oyster sauce instead.)

Directions:

1. Before cooking, make sure you have a plate and a skillet (or a wok) that are large enough to hold the fish. If not, you should cut the fish in two such that each piece is half the original length, so it can fit into the skillet.
2. Wash the fish and  dry the fish thoroughly.
3. Place a quarter of the green onions on the plate. The green onions will hold the fish so it won’t stick to the plate when cooked.
4. Stuff ginger slices and a quarter of the green onions (white part) into the cavity of the fish.
5. Rub both sides of the fish with sesame oil.
6. Cover the fish with another quarter of the green onions.
7. Pour Shaoxing wine over the fish.
8. In a large, deep skillet (or steamer or wok), add half an inch of water and place a steaming basket (or flat bottomed strainer) upside down in the middle. If you don’t have steaming basket, place a pair of wooden chopstick, 4 inches apart, onto the bottom of a skillet as “feet” to hold the plate. You only need something to hold the plate off the bottom of the skillet and to make sure the water won’t spill onto the plate when steaming the fish.
9. Cover and bring water to a boil over high heat.  Keep the heat as high as possible, so the fish will be cooked in the shortest amount of time.
10. Carefully place the plate holding the fish onto the steaming basket.
11. Cover and steam over high heat for 5 to 8 minutes, until you can easily pull the flesh from the bone with a pair of chopsticks or a fork.  Check the doneness of the fish after 5 minutes.
12. Stop heat immediately when fish is done.
13. Carefully use a spatula to transfer the fish to another large plate.
14. Use chopsticks to remove the ginger and green onion from inside and above the fish, and discard the used ginger and onion.
15. Spread the remaining ginger strips and green onions on top of the fish and set aside.
16. While fish is steaming prepare hot oil and seasoned soy sauce.
17. In a wok or small skillet, heat oil over medium high heat.
18. When the oil is warm, break chili peppers and add them, with the Sichuan peppercorns, into the oil.
19. Stir with a spatula until fragrant, about 40 seconds.
20. Turn to lowest heat, carefully scoop out the chili pepper and peppercorn, and discard them.
21. Immediately drizzle the hot oil over the fish. You should hear the sizzling of the oil when it touches the fish.
22. Immediately pour the seasoned soy sauce onto the fish.
23. Serve warm. The fish won’t hold sauce very well, so make sure you dip the fish meat into the sauce from the plate when eating.

Serves:  2

Source:  Omnivore’s Cookbook