Steamed Fish Tail

In Chinese cooking, steaming is a very much preferred method in cooking to deep frying. My mom always insists that when cooking at home, we should try our best to keep our meals simple and healthy. This is to balance out what is served outside in restaurants, cafes and ‘Kopitiam’ (Malaysian coffee shops).

Steaming is a good way to bring out the sweetness in fresh seafood, may it be clams, crabs or even fish. Usually not much marinade or seasoning is added to the fresh seafood if we want to taste the original sweetness. Cantonese call it “seen theem hoi mei”.

“Sek pan” or also known as the Garoupa, is my favourite fish when it comes to making fish porridge or steaming. For this recipe, we need a Garoupa fish tail. Only about 8″ – 10″ of  a large Garoupa tail should serve 4 persons nicely with some accompanying dishes for a Chinese lunch or dinner. Make sure the fish tail is properly scaled and 2 slits made along both sides of the tail (width).

Ingredients

600 gm Garoupa fish tail
thumb size ginger (julienne)
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp garlic olive oil
a drizzle of sesame oil
2 Tbsp water
a sprig of spring onions (chopped)
1 large red chili (chopped)
a dash of white pepper

Method

1. Put the fish tail into a steamer plate.
2. Garnish with julienne of ginger, drizzle all the oils and soy sauce over the tail and add 2 Tbsp of water.
3. Place it into a steamer for 20 minutes or until a chopstick can poke through the fish tail effortlessly.
4. Garnish with chopped chilies, spring onions and add a dash of white pepper. Serve hot.