One of my favourite dishes to eat at Chinese restaurants is a whole steamed barramundi fish with ginger and shallots. It’s healthy and tastes great. The restaurant I usually visit in Chinatown only offers fish weighing over 1kg and this dish costs around $65.
Sometimes we can’t get through a whole 1kg fish between the two of us, so I thought I’d try steaming fish at home with the tools I already have in my minimal kitchen. We don’t have a bamboo steamer but we do have a frypan so I use that.
So here is my step-by-step guide to steaming a fish at home Cantonese style.
Or alternatively, you can just drizzle a bit of olive oil, add a squeeze of lemon juice and add a sprinkle of salt for a simple, tasty fish dish 🙂
Equipment you’ll need:
- 1 Deep frypan with lid. I use a 28cm diameter, 3cm deep frypan.
- 1 Oven-proof plate that can take the heat from steaming the fish. I use a 26cm plate I bought from Ikea for 80c. The plate should be about 1-2cm or so less in diameter than the frypan so that the steam can circulate around the plate.
- 3 Ceramic soy dishes (you can also use empty tuna tins or a metal steamer rack instead). This is turned upside down to elevate the plate the fish will be placed on so that the water doesn’t get onto your plate and make the fish soggy.
Ingredients you’ll need: (I like to keep it super simple)
- 1 whole barramundi or your fish of choice. Fillets work fine as well. (Ask your fish market to clean and scale the fish for you, and to cut it in half if the whole fish isn’t going to fit into your frypan as is).
- 3 slices of ginger, cut julienne style
- 2 sprigs of green shallots chopped up into fine pieces
- 2 tablespoons of Olive oil (or your preferred oil)
- 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce at the end (for serving)
Preparation and cooking instructions
- Place the 3 soy dishes upside down into the frypan in a triangular formation and then add hot water to the pan so it comes to approx. 1.5cm high in the pan.
- Then place the fish onto the heat-proof plate. Cut the fish in half to make it fit onto the plate if needed.
- Spread the cut-up ginger pieces evenly over the surface of the fish. Then do the same with the chopped-up spring onion pieces.
- Carefully place the plate of fish onto the soy dishes in the frypan. Put the lid onto the frypan.
- Put the frypan onto the stovetop burner, and switch it on to medium-high heat. Then steam the fish for 7-9 minutes (depending on the size of the fish). Fillets take approx. 4-5 minutes.
- Spoon soy sauce over the cooked fish and serve.
How to check if the fish is cooked
Gently insert a knife into the meat in the thickest part to check if the fish is cooked through. If cooked, the knife will go in easily and the fish will be opaque in colour. Check the fish earlier rather than later, as you don’t want your fish to be overcooked. Otherwise, it could taste a bit tough and chewy.
Enjoy a tasty, healthy and simple to cook steamed fish dish at any time! 🙂