Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

Steamed fish, Teochew style is typically done with the simplest of ingredients - shredded ginger, pickled sour plums, mustard greens (salted vegetable), sliced shitake mushrooms and garnished with green onions. However, being a pork lover, I could not resist adding in a bit of minced pork to add more juice and flavor to the fish gravy.

Although I am a Teochew, I am shy to say that the only dishes I am familiar with, off the top of my head, are Teochew Steamed Fish, Teochew Porridge (Congee) and Or Nee (Yam Paste).

Amy Beh from Kuali has a great Teochew-Style Steamed Fish recipe. What I have below has a few more ingredients.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

- 1 pomfret (you can also use garoupa fish)
- 1 tbsp ginger, shredded
- 1 stalk spring onions, shredded
- 1/4 lb (or less) minced pork, seasoned with salt, pepper and corn starch
- 2 shitake mushrooms (I used dried ones, so I soaked them in warm water before slicing them up)
- 1 tomato, cut into wedges
- 1/4 lb preserved green mustard, cleaned and shredded
- 2 preserved sour plums (I used a Japanese brand preserved plums that are red in color)

Seasoning for fish:

- 1/2 tsp salt
- a few dashes white pepper
- 1/2 tsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp rice wine or shaoxing wine
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 pc chicken stock dissolved in 1/2 bowl warm water

Garnish:
- 1 stalk spring onions, shredded
- 1 red chilli, shredded

Preparation and Cooking Method:

1. Wash fish and pat dry. Make a few slits on each side of the fish. Rub lightly with salt, pepper and corn starch. Remember to do this within the fish stomach as well. Then stuff a few shreds of ginger and spring onions into the slits and fish stomach.

2. Heat up 1-2 tbsp oil. Add in shredded ginger, pork and mushrooms and stir fry until fragrant, then add in the rest of the ingredients and seasoning and bring to a boil.

3. Arrange fish on a steaming tray and pour mixture from (2) over the fish.

4. Steam over high heat for 12-15 minutes or until cooked. Garnish with shredded spring onions and chilli.

Cook’s Note:

- According to Amy, when the eyes of the fish has popped out, this is an indication that the fish is cooked.

- This Teochew Style Steamed Fish can be a bit salty becos of the presence of many salty ingredients like light soy sauce, fish sauce, chicken stock and preserved green mustard. You may wish to omit the chicken stock and just use plain warm water.

Hi, it’s me, the tilapia fish again. This time I am being cooked in a very fragrant ginger sauce. I think I need to be placed in a bigger plate cos my mouth is over the edge of this one. I am screwed steamed in this recipe.

Let’s see what the cook did to me for this Steamed Fish In Ginger Sauce:

Ingredients (Serves 2):

- 1 tilapia fish (about 1 lb), or any other fish good for steaming
- 1 stalk spring onion, cut on the bias, 2″ lengths
- a few slices of ginger
- 1 red chilli, seeds removed, cut into thin shreds

Seasoning for fish:

- salt, pepper, corn flour

Sauce Mix:

- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- a few dashes white pepper
- 1/3 tsp sugar
- 1/2 bowl warm water
- 1 tbsp cooking wine (cook used rice wine)

Cooking Method:

1. Rinse fish and pat dry. Sprinkle some salt, a few dashes of white pepper and a sprinkle of corn flour over the fish skin and in the stomach. Use fingers to gently rub the seasoning on the fish.

2. Cut a few slits on both sides of the fish and insert a piece of cut spring onion into each slit. Stuff a few pieces of cut spring onions and a few pieces of ginger into the fish stomach. Put fish on a plate and in a steamer and steam over high heat for 8 minutes.

3. In the meanwhile, heat up 2 tbsp oil in a saucepan. Stir fry minced ginger and garlic until fragrant, then add in the rest of the sauce mix (except the rice wine). Bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off heat then add rice wine.

4. After fish is steamed for 8 minutes, pour ginger sauce in Step (3) over the fish and steam for another 5 minutes. (If you have a flatter fish, steam for less time.)

5. Remove fish from steamer and garnish with spring onions and red chilli.

6. Serve with plain white rice. Ginger sauce tastes very fragrant when mixed with rice because of the addition of the rice wine.

Enjoy the Steamed Fish In Ginger Sauce. J liked the sauce a lot. So did the cook.

A few days ago, a reader by the name of Delia tried my Leek and Tofu recipe and commented that it “…came out very nice” and was “… nice to have a change from the usual leek with prawns recipe.” :) Thanks Delia!

Because of her encouragement, I looked for another recipe with leeks and found another easy recipe which is simply delicious.

Now, the problem I faced in this recipe was which type of fish to use? I am not an expert in buying fish. I usually buy salmon fillets or pomfrets only. It happened that the other day at the supermarket, I saw this “auntie” (customer) with an amiable disposition buying some fish. She looked like she knew what she was buying, so I decided to approach her for some fish advice and I asked her what fish is good for pan-frying?

She cordially said that she herself bought a live tilapia fish ($3.99 per pound) and the reason she bought a tilapia fish is because their bones are longer, so it’s easier for kids to handle. Arrr… easier for kids - just what I wanted! I’ve got one big kid at home currently.

I got the fishmonger to kill, clean and scale the live tilapia fish for me. Actually the fish wasn’t quite dead even after the cleaning and scaling. When I was at the cashiers, the poor thing flipped its tail a bit. That gave me a scare!

Anyways, here is the easy Chinese recipe for my Fish With Leeks And Fermented Soy Beans:

Ingredients (Serves 2):

- 1 tilapia fish
- 1 stalk green onions (cut into 2″ lengths)
- 4-5 slices ginger
- 1 stalk leeks (use 2 stalks if you love leeks) (cut the white part into slices on the bias)
- 1/4 lb minced pork (the non-lean type)
- 1 tbsp fermented soy beans
- 1/2 bowl warm water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 red chillies (remove seeds and cut into slices)
- corn starch water

Seasoning for pork and tilapia:
- salt, white pepper, corn starch

Cooking Method:

1. Season minced pork with a sprinkle of salt, a couple dashes of white pepper and a sprinkle of corn starch. Mix well.

2. Do the same for the tilapia. Sprinkle salt, white pepper and corn starch on the inside (stomach) and outside (skin) and gently rub the seasoning onto the tilapia. Insert 2-3 slices of ginger and a few pieces of spring onions into the stomach of the tilapia.

3. Heat up 3-4 tbsp oil in a wok. Pan fry fish until both sides become golden brown or cooked. Dish out and set aside.

4. In the same wok, add the remaining green onions and ginger. Add the minced pork and stir fry until fragrant before adding the leeks. Fry over high heat until fragrant, then add the fermented soy beans and mix well.

5. Add in the tilapia and half a bowl of water and cook over low heat for about 10 mins. (Cover wok so that the gravy won’t evaporate.)

6. Add sugar and chilli slices and mix well. Slowly add corn starch solution and stir well until desired gravy thickness.

7. Serve the Fish With Leeks And Fermented Soy Beans with plain white rice and remember to drizzle the flavorful gravy over the rice. Enjoy!

The sardine experience is one which will leave behind a foul fishy smell that is pretty nasty. Remember to brush your teeth after you eat sardines or your breath will stink. If you are on a date, stay away from anything sardine or you won’t get any kisses. Don’t make me say “I told you so!”.

If you need an additional dose of calcium, are not on a date, and have access to toothbrush and toothpaste, then sardines are actually good for you!

Canned sardine brands such as Ligo are quite popular and they are an inexpensive source of sustenance. A 5.5oz (155g) can of sardines (in tomato sauce), per picture above, costs 79 cents, contains about three servings, each serving having Vitamin A 6%, Calcium 15%, Iron 6%, the percentages being the percent daily values based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

I am supposed to be consuming 1200mg of calcium per day. The prenatal tablets only contains 200mg. Why don’t they just add more calcium and solve the problem! So in my hunt for more calcium foods (besides milk and soybeans), I came across something I like and haven’t eaten for a while.

Canned sardines in tomato sauce is not really great on its own. I like to mash up the sardines, remove the bones and then stir fry them with olive oil, chopped onions, chopped tomato and dried (or fresh) red chili. I also add some salt to taste, but am careful not to put too much salt as that will cause calcium loss and defeats the purpose of eating sardines then.

You can serve the sardines in a hot dog bun, eat them with plain crackers or even make sardine puffs. Sardines are good for you. Just remember to brush your teeth after that.

I really like Mr Lee - Mr Lee Kum Kee.
He makes Asian cooking so easy.
A packet of sauce, that’s all I need.
With a salmon fillet, two mouths I feed.

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