Chinese Style Teochew Steamed Fish | BIG Bites MY (Panasonic Cubie)

Chinese Style Teochew Steamed Fish This is a quick and simple "one-pot" meal to prepare - protein and vegetables all in one dish. You will need a bit more time for prepping but your meal can be ready in less than 30 minutes. SO EASY LAH! The recipe shown here feeds 2, just double up accordingly if you are cooking for more. Serve this dish with a bowl of steaming hot rice! So satisfying!

Watch video for step-by-step method of preparation

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serving: 2 (increase portions accordingly if you are cooking for more)

Ingredients:

• 1 Golden Pomfret (350g)

  (or any fish of your choice - gutted and cleaned)

• 12 cherry tomatoes

• 70g pickled mustard greens

• 1/2 Chinese sausage (Lup Cheong)

• 1 block silken tofu

• 1 thumb-sized ginger

• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

• 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce

• 1 tablespoon (15ml) water

• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

• 2 salted plums

• 1/2 teaspoon corn flour

• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon (15ml) Shao Xing wine

Method:

• Fish:
• Score the cleaned fish and season it with soy sauce

• Prep:
• Slice the pickled mustard greens. Taste a little piece. If it is too salty, soak it in water for a while.
• Julienne ginger and set aside
• Slice Chinese sausage (Lup Cheong) and set aside

• Slice tofu and arrange it on a dish 

• Stir-Fry Mixture:

• Heat sesame oil over MEDIUM LOW heat
• Add julienned ginger and saute until aromatic
• Add Chinese sausage (Lup Cheong) and saute until fragrant
• Then add the sliced pickled mustard greens
• Add oyster sauce, Shao Xing wine, white pepper, sugar. Stir to combine.
• Add 1 tablespoon water to corn flour to make a cornstarch slurry. Add cornstarch slurry to thicken the gravy.
• Add cherry tomatoes and salted plums. Toss to combine.

• Steaming the fish:
• Place the seasoned fish on top of the tofu in the steaming dish
• Spread the stir-fried ingredients over the fish
• Cooking time:
• Panasonic Cubie: Steam setting, MEDIUM, 10 minutes
• Stove top: Bring water to boil in a steamer / wok and place a trivet / steamer rack in it. Steam fish over MEDIUM HIGH HEAT for 10 minutes.
• Serve immediately with hot rice

Notes:

1. The usual main ingredients for the stir-fried topping is pickled mustard greens and tomatoes. You may substitute other ingredients to your liking depending on what you have at home. My aunt uses bacon chips instead of Lup Cheong sometimes. And sometimes she adds Shiitake mushroom slices.
2. Stir-Fried Ingredients:
• In the traditional cooking method, the ingredients which I have stir-fried (ginger, pickled mustard greens, Lup Cheong, cherry tomatoes, salted plums and seasonings) are spread as it is on top of the fish and tofu, then steamed. No stir-frying. 
• I prefer to stir-fry it first because I can then adjust the intensity of the flavors (sourness, sweetness, saltiness) before spreading it over the fish and tofu to be steamed. That is what I prefer, but it may not be what is traditionally done for this recipe.
• I will also try to ramp up the flavors for those ingredients during stir-frying when I am adding seasoning because the flavors will get diluted a little during steaming when the steam vapor drops into the plate. Plus tofu is basically tasteless, so it will also dilute the flavors a little during cooking.