Steaming is a confidence trick. If the fish is fresh, you do very little. If the fish is not, no sauce will save it. Buy a whole white fish you can lift to your face, or a thick fillet from a counter you trust. Scale, gut, rinse, pat dry.
Ingredients
- 1 whole white fish (about 600–800g), or a thick fillet
- A thumb of ginger, julienned, plus extra for the oil
- 3 spring onions, julienned
- 2 tbsp light soy
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- Coriander, optional
- Shaoxing wine, a splash
Method
Lay half the ginger in a heatproof plate. Set the fish on top. Scatter more ginger in the cavity or over the fillet. Splash a little Shaoxing if you have it. Steam over already-boiling water: roughly 8–12 minutes for a whole fish of this size, less for a fillet. The flesh should flake at the thickest point and look pearl-opaque, not chalky.
Pour off the watery liquid that collected on the plate — it tastes of steam, not of sauce. Scatter the spring onion. Heat the oil until it just shimmers, then pour it over the onion and ginger so they sizzle. Mix soy and sugar and spoon around, not over, the crisp aromatics if you want them to stay fragrant. Add coriander if you like it.
Notes
Do not steam from a cold pot. Do not cover the fish in soy before it cooks. Do not flip a whole fish at the table if someone you are feeding treats that as unlucky — ask your own table. Leftovers become tomorrow’s congee topping, not a microwave encore.