Chinese Steamed Fish

Chinese steamed fish made with fresh ginger, green onions, cilantro, and a tender white fish and topped with a seasoned soy sauce is the perfect showstopper for your next dinner!

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword Chinese fish, Chinese fish recipe, chinese steamed fish, chinese steamed fish recipe, chinese steamed fish with ginger and spring onion, chinese style steamed fish, soy sauce fish

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Servings servings

Calories 461kcal

Author Megan

Equipment

Ingredients

1 lb white fish gutted and descaled, sea bass, flounder or tilapia
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
6 stalks green onions julienned, whites and green separated
2 inch knob ginger julienned
¼ cup light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 bunch cilantro

Instructions

Prepare the fish. Gut the fish, and cut the fins from the sides and bottom of the fish with kitchen shears. Scrape against the fish to remove any remaining scales. Rinse the fish and pat dry. Clean the blood lin at the backbone of the fish. Place the fish onto a cutting board and slice the fish at a 45-degree angle on each side for more flavor to penetrate. Season both sides with the Shaoxing wine.
Season the fish. Place a few pieces of the white parts of the green onion and a few slices of ginger on the bottom of a heatproof plate. Then lay the fish on top. Stuff the fish with the white parts of the green onions and julienned ginger.
Steam the fish. Fill your steamer with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Place the fish into your steamer basket, and cover and steam over high heat for 10-12 minutes or until the fish is tender. The fish’s eyes will be opaque, the meat should be opaque and the bone lightly translucent when it is ready.
Mix the sauce. While the fish is steaming, in a small bowl, mix the light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar, salt, white pepper, and water until combined and the sugar has dissolved.
Heat oil. In a small skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until the oil begins to smoke.
Transfer the fish. Remove the fish, place it on your serving plate, and remove the stuffing. Pour the sauce over the fish. Then, place the cilantro, and the green parts of the green onion and julienned ginger on top of the fish.
Drizzle and serve. Drizzle the hot oil over the green onion, ginger, and cilantro. Serve immediately with rice. Enjoy!

Notes

Choose fresh fish. Make sure to choose a fresh fish from a reliable source. A fresh fish will have clear eyes, shiny scales and a clean smell that is not fishy.
Have the fishmonger clean the fish. At most grocery stores, you can ask the fish monger to clean the scales off the fish and gut the insides of the fish. This will save you a lot of time.
Cook time will vary. You may need to adjust the timing depending on the size of your fish. Generally, for 1-1.5 lb fish, you will steam for 10-12 minutes, and for 1.5-2lb fish, you will steam for 15-20 minutes.
Opaque when cooked. The Chinese fish will be done steaming when the flesh and eyes are opaque and the meat should easily flake.
To curl the green onions. Place the thinly vertical sliced green onions in cold water to curl them up.
Storage Instructions: Ideally, this Chinese steamed fish recipe is best if enjoyed immediately after cooking. You can store this soy sauce fish in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Reheat: you can either steam the fish until warm or microwave covered until warm. The texture and quality of the steamed fish may change upon reheating.

Nutrition