Chinese Steamed Fish

Prep time: 20 mins

Servings: 4 pers

Cook time: 30-40 mins

Category: Snack

Origin: Middle East

INGREDIENTS

• 1 whole striped bass or sea bass(about 1 ½ lbs/680g, cleaned)
• 3 tablespoons fresh ginger (finely julienned)
• 2 scallions (finely julienned with green and white parts separated)
• 8 sprigs fresh cilantro (roughly chopped)
• ¼ cup + 1 Individual Dosis / 2TBSP Garcia de la Cruz Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 Individual Dosis / 1 TBSP Garcia de la Cruz Balsamic Vinegar
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ cup light soy sauce
• Fresh ground pepper 

DIRECTIONS

PREPARING THE FISH:

• Remove any scales from your fish using a serrated steak knife. The areas to look for are the belly and the edges of the fish including the top, near the dorsal fins, and the head.
• Cut off any fins with kitchen shears. Leave the tail and head in tact for presentation.
• Look at the cavity, and you should see the backbone. You may also see a membrane that you should pierce and cut, revealing a blood line near the bone. Run your finger or a spoon across it to clean it thoroughly.
• Check the head and gills. You should not see any gills left, and if there are, remove them with the kitchen shears and rinse the area clean.
• Give the fish a final rinse, shake off the excess water and transfer to a heat-proof plate for steaming.

ASSEMBLING THE DISH:

• For steaming, we recommend to use an elongated heat-proof plate. To accommodate that, you need to MacGyver a steaming apparatus that would fit said plate. I used a wok and metal steam rack. If you need more height to keep the plate above the water in the wok, set a rack on top of a metal can with both ends removed.
• Steam for 9 minutes and turn off the heat. Use a butter knife to peek at the meat and confirm the fish is cooked through. The meat should be opaque down to the bone, but the bone should be slightly translucent and not fully cooked
• Pour off all of the liquid accumulated on the plate from steaming and spread half of the ginger, the green portions of the scallion, and the cilantro over the fish.
• Heat 2 tablespoons Garcia de la Cruz Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil / 1 Individual Dosis and the other half of the ginger in a saucepan until the ginger begins to sizzle. Next, add the water, salt, sugar, soy sauce, 1 Individual Dosis of Garcia de la Cruz Organic Balsamic Vinegar  and fresh ground pepper and heat the mixture until simmering.
• Once simmering, add the rest of the Garcia de la Cruz Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and white portions of the scallion and stir until the liquid begins to simmer and sizzle once again. Spoon the entire mixture evenly over the fish. Serve hot and enjoy.