Recipes / Mains / Chinese Mains Cantonese Steamed Fish A whole sea bass steamed with ginger and spring onions, then finished with hot oil and soy for a clean, savoury supper.
Time 25 min
Serves 2
Difficulty Easy Ingredients Servings
Quantities for 2 servings
1 whole sea bass, about 700–900 g, cleaned and scaled 1 tsp fine salt 4 cm piece ginger, half finely sliced and half cut into fine matchsticks 4 spring onions, trimmed and cut into fine strips 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine 2 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp water 3 tbsp neutral oil, such as rapeseed or sunflower
Treat this list as a starting point rather than a shopping order. Swap what you haven't got, leave out what you dislike, add what you love — this is exactly the kind of dish that rewards poking around in the fridge.
Method 1 Pat the fish dry inside and out, then make three shallow diagonal cuts on each side. Rub it all over with the salt so the seasoning reaches the thickest parts rather than sitting only on the skin. 2 Put half the sliced ginger and a few spring onion strips inside the cavity, then lay the fish on a heatproof plate with a rim. Tuck the remaining ginger under and over the fish and pour the Shaoxing wine over it to freshen the flavour as it steams. 3 Set the plate on a rack over a large pan or wok of vigorously boiling water. Cover tightly and steam for 10–14 minutes, depending on the fish’s size, until the flesh is opaque and the thickest part flakes easily from the bone. 4 Lift the plate out carefully and pour away most of the liquid that has collected around the fish. This keeps the finished sauce bright rather than diluted with the fish’s cooking juices. 5 Scatter the fresh spring onion strips over the fish and mix the soy sauce with the water. Pour this mixture over the top, aiming for the cuts so it seasons the flesh as well as the skin. 6 Heat the oil in a small pan until it shimmers and a stray spring onion sizzles on contact. Pour it over the ginger and spring onions; the brief hiss releases their aroma and is the whole point of the dish. 7 Serve immediately with steamed rice, spooning the seasoned liquid from the plate over each portion. Check the flesh around the backbone before serving, as this is the last place to finish cooking. Tap a step to cross it off. Your place is saved on this device.
Cook’s notes Ask the fishmonger to scale and clean the fish, but keep the head and tail on if the fish fits your steamer. A sea bass, sea bream or similar firm white fish works well; a pair of smaller fish will cook in roughly the same time.
If using fillets, steam them skin-side down for 6–8 minutes and skip the cavity aromatics. Do not overcook the fish: it should separate into moist flakes, not look dry around the edges.
This is best eaten straight away. Leftovers can be refrigerated for one day and gently reheated covered over steam, though the spring onions and hot oil are at their best freshly made.
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