With both Christmas Day and New Year's Day landing in the middle of the work week, I've spent the past few days feeling utterly disoriented, constantly questioning, "What day is it?" with confusion. Many may have felt the same.
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Days were spent ingesting Christmas leftovers, cozying up with Black Sesame Tangyuan and Peppermint Hot Chocolate topped with mini marshmallows, brewing small batch coffee on slow mornings, and the occasional sip of sake/cider.
Amongst my peers, I've often found myself the least culturally Chinese of all, in spite of achieving the highest degree of literacy. Consistent with these findings are family traditions, household customs, and the general approach to home cooking. Growing up, weeknight dinners comprised of anything from steamed pork to scrambled egg to marinated side ribs to steam-baked salmon fillet. The culinary genre was never strictly Chinese, thus my palate never defaulted in that direction either. Consequently, I found ten-course dinners suffocating: they were greasy, unappetizing, and, worst of all, demanded extended periods of consumption time with little eating and plenty of forced conversation.
Yet, there was always a singular dish I awaited with anticipation: Steamed Fish.
Suffice to say, Cantonese-style Steamed Fish is my all-time favourite Chinese dish. Oddly enough, I had never contemplated making it myself, until being posed with a new cooking challenge.
As part of my pre-Christmas errands, I had obtained three scallions stalks, choy sum, and four frozen Basa Fillets. Five days later, when our food supply was finally depleted, I set out with optimism to compile a meal that was both budget-friendly and sustainable (read: able to last longer than four meals).
Yet, there was always a singular dish I awaited with anticipation: Steamed Fish.
Suffice to say, Cantonese-style Steamed Fish is my all-time favourite Chinese dish. Oddly enough, I had never contemplated making it myself, until being posed with a new cooking challenge.
As part of my pre-Christmas errands, I had obtained three scallions stalks, choy sum, and four frozen Basa Fillets. Five days later, when our food supply was finally depleted, I set out with optimism to compile a meal that was both budget-friendly and sustainable (read: able to last longer than four meals).
1) Cantonese Steamed Fish
One of four Basa fillets was set aside on a greased pan. Adhering to The Woks of Life's formula, I prepared, to the best of my limited knife skills, julienned ginger and scallion, separating the white parts of the stalks from the green. Cilantro was omitted due to unavailability, in the utterly comedic but relatable Cantonese saying of "冇就算". The white parts of stalk would be lightly pan-fried with the ginger in a medium saucepot, then combined with light soy sauce, sugar, and water; the green parts would be set aside for topping.
The fish would placed in a steamer for roughly seven minutes, until the back end of a spoon could be inserted into the thickest part of the fillet without resistance. After transferring the fish to a casserole dish, I'd drizzle over the soy sauce mixture and arrange the green scallion threads along the length of the fillet. A small amount of oil would be brought to a bubbling consistency, then carefully drizzled over the scallions as to infuse them.
As noted by The Woks of Life, incorporating both cooked and raw aromatics yielded a heavenly textural contrast. Furthermore, it reduced the total amount of oil required for the recipe, as the bulk of the aromatics had already been cooked beforehand and allowed to infuse in the soy sauce.
The fish would placed in a steamer for roughly seven minutes, until the back end of a spoon could be inserted into the thickest part of the fillet without resistance. After transferring the fish to a casserole dish, I'd drizzle over the soy sauce mixture and arrange the green scallion threads along the length of the fillet. A small amount of oil would be brought to a bubbling consistency, then carefully drizzled over the scallions as to infuse them.
As noted by The Woks of Life, incorporating both cooked and raw aromatics yielded a heavenly textural contrast. Furthermore, it reduced the total amount of oil required for the recipe, as the bulk of the aromatics had already been cooked beforehand and allowed to infuse in the soy sauce.
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Results were phenomenal, to the extent where I wouldn't have known the fish to be frozen unless I had seen it otherwise. Allowing the fillet to gently come to room temperature was revealed a critical step, as was infusing the scallion just before serving. My knife skills are far from flawless, though the green onion threads were uniform enough (read: featured sufficient surface area) to sufficiently release its inherently delightful aromas.
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