Chinese Steamed Fish Fillet with Crunchy Fried Garlic and Chilli Flakes

I remember watching an episode of a show hosted by Rachel Ray (before she became really famous where she goes into a celebrity home and watch them cook their specialty dishes or their favorite meals); she went to Kelly Hu’s house and Kelly cooked some of her favorite chinese dishes and one of those was steamed fish.

I wanted to try it ever since but as always the case with me, with so many saved dishes and so little time to go through it all and the fact that I’m not the most organized person in the world, it was all forgotten until we ate at our favorite chinese tea house again last week.. I love everything there, the yummy steamed dumplings, the sauteed meat and veggies dishes, the sesame seed balls (buchi), the almond jelly dessert and the steamed chicken and steamed fish fillet with garlic.

I thought of recreating the steamed fish fillet that we just ate at that resto instead of Kelly Hu’s because it’s easier for the kids to eat bone-less fish instead of whole. It also has some kind of wonton wrapper underneath the fish and yummy toasted garlic which I love which convinced me even more to give it a try. I used two almost identical recipes in re-making this dish plus I added a touch of chilli flakes to spice it up a little and used cream dory fish which is a little thicker than what we had but just as delicious..just remember not to over-cook the fish ( I think I did a little so it wasn’t as flaky and tender..another lesson learned)

So here goes:

arrange the fish fillet on a plate that will fit inside a pot or steamer

saute garlic until nicely browned..I love it crunchy…careful not to over-brown it or it will taste bitter

here it is…yum,yum,YUM! love it!

RECIPE FOR CHINESE STEAMED FISH FILLET
with garlic, scallions and chilli flakes

inspired by recipes from Epicurious and here

serves 4-5

Ingredients:
1/2 cup light soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup chinese rice wine
1-2 pounds sole fillet, cut into 8 pieces ( I used cream dory)
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, finely julienned
8 scallions, cut crosswise into 1-inch lengths
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
wonton wrappers

Garnish or Finishing Touch:
1/4 cup neutral cooking oil (I used coconut oil)
2 heaping tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. sesame oil

In medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sugar, rice wine. Lay 4-5 pieces wonton wrapper and arrange fish on top on 2-3 rimmed plates. Drizzle each piece with 1 tablespoon soy sauce mixture and scatter with julienned ginger. (Set remaining sauce aside for finishing dish.) Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes.

Fit large saucepan with flat steamer basket, fill with 1 inch water, and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and transfer 1 plate to steamer basket. Cover and steam 4 minutes. Without lifting lid, turn off flame and allow residual heat to finish cooking until fish is just cooked through, about 1 minute more.

note: I don’t have a steamer basket so I just used a small ceramic bowl placed inside a deep wide-rimmed saucepan to prop the plate up

Carefully remove plate (keep warm in oven). Return water in steamer to boil, transfer second plate to steamer, and steam remaining fish in same manner.

While fish is steaming, in small saucepan over moderate heat, heat oils over medium heat. Add garlic and gently cook until garlic is browned. Watch carefully because garlic quickly turns from brown to burnt. Keep warm.

Divide fish among 4 plates and top with julienned scallions and chilli flakes and fried garlic. Pour splash of hot oil over each dish

Thanks for reading and Have a nice day! :)

  chilli flakes, chinese dish, fried garlic, scallions, sesame oil, steamed fish, wonton wrappers

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