Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinner: Steamed Fish

Steaming fish is a quick and easy healthy dish. My mom’s recipe only uses a couple ingredients that are easily found in any grocery store. The scallion and ginger sauce that she adds to the dish can be used with other proteins as well (it’s quite delicious with steamed chicken). This is definitely a dish to add to your recipe collection – it’s quick, simple, fresh, healthy, and very delicious.

Steamed Fish

Ingredients

1 white fish (1 – 1.5 pounds) – we chose black sea bass that my mom picked up (still swimming in the tank!) from Chinatown
1 bunch scallion (4-5 stalks – the sauce can be saved for future uses if it’s too much)
3 tablespoons of chopped ginger, 3-4 slices of ginger
1/2 cup of vodka (any kind of clear liquor will do)
1 cup of vegetable oil

First, clean your fish and remove any scales that the fishmonger didn’t remove at the store:

Slice into the side of the fish so you can place some sliced ginger into the meat:

Stick the ginger into both sides:

And the stomach:

Before placing the fish into the steamer, pour the vodka over the fish to remove any fishy taste (this part is optional but if for some reason you feel the fish has a strong flavor, this is a good way to remove it from the fish). After pouring the vodka, sprinkle the fish with sea salt.

Since I don’t have a steamer, I created a makeshift steamer that worked really well. Please a bowl in a large pot and fill the pot halfway with water. The bowl should be able to hold the plate the fish is on and the pot should be large enough to seal the plate and fish with the lid:

After the water comes to a boil, gently place the plate with your fish on top of the bowl:

Since my pot is small, I removed the fish head from its body. The fish head still has a lot of meat (and a cool eyeball) so you don’t want to throw it out. Steam the fish on medium high (so the water continues to boil) for 10 – 12 minutes.

While the fish is steaming, chop up your scallions and ginger and combine them in a bowl:

At the same time, you can heat up the vegetable oil and add a little salt to the oil. Once the oil is heated, pour it into the scallion and ginger mixture:

Don’t worry if there’s sizzling – that’s supposed to happen!

The fish should be done after about 10 minutes (you can tell the fish is done because the two cuts on the fish where the ginger is placed has expanded). Pour the ginger and scallion oil onto the fish and serve immediately:

Cost Breakdown:

1 white fish (1 – 1.5 pounds) – we chose black sea bass that my mom picked up (still swimming in the tank!) from Chinatown – $7.50
1 bunch scallion (4-5 stalks – the sauce can be saved for future uses if it’s too much) – $0.50
3 tablespoons of chopped ginger, 3-4 slices of ginger – $0.20
1/2 cup of vodka (any kind of clear liquor will do) – free
1 cup of vegetable oil – $0.50

Total: $8.70 – if you ordered a similar dish at a Chinese restaurant, it might cost you anywhere from $20 – $35 for a live fish!