Wanderfood Wednesday: Steamed fish – Beijing Style

In Asia, most homes do not have ovens.  Instead, meals are cooked on the stove top.  I recently purchased a mixer – not easy to come by in a land without ovens – and this was the explanation printed on the side:  “Using for western style cookies together with ovens.”  I chuckled at the thought that baking a good cake was probably as mysterious an endeavor to many locals as steaming a fish was to me.  Still, I was determined to try it.

Since moving to Asia, I have been learning to cook some of my favorite Chinese foods – with steamed fish ranking high on my list of yet to be conquered dishes.  As a westerner, I have only cooked fish on a barbeque and in an oven.  I had just started to explore some cooking classes when I went to the market a couple of weeks ago.  As I stared at the fish tanks, my driver – not for the first time – seemed to read my mind and asked if I knew how to steam a fish.

A word about my driver, Stephen, who continues to amaze.  He reminds me a bit of my helper in Hong Kong: very smart and very open to giving advice – whether it’s invited or not.  Since moving to Beijing, he has suggested that I do not use silk to line a new pair of custom trousers (“too hard to iron”), advised that the table in my entry hall could use an orchid (“it would be very beautiful”), and recommended I don’t consume a recently purchased melon because it would not be good for my cough.  Now it was revealed that he once worked as a chef.

A quick exchange sealed the deal. Stephen would help me pick out a Mandarin fish (gue yu) – “good for children because there are not many bones” – and teach me how to cook it the very next weekend.  The following Saturday, I sat in my kitchen, taking notes and watching him  prepare a fish with the precision of an expert surgeon.  Shortly after, I was not a little intimidated to follow up with the planned side dish, bok choy.  He happily assumed control of the whole meal, shaking his head at the way our ayi prepared the rice and advising me on how – next time – I should purchase only the smallest of bok choys.

Here is Stephen’s recipe for a truly delicious steamed fish.
Ingredients:
Ginger (small chunk)
1 leek (spring onions will do)
One whole fish (ours was a Mandarin fish or in Chinese “gue yu” that weighed in at just under four pounds)
½ tspn olive oil
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup Lee Kum Kee seasoned soy sauce for seafood
Cilantro

Preheat steamer pan on high flame.  Rub thin coat of olive oil on regular sized dinner plate (that is safe for steaming).  Place 4 – 6 pieces of thinly sliced unpeeled ginger and 4 – 6 pieces of thinly sliced leek on oiled dish.

Wash and pat dry fish. Slice fish in two places about ½ inch deep.  Place fish on plate and put it – still on dish – in steamer pan, which should already be hot.  Steam fish for 15 minutes or until flakey.  Use plate tongs to remove it from steamer.  Put 2 tablespoons each of of slivered ginger and leek on top.

Heat wok on high until smoking.  Add ½ to ¾ cup seasoned seasoned soy sauce and heat to rapid boil.  Pour over fish. Heat wok again until smoking.  Add ½ cup vegetable oil and heat to rapid boil.  Pour over fish.  Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Boy Choy and garlic

Ingredients:
1 pound bok choy
4 cloves garlic
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 pinches of salt
2 pinches of sugar

Wash and separate one pound baby bok choy.  Mince 3 – 4 cloves garlic.  Heat wok on high until smoking.  Add oil and heat.  Add garlic and turn heat down to medium.  Add bok choy, salt and sugar.  Cook until just soft.

My new Chinese-made mixer broke after approximately one month of use.  Stephen’s recipe, on the other hand, will become a part of our meal repertoire for years to come.