Easy Steamed Fish

by wiffy on November 1, 2008
(find me @ twitter . facebook . flickr)

in 15-minute shorts,Asian,Recipes,Steaming

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Easy Steamed Fish

I learnt this super easy way of cooking steamed fish from my mum and to me, this dish is perfect in every way.

Perfect because … this dish cost about S$4 (cheap!), 10 minutes to prepare (easy!) and 10 minutes to cook (fast!). It’s super healthy, and no messy clean ups later. It has all my favourite tastes (salty/spicy/tangy) as well as favourite food ingredients like ginger, spring onions, mushrooms, chili, tomato and sour plums. I lick up every last drop of the water that comes from steaming the fish… so satisfying! =D

This is so easy that you can whip this up when you’re cooking for one person too. Simply cook some rice (or porridge) while you are steaming the fish… and you have a healthy, delicious home cooked meal in no time. To me, this certainly beats eating crappy & unhealthy food court meals for around the same price ;p

Easy Steamed Fish
Easy Steamed Fish
(清蒸鱼)

Salted Plums
My bottle of salted plums

Note: If you like a recipe for steaming a whole fish, check out my Teochew steamed fish recipe.

Ingredients
(Serves 1)
Note: If cooking for two or more, just use a bigger piece of fish and add more of the other ingredients accordingly to fill the plate.

- 1 small cut of fish (for one person, about a 150g piece)
- 1 thick stalk spring onions, cut to 2 inch lengths
- 5 slices ginger, cut to strips
- 1 chilli padi, cut (adjust or omit to your liking)
- 1/2 to 1 tomato, cut to small wedges
- 2 shiitake mushrooms, cut to stripes
- 1 sour plum (aka salted plum)
- 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp water (or more if you like more “soup”)

Directions

1. Place fish (skin side down) in a plate with a bit of depth. Drizzle light soy sauce and water over the fish. Keep in fridge (covered) for at least 30 minutes if you can.
2. Scatter the rest of the ingredients evenly over the fish.
3. Steam on high heat for 10-15 minutes (note: for the small piece I had, it’s cooked after 10 minutes of steaming).

Steamed Fish (clean plate!)
Clean plate, a sign of satisfaction (or greed?)

Weekend Herb Blogging

Weekend Herb Blogging turns three this week and I am joining in the celebratory fun by submitting this favourite recipe of mine using my favourite food ingredients (ginger, mushrooms and sour plums) to Kalyn’s Kitchen, the creator of this popular food blogging event. Happy Anniversary! =)

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{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) November 1, 2008 at 7:04 pm

This is the kind of dish you can make all at once. Cook your rice in a pot that has a steamer top (I have an all-in-one, sometimes called a pasta pentola, that has a basket for cooking pasta and a smaller steamer that fits in the top). You can make the rice in the bottom, and in the last 10 minutes add the fish. The liquid drips down and flavors the rice!

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2 Kalyn November 1, 2008 at 10:28 pm

This sounds delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever had sour plums, but they sound intriguing! What a healthy way to cook too.

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3 didally November 1, 2008 at 11:17 pm

I will finish everything that’s left on your plate, the fish skin and ginger. :D

I like my steam fish with sour plum too, really perfect, delicious and easy! :-)

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4 Little Corner of Mine November 2, 2008 at 2:24 am

Oh man, I want your healthy steamed fish. Is the sour plum sold in bottle? I never buy it before and thus no idea how it looks like.

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5 Coffee and Vanilla November 2, 2008 at 4:38 am

Wiffy,

It looks superb! :D

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6 [eatingclub] vancouver || js November 2, 2008 at 5:20 am

Never tried cooking with sour plum before, so it’s definitely on my list of things to do with steamed fish. Thanks!

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7 Joyce November 2, 2008 at 12:25 pm

i’m just glad I’m not reading and drooling over this late at night

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8 Nate November 2, 2008 at 12:51 pm

We do this style of steamed fish a lot in our house. It’s best with fresh fish that has flaky flesh, like cod.

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9 tigerfish November 2, 2008 at 4:16 pm

What is that leftover piece of fish(or skin) doing on the plate?

I wish I had someone do all the preparation cleaning and cutting for me after a long day at work. Then, it is true…what I really have to do when I get home is that place all the ingredients on the fish and let it steam :P I am so lazy right? But really tired after coming home leh…

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10 lk November 2, 2008 at 6:39 pm

Totally agreed with u – Fast, healthy and no messy. That’s why I steam fish most of the time. :-)

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11 Tastes of Home November 3, 2008 at 6:20 am

yummy! i love steamed fish, this reminds me of the teochew way of steaming except for the salted vegetables :) I loved making steamed fish for myself while studying in London too! (yours look soo good!)

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12 Ning November 3, 2008 at 11:45 am

I have not tried adding sour plum to my steamed fish, I think this is a great idea! :)

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13 Alice November 3, 2008 at 3:01 pm

Nice & easy! :up: :wink:

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14 WokkingMum November 3, 2008 at 8:32 pm

My father do this quite often till we were so scare of it. But he add some salted veg too. So “teochew”. :P I kinda miss it now. :-) Miss not having to lift a finger and having everything laid on the dinner table for me. :P

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15 wiffy November 3, 2008 at 10:26 pm

Lydia, thanks for sharing… I’ll try your method sometime =)

Kalyn, thanks for your kind words … the preserved sour plums are really excellent for Chinese steamed fish =)

didally, wah you eat the fish skin!! :O

LCOM, yes the sour plums are those that are served in the bottle type (preserved in water)… hope you can find it there =)

margot, thanks! ^o^

js, it’s the preserved type of sour plums that’s sold in asian grocery stores and they go very well with steamed fish =)

Joyce, hahaha … but it’s quite healthy to eat this for supper ;p

Nate, yes I agree ;p

tigerfish, u’re another one who eats fish skin ;p hope u get used to your new work soon … take care!

tastesofhome, yes this is quite ‘teochew’ way of steaming fish… next time I will add some salted veg … I will like it =D

Ning, yes u must try! =D

wokkingmum, next time I wanna add some salted veg too if I have … I miss having my mum cook this for me too … now it’s the other way round =P

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16 Farina November 3, 2008 at 11:35 pm

my mouth is watering. i want some steamed fish too!

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17 Dee November 4, 2008 at 9:15 am

Yum! One of my favourite ways with fish! Dinner at your place is always so delish – was eyeing that pumpkin chawan mushi. Very creative!

Thanks for your kind words, Noobs :)

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18 mywoklife November 4, 2008 at 3:47 pm

What beautiful pictures !

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19 Cecil November 4, 2008 at 9:52 pm

Haa..I just bought some fish yesterday and thinking about steaming it for dinner tonight. You are so right about this as easy, healthy and no fuss dish. Sour plum..mhh..I should check that out next time.

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20 lisaiscooking November 4, 2008 at 11:37 pm

This is delicious, healthy comfort food!

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21 ladyhomechef November 5, 2008 at 1:38 am

Excellent job! I think it’s Teo Chew way of steaming fish with sour plum if I am not wrong ;) I also wonder where is your SG address so that I can knock knock your door to taste it! Wink* :P

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22 Darius T. Williams November 5, 2008 at 11:19 am

I love a good steamed fish and this looks great!

-DTW

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23 beachloverkitchen November 5, 2008 at 4:45 pm

oh!! you cook my favourite dish!! You know what my lazy and easy way to cook or steam this fish is by microwave it for 5 minutes!! lol! I can’t wait for 20 or 30 minutes for the hot rolling boil water to cook my fish!lol!

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24 Woollycroak November 6, 2008 at 2:40 pm

Ur fish looks delicious. Sour plum is the miracle ingredient, I suppose.

Will definitely try it out myself at home :)

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25 wiffy November 7, 2008 at 8:25 am

Farina, Dee, mywoklife, lisa, DTW thanks! =)

Cecil, hehe you should totally check out sour plums for steamed fish ;p

ladyhomechef, hehe ;p Yes I realised this method is quite teochew as well ;p

beachlover, woah … microwaved fish! But why not? my microwave has a steamed function too, I should explore that in future. but I since steaming my small piece only takes 10 mins, I reckon it’s already quite fast :p

Woollycroak, thanks babe! I think your steamed whole fish looks more delicious than mine ;p

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26 _ts of [eatingclub] vancouver November 9, 2008 at 10:57 am

Oh, sour plums with the steamed fish! Haven’t tried that before.

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27 wiffy November 10, 2008 at 9:09 am

Hi ts, sour plums really add a nice tangy sourish taste to steamed fish… try it some time ;p

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28 Woollycroak November 27, 2008 at 12:37 am

My slice fish was a disaster… dunno what I did. It’s so embarrassing to put up any pic.

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29 Pinky Mehan January 3, 2009 at 10:47 pm

Thank you so much. I always wanted to have a steamed fish but was scared to try. Your method perfectly suited my requirement.

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30 Linty March 5, 2009 at 8:00 pm

I tried this dish today, wonderful, I used toman fillet from the supermart about S$2.50, but the sour plum that I used was a bit sweet, but it turned out pleasantly well too. Super healthy dish, thanks for the recipe :)

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31 wiffy March 6, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Hi PinkyMehan and Linty, thank you so much for your kind words and feedback. Glad both of you liked the recipe, it makes me happy to hear that :)

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32 modgurl August 31, 2009 at 11:46 am

What’s sour plum? Can I use the paste version?

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33 wiffy September 1, 2009 at 3:27 pm

It’s the brown ball looking thing (see photos). It’s usually sold in a jar with preserved liquids and commonly used for steaming fish. I’m not sure about the paste, I’ve not tried those before.

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34 daddycook November 3, 2009 at 2:06 pm

Guys – hope it will help everyone looking for the sour plums. It is called Shatow sour plums – come in a small jar. U can get it at the provision shop.
Normally , they used it in teochew style steam fish. For the cantonese ie Hk style, no sour plum is used. Only light soya sauce

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35 Min January 23, 2010 at 3:02 pm

hi, where can i get sour plum? issit in bottled form?

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36 wiffy January 23, 2010 at 3:10 pm

Hi Min, it’s usually also labelled as “salted plums”. Yes the plums are soaked in liquid, usually in a glass bottle. I got mine from NTUC.

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