Steamed rock cod with green onions and ginger is my favorite dish whenever I attend any Chinese banquets. It is normally served as part of a multiple course meal during special occasions like weddings and birthdays. It is also a popular dish to serve during Chinese New Year for it symbolizes good luck and prosperity. With the proper steaming equipment, making steamed whole fish at home is quite easy. I used rock cod in this recipe but essentially any whole fish like red snapper and striped sea bass can be steamed. When I saw the rock cod at my local supermarket, it was already cleaned and the head was cut off. I immediately bought it because the fish without the head (on a glass dish) just fit perfectly in my bamboo steamer. After steaming the fish for 20 minutes, it came out just perfect: tasty, tender and succulent. It tasted even better drizzled with the boiled sauce and looked so pretty with the garnished of julienned green onions and ginger. My husband even said it looked like the one from the Chinese banquet 🙂 Enjoy!
Steamed Rock Cod
Ingredients
- 1 whole rock cod or sea bass or red snapper cleaned and gutted
- 3 stalks green onions julienned
- 1 thumb size ginger peeled and julienned
- Kosher salt
Sauce:
- 5 tbsp mirin
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Rinse the fish and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle salt on both sides of fish.
- Place the fish on a heatproof plate that would fit in your steamer. Make couple of diagonal cuts along the length of the fish. Top the fish with green onions and ginger.
- Put the plate in the steamer and steam the fish for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Gently transfer the cooked fish (minus the accumulated water) on a serving platter.
- In a sauce pan, combine ingredients for the sauce. Let it boil and then pour over the fish. Serve with a garnish of julienned green onions and ginger.
- Enjoy!
Peter V
Hi Lisa, what is mirin? Can you also put sesame oil?
Thanks.
Liza Agbanlog
Hi Peter,
Mirin is a type of rice wine that is a common staple in Japanese cooking. It is distinctly sweeter than other rice wine though. If you don’t have mirin, you can use dry sherry instead. Hope this helps!