Prosperity Steamed Cod (富贵鳕鱼)

This recipe is meant for my girlfriend Katherine Xu who'd just got pregnant and she's gonna due in another 4 month's time I think. I'll try to post somes dish that's suitable for confinement. So that she would be able to refer to my blog during her confinement if she run out of cooking ideas :)

I like steamed fish. It has less fat which makes it healthy, easy, and most of all, the kitchen is less greasy and less cleaning compared to pan-fried fish. This is my first attempt steaming fish with herbs. And I must admit that it's delicious, and the herbal gravy pairs very well with plain rice.

But I confess, I do use good quality ingredients. Good quality angelica root 当归, good quality red dates 红枣, good quality wolfberries 枸杞子. They are bought from Eu Yan Sang medical shop. I reckon that they do sell good stuffs, but of course, pricier than the usual medical shop of course.

Good quality angelica root 当归 is very important. If you are buying good quality ones, it taste sweet. If you are buying those at a lower priced ones, they taste bitter, and less fragrance of course. This highly revered herbs is very popular. Some people called it "female ginseng", as it used to nourish the blood and is believed to help invigorated blood circulation, strengthen liver, heart and spleen. My mother says it is also a uterine tonic, effective against menstrual disorders. Angelica root sounds powerful eh? Indeed. And it is also explains why angelica root is widely used in confinement soups and recipes to treat postpartum women.

Note : Pregnant Woman should not consume angelica root.

Oh! Come back to my fish. I got a piece of really nice cod fish at Bukit Merah wet market. It's not expensive. I stand at the fish stall and gave my sad puppy look to the fish monger, I end up paid only S$12 instead of S$15. Hahaha! Good deal!

The original recipe ask for normal Chinese dried mushrooms. But I used dried pearl mushrooms instead. I got it in Hong Kong. But some shops in Singapore do sell too. I'm just plain lazy. I don't have to slice them as pearl mushrooms are petite in size.

The original recipe is not really accurate. Especially the seasoning part. The ratio doesn't really work. Especially when the cookbook indicated 1 tablespoon of salt. I was like.... "OMG! You serious about this?" Hahaha... So, I did modification to make it taste right.

Ingredients
(Source : Choong Su Yin's Harvest Rich cookbook, with modification)

• 1 pc Cod Fish 鳕鱼 (Mine is about 220g)
• 2 slices Ginger 姜
• 2 stalks Spring Onions 葱 (the bottom part will do)
• 1 tbsp Shao Xing Wine 绍兴酒 / Hua Diao Wine 花雕酒
• 200ml Water 水 (or more if you want)
• ½ tbsp Wolfberries 枸杞子
• 4 Red Dates 红枣, shredded
• 2 slices Angelica Root 当归
• 10g Dried Pearl Mushrooms 珍珠菇 or 3 slices of Dried Mushrooms 香菇

Seasonings

• ½ tsp Salt 盐
• 1 tsp Sugar 糖
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil 麻油
• Some corn starch (2 tsp Corn Flour 玉米粉 + 4 tbsp water 水)
• Coriander for garnishing.

Method

1. Clean fish, pat dry using kitchen towel. 
2. Heat up a tablespoon of oil, fry ginger and spring onion till fragrant. Add in Shao Xing wine and water, bring to boil over low heat. 
3. Once water is boiled, discard ginger and spring onions. Add in wolferries, red dates, angelica root, mushrooms and seasonings. Under low fire, let it simmer until fragrant. Set the sauce aside.
4. Steam cod fish under high heat for 5 minutes (mine is just 220grams, 5 minutes is really good enough). 
5. Once fish steamed, pour away excess water. 
6. Reheat the sauce, once it's boiled, add in some corn starch mixture, teaspoon by teaspoon. Until it achieve the ideal thickness that you wanted. 
7. Garnish with coriander and serve immediately with rice. 

The original recipe ask for normal Chinese dried mushrooms. But I used dried pearl mushrooms instead. I got it in Hong Kong. But some shops in Singapore do sell too. I'm just plain lazy. I don't have to slice them as pearl mushrooms are petite in size. You just go ahead to use normal Chinese mushrooms. Slice it before use. It's fine.

The thing about cooking is that, you find the taste right, but it might not suit others. When the recipe ask for ½ tsp of salt, but to others, they might think that it is too salty or it is not salty enough. So, I always emphasize to all my readers to adjust the saltiness / sweetness to suit your own preferred taste.

I looooove the umami sauce! Woohhhh!!

Happy cooking!



Do visit my other steamed fish recipes too :)

Hong Kong Style Steamed Cod Fish (港蒸鳕鱼)

Canto Style Steamed Red Grouper (清蒸红石斑）

TeowChew Style Steamed Pomfret (潮州式清蒸鲳鱼)