Chinese Steamed Fish

This is a great dish of simple, elegant, outstanding flavors.

If you haven't had a fish steamed in the Chinese style you should definitely order one at a restaurant. Sadly in my experience, they're usually on the menu reserved for the Asians or in a special section of authentic dishes, and then in a dinner for 4-6 at that. It deserves to be readily available on the menu.

Jaden Hair of the Steamy Kitchen Blog has already written an entertaining recipe for steamed fish that really works. She takes a few extra steps that keep the flavors bright and up front.  Of note are two batches of aromatics and two batches of seasoning. One set of aromatics and seasoning is used at the start, then discarded when the cooking is done. Then the fish is hit with a batch of fresh seasonings just before serving.

Recipe link one more time just to be clear:
Steamed Fish of the Steamy Kitchen Blog

The bamboo steamers are usually too small to hold a fish of any common size. You could cut it up, but part of the enjoyment of this dish is the drama of a cooked whole fish.  A 12" or larger steamer is useful here, but you can adapt a wok to the job. I used a 2 tier 30cm steamer, two filets in each layer.

Over your boiling water, lay bamboo, wood or steel chopsticks in a tic-tac-toe pattern in the wok.

Set a heat proof plate on top of the chopsticks. Glass, stoneware, ceramic will all work fine for this. Be careful not to jostle the wok while steaming this way as the set up tilts easily.

Cover with the lid and start timing it.

Don't use plastic or melamine chopsticks as they'll soften under the heat. The bamboo chopsticks may well warp after a few uses too.

If you're not near a vendor of whole fish in a size or variety that works for you, fillets or frozen pieces work just fine.

We enjoyed some tilapia fillets this way tonight.

Not everyone in my family enjoys cilantro so I omitted that aromatic.  Even without the cilantro, you really should try this dish.