“Good Canto” often meant “Hong Kong Canto” at NYU Stern, where my classes and social circles were dominated by fellow Asians, and I was informed by countless peers that my Cantonese sounded “funny”. Funny as my accent seemed (stemming from the parentals’ Wuzhou heritage), I never let it stop me from ordering dim sum in Chinatown or buying cheap fruits and veggies at the street stands. In fact, I always felt quite at home in Chinatown, where the fake goods hawkers still stand on street corners with their walkie talkies, yelling out brand name labels to entice passerbys to check out their warehouse goodies.
However, there was still one hurdle left to conquer. In all my years living in the city and countless hours in Chinatown, I had never done one thing: bought fish.
Now these are not your usual fish fillets, neatly scaled, deboned, and packaged at your local grocery store. These are freshly caught (or I’d like to think so) whole pieces of fish in all their glory, laying on beds of ice and waiting patiently for the chance to become someone’s next meal. I avoided buying fish in the past due to the dizzying variety and indecipherable Chinese characters, but I absolutely had to get fish for my first homecooked New Years feast.
I bombarded my dad with questions on which fish to buy before making the final decision – Long Lee please! Long Lee, known as Sole in English, was a flat, flaky fish my parents used to steam at home. When buying fish, always have the fishmonger scale and gut the fish. You have enough to worry about with all that bone left intact, and you don’t want the guts muddying up the flavor.
Steamy Kitchen had an excellent suggestion for serving the fish. Instead of traditionally serving the steamed fish with its cooking juices and cooked herbs, create a fresh herb sauce to drizzle on top. The modified recipe below is inspired by Jaden’s recipe.
You will need a dish to hold the fish and a large pot or wok for steaming. I bought one of those metal steamer legs on which to rest the dish, but you can also place an inverted bowl in the pot/wok to hold the plate of fish above the steaming water.
Ingredients:
1 pound sole (long lee)
1 1/2 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
Salt
Pepper
Combo #1:
4 stalks scallion, cut into 3 inch lengths
4 thin slices of ginger (vertically sliced)
Small bunch of cilantro
Combo #2:
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp Soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Combo #3:
2 stalks scallion, cut into 3 inch lengths
2 thin slices of ginger (vertically sliced)
2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions:
1) Rinse the fish inside and out. Pat dry. Season inside and out with salt and pepper. Due to the flatness of my sole fish, I just seasoned the outside.
2) Take 2/3 of Combo #1 and lay it on the steaming plate. Place the seasoned fish on top and lay the rest of Combo #1 on top. If the fish is too big for the plate (as mine was), cut it in half.
3) Pour 1 1/2 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine over the fish.
4) Boil about 2 inches of water in the large pot or wok (or until the water level covers 2/3 of the steamer leg/bowl). Lay down the steamer legs or inverted bowl and prop the plate of fish on top. Cover and steam on medium heat for 12 minutes for a 1 lb whole fish.
5) To check for doneness, poke a chopstick or fork near the top fin. The fish is done if it flakes easily.
Below is Jaden’s general time guideline for steaming the fish:
Whole fish 1 lb: check at 12 minutes, add 2 minutes for every 1/2 lb
Fillets 1 inch and thicker: check at 10 minutes, add 2 minutes for every 1/2 lb more thickness
Fillets less than 1 inch: check at 7 minutes
Super thin fillets: check at 5 minutes
6) Add ingredients in Combo #2 to a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. When fish is done steaming, carefully lift the plate out of the wok and pour Combo #2 over the fish. I chose to leave the fish atop the cooked cilantro/ginger/scallions and fish juice, but you can discard if desired before pouring Combo #2.
7) Heat up the olive oil and stir fry Combo #3 for about 15 seconds. Place this over the fish. Enjoy!
Look at those colors pop. The best part is that the long lee meat will fall pretty easily off the bone when you prod it with a spoon, so you’ll be less likely to choke on tiny prickly fish bones.
Thus marks the end of my Chinese New Years feast. Xin Nian Kuai Le! Gong Hay Fat Choy! (Or since it’s almost mid-April, Happy Spring and warm weather! … Hopefully soon? ….)
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I've been told that a certain smile breaks across my face whenever the subject of food is brought up, a smile that radiates the purest forms of delight and happiness. Food transcends beyond the smell and taste of what's presented in front of me; it's an experience to be enjoyed, indulged, shared with those I love. Working and living in NYC continually opens culinary doors, from hole-in-the-walls to upscale (even stuffy) dining. I never take any morsel of food for granted, and I'm often THAT girl at the table found licking her plate at the end of the meal.
