4.2.08

"Steamed" fish with chili and lime

This fish isn't steamed in the traditional sense but it's close enough. I call this fish steamed because by cooking the fish sealed up with some liquid in a hot oven, the fish will cook in the trapped steam from the liquid. So even though it's cooked in an oven the fish stays light and moist and doesn't dry out at all.

To make the fish I chopped up some garlic, ginger and a chili pepper and tossed them into a baking dish lined with foil. I then halved one lime and squeezed it's juice into the dish followed by another lime cut into a couple pieces. For the steaming liquid (and later sauce) I poured in a glug of white wine, some soy sauce, and a couple drops of fish sauce*. To finish, I put the two fish fillets in the dish and spooned over a but of the liquid and other stuff then seasoned the whole thing with some salt and pepper before sealing up the dish with some more foil. I cooked the fish in the oven at 450°F for about 18 minutes since it was frozen, but I would give less time if it were fresh. I then served the fish over some rice (and seaweed for extra nutrients) and spooned some of the sauce over the whole thing.

*Make sure to only use a couple drops of fish sauce. It's pungent!

2 comments:

kellyb said...

Do you think you could steam tofu in this manner? Like, would it infuse with all the flavour? Or would it just come out kindda... melty?

Connie said...

I wouldn't cook silken tofu like this, but a medium or firm tofu should work fine. I like firm tofu better when it's stir fried so I would probably go for medium tofu for this recipe.

I just got a new cookbook, Kylie Kwong's "Simple Chinese Cooking", that has a pile of vegan recipes. I'll send you one for braised tofu which is the same sort of idea.