Chinese Ginger Soy Sea Bass Recipes

CHINESE STEAMED WHOLE FISH

Steps:

• Remove any scales from your fish using a serrated steak knife. The areas to look for are the belly and the edges of the fish including the top, near the dorsal fins, and the head. There is nothing worse than having to pick out scales while you're having dinner.
• Cut off any fins with kitchen shears. They are pretty tough, so be careful with this step. Leave the tail and head in tact for presentation.
• Look at the cavity, and you should see the backbone. You may also see a membrane that you should pierce and cut, revealing a blood line near the bone. Run your finger or a spoon across it to clean it thoroughly.
• Check the head and gills. You should not see any gills left, and if there are, remove them with the kitchen shears and rinse the area clean. Older Chinese folks who like dining on the fish head will appreciate this step.
• Give the fish a final rinse, shake off the excess water (no need to pat it dry) and transfer to a heat-proof plate for steaming. No salt, seasoning, or wine should be used on the fish before steaming. Repeat. Nothing on the fresh fish before steaming!
• For steaming, I used an elongated heat-proof plate. To accommodate that, I needed to MacGyver a steaming apparatus that would fit said plate. It's simple enough. I used a wok and metal steam rack. If you need more height to keep the plate above the water in the wok, set a rack on top of a metal can with both ends removed. It's a handy and cheap addition to your kitchen arsenal!
• Steam for 9 minutes and turn off the heat. Use a butter knife to peek at the meat and confirm the fish is cooked through. The meat should be opaque down to the bone, but the bone should be slightly translucent and not fully cooked (remember, you will not be eating the bone. Trust me on this one!).
• Next, carefully pour off all of the liquid accumulated on the plate from steaming and spread half of the ginger, the green portions of the scallion, and the cilantro over the fish.
• Mix the water, salt, sugar, light soy sauce or seasoned soy sauce, and fresh ground white pepper in a small bowl or measuring cup. Heat 2 tablespoons oil and the other half of the ginger in a saucepan until the ginger begins to sizzle and add in the sauce mixture. Heat the mixture until simmering.
• Once simmering, add the rest of the oil and white portions of the scallion and stir until the liquid begins to simmer and sizzle once again. Spoon the entire mixture evenly over the fish and serve hot!

PAN SEARED CHILEAN SEA BASS WITH ASIAN MARINADE

Steps:

• Prep: Prep the sea bass by patting it dry with a paper towel. Flip it skin side up and score the skin by making shallow cuts with a knife.
• Marinate: Add all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl or a resealable plastic bag. Add the sea bass and massage the marinade into the fish. Let it marinade on the counter for 15 minutes. See Note 1.
• Heat pan: Heat a non-stick pan over medium to medium low heat and add a bit of vegetable oil to the pan. See Note 2. Once the pan is heated, scrape off any excess marinade and place the fillets skin side down. Leave it alone until it starts sizzling and rendering out fat. Leave the pan uncovered. Lightly press down with the flat side of your spatula for a few seconds. Let the skin continue cooking until very crispy. Depending on thickness, times will vary. Mine took 4 to 5 minutes. Check halfway through and lower the heat if necessary to avoid burning the skin.
• Flip: Flip the fish and cook it skin side up until the flesh is opaque and easily flakes apart. Do not cover the pan with a lid as the steam will soften up the skin. See Note 3.
• Serve: Plate the sea bass crispy skin side up and serve immediately with lemon wedges and herbs.

CHINESE GINGER-SOY SEA BASS

Steps:

• Place a metal trivet into a large wok or pot (or use a small heatproof plate placed upside down). Pour water in; just enough to almost reach the top of the trivet. Bring the water to a boil.
• In the meantime take a heatproof dish, one that is big enough to hold the fish as well as fit inside the wok/pot with the water, and line the bottom with some of the green onions so that the fish won't stick when cooking.
• Rinse the fish in cold water and pat completely dry with paper towels. Rub the entire fish with a light coat of cornstarch. Place three slices of ginger inside each fish and two on top of the fish. Place the fish on the dish.
• When the water in the wok/pot is boiling, place the dish on top of the trivet. Cover with a lid and steam for 15 to 18 minutes until the flesh is opaque.
• While the fish is cooking, heat the oil in a saucepan. You can test when it's hot by placing a chopstick into the oil. When bubbles form around the chopstick, it's ready. Toss in the julienne ginger and cook for 30 seconds. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and soy sauce. Add that mixture to the hot oil and stir until the sugar has melted and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat.
• When the fish has cooked, discard the slices of ginger from the fish and drain any excess liquid. Pour the cooked soy sauce over the fish and serve immediately.

GINGER-SOY LACQUERED CHILEAN SEA BASS WITH CHINESE BROCCOLI, STICKY RICE AND WASABI-GINGER VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• To prepare the marinade: Pour the soy sauce and vinegar into a stainless steel bowl and add the ginger, garlic and sugar. Mix well, until the sugar is dissolved. Place the pieces of sea bass into a shallow stainless steel or glass baking dish in a single layer and pour the marinade over them. Turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. For the rice: Pour the water into a medium saucepan, and add the rice and rice wine vinegar. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork and keep warm until ready to serve. To prepare the broccoli: Bring water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer set over high heat. Make sure the bottom of the steamer contains only enough water so that the top section of the steamer does not have water in it. Place the broccoli into the top section of the steamer, set it on top of the boiling bottom section, cover and steam for about 6 minutes, or until tender. Remove from the heat and keep warm until ready to serve. For the vinaigrette: Mix the wasabi powder and hot water in a mixing bowl until the mixture takes on the consistency of a smooth paste. Add the hoisin, mirin, rice wine vinegar, ginger and soy sauce. Slowly add the oil to the vinaigrette, whisking constantly with a wire whisk as you add it. Whisk until the ingredients are smooth and emulsified. To sauté the bass: Heat the vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat until the oil ripples. Carefully place the sea bass into the pan in a single layer, working in batches if necessary. Reserve the marinade. Sauté the bass, shaking the pan gently, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until golden; then turn carefully with a spatula and sauté the other side for 3 to 4 minutes. Add about 2 tablespoons of the reserved marinade to the sauté pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the liquid thickens and becomes syrupy and coats the fish. Discard the remaining marinade. To assemble the dish: Spoon equal portions of rice onto 4 serving plates, and place equal portions of broccoli on each. Place one fillet of sea bass on each plate, angling so that it overlaps the rice slightly. Drizzle about 2 ounces of vinaigrette on to the outside of each plate.

STEAMED SEA BASS WITH SCALLIONS AND GINGER

Steps:

• Put the fish in a shallow heatproof dish, such as a large baking pan. Season lightly with salt and pepper, inside and out. Disperse the scallions and ginger on top, underneath, and inside the fish. Combine the soy sauce, peanut oil, sesame oil, and sugar in a bowl. Pour the mixture over the fish.
• Set a roasting rack in a large roasting pan. Fill the pan with water that comes up below the rack. Set the pan over 2 burners and bring the water to a boil. Set the baking dish with the fish on the rack, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover the roasting pan tightly with foil. Steam the fish until a small knife or skewer can be easily inserted into the thickest part and the fillet comes off the bone fairly easily, 6 to 7 minutes.
• This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.

STEAMED SEA BASS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put half the ginger in the cavity of the fish, then lay it on foil. Pull the sides of the foil up around the fish to create a foil bowl, then add 1 tbsp water (this will steam the fish), seal and cook in the oven for 15-20 mins or a large bamboo steamer until the fish is flaking apart.
• Transfer to a serving platter, leaving the juices in the foil. Heat the soy sauces, oil and palm sugar in a saucepan with 1 tbsp water until boiling and bubbling. Top the fish with the spring onion, chilli, most of the coriander and the rest of the ginger. Pour the hot liquid over the fish to 'cook' the aromatics on top. Scatter over any leftover coriander stalks to serve.

CHINESE STEAMED SEA BASS

Steps:

• Season sea bass with salt.
• Place 1/3 of the spring onions and ginger onto a glass or ceramic plate; cover with sea bass. Scatter remaining spring onions and ginger over the sea bass.
• Bring a wide pot of water to a boil. Set a rack inside the boiling water; place the plate of sea bass on top. Cover pot and steam until sea bass flakes easily with a fork, 8 to 10 minutes. Pour out any water that may have collected on the plate.
• Mix soy sauce, chile oil, and sugar together in a small bowl; pour over the sea bass before serving.

GINGER & SOY SEA BASS PARCELS

Steps:

• In a jug, mix together the wine or sherry with the soy, spring onions, garlic and ginger, then set aside. Lightly score the skin of each sea bass fillet a couple of times.
• Lay a square of foil on your work surface with a square of baking parchment the same size on top. Put 3 pak choi quarters just off centre of the paper and top with a quarter of the shredded carrot followed by a sea bass fillet, skin-side up. Spoon over a quarter of the ginger, onion and garlic mixture (don't add the rice wine and soy mixture yet). Fold over the parcel so it becomes a triangle, then, from left to right, begin to seal it by scrunching the edges together. Continue all the way around until there is just a little hole at the end. Pour a quarter of the soy mix through the hole. Scrunch the remaining bit to seal and place on a baking tray. Repeat until all the fish are wrapped, sauced and sealed. Can be prepared a day ahead and chilled.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and cook the fish on the tray for 15 mins. Remove from the oven and divide the parcels between four warmed plates. Let your guests open them up themselves so they get a hit of aromatic steam before they tuck in. Pass around some chilli, spring onion and ginger strips to sprinkle over.

SEA BASS WITH SIZZLED GINGER, CHILLI & SPRING ONIONS

Steps:

• Season 6 sea bass fillets with salt and pepper, then slash the skin 3 times.
• Heat a heavy-based frying pan and add 1 tbsp sunflower oil.
• Once hot, fry the sea bass fillets, skin-side down, for 5 mins or until the skin is very crisp and golden. The fish will be almost cooked through.
• Turn over, cook for another 30 seconds - 1 minute, then transfer to a serving plate and keep warm. You'll need to fry the sea bass fillets in 2 batches.
• Heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil, then fry the large knob of peeled ginger, cut into matchsticks, 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves and 3 thinly shredded red chillies for about 2 mins until golden.
• Take off the heat and toss in the bunch of shredded spring onions. Splash the fish with 1 tbsp soy sauce and spoon over the contents of the pan.

MISO AND SOY CHILEAN SEA BASS

Steps:

• Whisk together the sake, mirin, soy sauce, brown sugar, and miso paste in a bowl to make the marinade. Place the sea bass in a large sealable plastic bag and pour the marinade over the sea bass. Chill in refrigerator 3 to 6 hours. Arrange the fillets on a baking sheet. Discard the marinade.
• Preheat the oven's broiler and set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source. Prop the oven door to remain slightly ajar.
• Bake the sea bass under the broiler until the fish flakes easily with a fork, 7 to 9 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped green onions to serve.