Thai style steamed fish

This is a great way to serve fish. I first had it when I visited Hong Kong and have since found it in good Chinese restaurants in Edinburgh where it is sold as 'steamed seasonal white fish'. I have since found out that it is technically a Thai dish. Oh and it is truly wonderful!

I made this last night with Coley as we had some in the freezer (sorry no picture yet!), but any fish fillets will do. The better the quality of the fish the better the taste. However, I would advocate going to your local fishmongers and finding something in season and locally produced. If you are British, don't think the only fish you can eat is Haddock, Cod or Salmon. There are so many wonderful types of fish out there to try. I'm sure the same applies to other countries too!

This particular version is adapted from BBC Good Food, but I prefer adding the pak choi later on in the steaming process as I like mine still nice and crisp. If you prefer your pak choi well cooked at it in with the fish at the beginning. I also found that using pak choi just quartered meant it was quite hard to eat (a fish knife won't be able to cut through it), so I prefer to cut it into bite-sized chunks instead. Also, if like me you have a pan steamer rather than a fancy electric device you may find this takes longer than 15 minutes as more steam escapes from a pan steamer than the electric varieties, so always check your fish is cooked before serving. Finally, the best bit about doing this in a pan steamer is that you can cook the rice in the pan at the bottom, with the fish in the steamer - meaning it becomes a one dish supper! Fabulous!

Thai style steamed fish

Serves 2

Preparation: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Cost: £5.82 (£2.91 per serving) with trout, or £4.80 (£2.40 per serving) with salmon or coley.

2 trout fillets, or any other white/pale fish. About 140g each

Small knob of fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped

1 small clove garlic, chopped

1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

3 baby pak choi, or 1 large, quartered, or chopped if preferred

2 tbsp soy sauce

Handful of sesame seeds and some soy sauce (optional)

Rice, cooked to serve

If using brown rice start that off first as that will take longer than the fish (about 30 minutes). Easy cook white rice will take about the same time (15 minutes), so that can be organized but started when you put the fish in the steamer.

Place the fish in a large piece of foil (use two pieces if you are doubling the recipe). Scatter on the ginger, garlic, chilli and lime zest. Drizzle the lime juice over and then scatter the pak choi around and on top of the fish. If you prefer your pak choi less well cooked, do not add this until after 10 minutes of cooking. Seal the foil leaving an air gap around for steaming.

Steam the fish for 15 minutes. If you didn't add the pak choi at the beginning, after 10 minutes carefully open the parcel (be very careful to not scold yourself on the steam), and add the pak choi.

Meanwhile toast the sesame seeds by dry-frying in a frying pan. Stir these into the rice. Add a dash of soy sauce to the rice if you prefer.

Serve.

N.B. The cost of the meal is calculated on the day that this blog entry was published, using Sainsbury's online groceries as a reference for pricing. Each item is costed by weight used not by the total cost of a bottle/packet of that product.

Thanks for stopping by,

Rose

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