Fish may just one of the many food that the Chinese eat during their reunion dinner, which is the day before Chinese New Year, but it is as essential as butter to toast and sugar to tea.

Fish, in Mandarin, is a homophone for “yu” which means “abundance” or “surplus”. We utter the Chinese idiom “nian nian you yu” to wish others excessive food or money in every year.

While the westerners balk at the sight of an entire fish lying on the plate, it is customary for us Chinese to serve with the head and the tail to symbolise completeness, or a good beginning and good ending in the New Year.

Here we share a simple recipe for Teochew Steam Fish, using of course the dialect group’s signature fish -pomfret. This will probably be one of the easiest to prepare amongst all the dishes in this most sumptuous dinner of the year.

There are a few types of pomfret (white, silver, and Chinese with the last one being the most expensive) and for this recipe we picked the white one.

We even guide you on how to gut the fish, in case your fishmonger happens to be irritable, which is usually so when the demand for his goods spikes up. But be careful with the knife, as in this case, blood is not so good an idea for flavouring!

Teochew Steamed Pomfret

Ingredients (for 4 persons)

1 medium (about 600g) white pomfret 6 slices of ginger 1 slice of ginger, cut to thin strips 1 chilli padi, sliced (optional) 1 tomato, cut to small wedges 3 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced thinly 50g salted vegetables, sliced thinly (about 4cm long) 2 salted plums, pressed 1 tbsp rice wine or Shaoxing 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 bulb of spring onions, bulb removed and sliced thinly 4tbsp water 1 tsp cooking oil

Directions

To choose the fish:

Make sure the eyes are clear, not cloudy. Press lightly on the stomach (at the bottom of the fish), make sure it’s firm. (Do it when the fishmonger is looking away!) The surface of the fish should be slimy. Such texture will disappear if the fish is out from the sea for a long time.

To clean the fish:

Step 1: Cut a deep slit along the gills.

Step 2: From there, wield the knife down to the bottom, where the stomach is, and cut a 1½ inch slit.

Step 3: Remove the gills and blood clot.

Step 4: Wash the fish cavity under running water.

Step 5: Make three cuts along the body of the fish on both sides (stop short of the bone).

To cook:

Heat up the pan, add the cooking oil and when it’s ready, add the mushrooms to stir-fry. Shiitake becomes more fragrant after frying. Turn off the fire once you can smell the aroma, or about 3 minutes later. Stuff two ginger slices inside the fish cavity. Place four ginger slices, half of the shiitake mushrooms and salted vegetables on the plate. Place the fish in the plate, on top of the ingredients you added earlier. Drizzle light soy sauce and rice wine over the fish. Add water and scatter the ginger strips, salted plums, tomatoes and the remaining salted vegetables and mushrooms over the fish and around the plate. Prepare the steamer. Only place the fish in the steamer when the water starts boiling. Steam the fish on high heat for about 10 minutes. To check for doneness, use a toothpick or a fork to poke through the fish. If it goes through easily, the fish is cooked.

*Note: The bigger the fish, the longer it takes. The meat will become tough if you over-steamed.