Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Spring Onion

Ingredients

• 1 whole sea bass, about 600g, scaled and gutted
• 40g fresh ginger
• 6 spring onions
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 4 tbsp groundnut oil
• A small handful of coriander sprigs
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Before you cook

• Rinse the fish inside and out and pat it thoroughly dry, inside the cavity too.
• Score the thickest part of each side with two shallow diagonal cuts down to the bone.
• Cut half the ginger into thick coins and the rest into hair-fine matchsticks, keeping them separate.
• Cut three spring onions into 5cm lengths and shred the remaining three lengthways into fine threads.
• Drop the shredded spring onion and the ginger matchsticks into a bowl of iced water so they curl.
• Lay the spring onion lengths and the ginger coins on a heatproof plate that fits inside your steamer, and set the fish on top so it sits raised off the plate.
• Rub the Shaoxing wine and white pepper over the fish and into the cavity.
• Stir the soy sauce, sugar and water together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves.

Steps

1. Bring 5cm of water to a hard rolling boil in a wok or wide pan fitted with a steamer rack.
2. Lower the plate of fish onto the rack and cover with a tight lid.
3. Steam over high heat for 8 minutes for a 600g fish, adding 1 minute for every extra 100g.
4. Check the fish by pushing a chopstick into the thickest part behind the head, which should slide through with no resistance.
5. Lift the plate out carefully and tip away all the cloudy liquid that has collected, along with the cooked ginger and spring onion underneath.
6. Drain the curled ginger and spring onion threads and pile them over the fish.
7. Scatter the coriander sprigs on top.
8. Heat the groundnut oil in a small pan until it shimmers and a shred of spring onion sizzles instantly on contact.
9. Pour the hot oil straight over the ginger and spring onion so it hisses and wilts them.
10. Warm the soy mixture in the same pan for 20 seconds, then pour it around the edge of the plate rather than over the fish.
11. Bring the plate to the table at once and serve with plain steamed rice.