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Teochew Style Steamed Fish Recipe with Seven Star Grouper

Teochew style steamed fish recipe or Resep Tim Ikan Ala Tio Ciu in Bahasa is so easy to replicate in your home, the freshness of the fish is the key of slurrping delicious steaming fish. Teochew style steamed fish is a very tasty and refreshing dish compare to the cantonese style steamed fish. Teochew style steamed fish usually seasoned with garlic, ginger, scallion and light soy sauce, it’s sounds like almost the same with the cantonese, but wait a minute, the starlight of the seasoning is the salted vegetables (preserved mustard green or radish), tomato and also salted plum.

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Teochew or Chiuchow Style Steamed Seven Star Grouper Fish Recipe

Teochew or Chiuchow style steamed fish got a kicking broth because the salted plum and tomato give a tangy sensation to the broth and it’s blended with the savoury and salty preserved and salted vegetables. Thinly sliced chillies enrich dripping liquid with a touch of spicy flavour. I guess most of Indonesia descent like me would love any kind of spicy, sour and salty fish. Some people like to add thinly sliced lard, bacon or pork belly which is rendered before steaming, but since i wanna my chinese style steamed fish lean, healthy and low in calories, i omit this ingredients and replace it with chinese sausage or lap cheung.

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Steamed Leopard Coral Trout or Seven Star Grouper in Teochew Style

I’m using seven star grouper for making this Teochew or Chaozhou style steamed fish Seven star grouper got many names, it’s called as coral trout or leopard coral grouper in Australia and mostly Wastern Country, Seven star grouper it’s famous high end for steaming fish name in Hongkong, Malaysia and also Singapore. We used to called this vividly red beautifull fish as kerapu lodi or kerapu merah in Indonesia, which is translated as red grouper in Bahasa. Even the flesh of the seven star grouper is not as firm and succulent as chinese silver pomfret which is commonly used to be steamed in teochew style, nothing compare seven star grouper natural sweetness.I purchased this live red coral trout or seven star grouper fo about 18 USD for about 400 grams (42 USD/Kg) in Grand Lucky Supermarket, Jakarta.

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Preserved Salted Vegetables (Chinese Radish)

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White, Sweet and Succulent Red Seven Star Grouper with Tangy and Salty Broth Teochew Style

The freshness of the fish is the key for making a delicious steaming fish without any muddy aromas. First, you should choose the freshly catch fish or live fish that swimming in the tank is preferred. Rub and also brush throughly the fish upper cavity ribs area, below the fish back bone, there’s a blackish dark red organ which is actually the fish kidney that should be fully removed or your steamed fish gonna be muddy and fishy. Some people like to steamed the fish twice. Firstly, the fish was steamed until half done, and then the dripping liquid is discarded, after that the rest of the ingredients added and the fish is steamed until done. I’ve never discard the liquid once i handle a live fish (except freshwater fish) because you just discarded the nutritional juice from the fish, what a waste.

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Steamed Fish with Salted Plum, Preserved Vegetables, Chilli, Ginger, Mushrooms, Tofu and Tomatoes (Teochew Style)

Eating steamed fish or steaming food diet it’s a part of a healty living. Steaming food preserved it’s natural taste and most of it’s nutrients withoud adding enormous ammount of unnecessary calories. Don’t you know that deep frying fish can triple it’s calories??? Don’t be shock that deep fried fish infact left only half amount of it’s proteins and vitamins due to high heating that can reach about 180C compare to 100 C of steaming process. Beside, the natural unsaturated fatty acid mostly retain in steaming process. Unsaturated Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acid considered as a GOOD FAT that cleanse clotted cholestrol or BAD FAT in your capilary. I guess it’s better be increased steaming food intake in your daily life from now on. Boring taste of steamed fish it’s not an excuse now, it’s before you try thi s teochew or Chiuchow style steamed fish (grouper)

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Teochew Style Steamed Fish Recipe with Seven Star Grouper Fish

Teochew Style Steamed Fish (Seven Star Grouper) Recipe:

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Teochew Style Steamed Fish Seasoning Ingredients

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized live seven star grouper (400-500 gr), you can substitute it with other white flesh fish that suitable for steaming
1 pack silken tofu, cubed
2 dried chinese mushrooms, soaked 1o minutes, drained, thinly slices
50 gr lotus root, thinly slices *optional
2 slice of bacon or pork belly, renderred the fat with low heat skillet (i’m using 1 chinese sausage instead)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tomatoes, halved and then sliced each half into quarters
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 slice salted apreserved vegetables (about 50 gr), rinsed and soaked for about 10 minutes, drained
2 salted plums, rinsed (usually available in Asian grocery stored, sold in jars)
4 cm (tiny thumb size) ginger, thinly slices
2 stalks scallions, thinly slices
2 cayenne chilli pepper, deseeded, jullienned
2 bird’s eye chilli peppers, chopped
4 tbsps water
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp light fish sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
Garnish: thinly sliced chilli and scallion, soaked in cold water until curled and patted dry before use

How to Make Teochew Style Steamed Fish (Seven Star Grouper):

Gutted, scalled and remove the fish gills, rub and discard the blackish dark red part in the fish upper ribs area (below the back bone)
Wash and clean the fish under running water
Pat dry the excess moisture using kitchen paper, set aside
Butterfly the fish from the belly and revove the pin bones with clean tweezer or pliers, you can see the instruction how to butterfly the roundfish from the belly side
Season the fish with salt, pepper and lemon juice, set aside
Place the cubed tofu in the bottom of the heat proof pyrex bowl, put the butterflied fish on top of it
Put the remaining teochew style steamed fish ingredients over it