By Ellen L.Published: 2015-05-03
The thing about spring in Hong Kong is that it lasts only a few cool windswept weeks and then it's gone forever. BAM! and just like that we're right in the midst of hot summer heat. Yuck! If there is one thing that I could do without it's those endless summery months! And yet one must soldier on nevertheless and thus we find our thoughts turned longingly towards those delicious cold dishes in the Chinese repertoire. We've posted about several Northern Chinese style cold dishes like the crunchilicious Chinese Cold Cucumber Salad and the cold Chinese Spiced Beef Shin. Today I want to share our latest obsession, a Southern style Chinese cold dish, the very easy to make and really, really amazingly fresh and sweet Chilled Bigeye Fish - Chiu Chow Style, or 潮州凍大眼雞. This cold fish dish is so tasty and it keeps so well in the fridge that we're making batches of it so we can have it all the time! It's that good!
The Bigeye Fish (top & bottom) and the Mullet (which we tried with this recipe and didn't like so much) |
The Chilled Bigeye Fish is a standard offering you will see at every Chiu Chow Style Chinese restaurant, usually as a part of the spectacular display of various chilled meat and seafood near the restaurant entrance. Chiu Chow is a part of the Guangdong province bordering on the ocean so they incorporate a lot of fresh seafood in their cuisine. The very clever method of preparing Chilled Bigeye Fish comes to us from generations of fishermen at sea who used steaming and then chilling fishes to allow them to keep their fresh fishes in an (very!) edible state for a longer time.
This chilled fish dish is quite pricey if you order it at restaurants, so if you can access fresh (or even frozen) fish for this dish you can save a bundle and it will taste even sweeter and fresher homemade.
The Bigeye Fish after steaming: the white of the eye pops out when done |
If you can't find the Bigeye Fish you can substitute the Four Finger Threadfin, or 馬友, or the Sea Bass 鱸魚 in its stead.
To be absolutely authentic for this Chilled Bigeye Fish one must locate a source for the special Chiu Chow Pu Ning Bean Sauce, or 普宁豆酱, that is used for this dish. A briny miso like naturally fermented soy bean sauce, it's the perfect compliment to the fresh sweet fish meat. We found ours at the local wet market at a vendor who sells mostly Chiu Chow food stuffs. If you can't find it, no matter, just substitute with a small saucer of your best soy sauce instead. Yummy!
Chilled Bigeye Fish - Chiu Chow Style Recipe 潮州凍大眼雞
Ingredients:
2 medium size Bigeye Fish 大眼雞
1 tbsp salt
6 large slices ginger
1 tbsp Pu Ning bean sauce 普宁豆酱
1 tbsp cool boiled water
Directions:
Rinse the fish thoroughly. Sprinkle salt generously all over and inside the fish. Let marinate for 15-20 mins. Pour off any accumulated juices. Put one slice ginger under, inside and on top of each fish. Steam over high heat for seven minutes. Remove from heat immediately and carefully pour out any juices in the steaming plate. Let cool to room temperature, then remove the ginger slices, cover and chill in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours or until completely chilled.
When ready to serve, take a sharp knife and make two cuts through to the bone at the tail and at the head from top to bottom of fish. Then slip knife in very carefully along bottom (belly) of the fish and slide up along the top of the fish bone until you reach the top of the fish but don't slice all the way through (leave the skin at top of the fish intact). This will allow you to 'open' the fish on the serving plate, (see very first image of this post), allowing folks to easily pluck the fish meat from the skin. If you want to go a bit fancier you can remove the fish bone as well. Just be careful when slicing, it can be a bit tricky until you get the hang of it.
For the sauce mix 1 tbsp of the Pu Ning bean sauce with 1 tbsp of cooled boiled water or until the sauce is to taste. (It's very salty when you don't water down so add water until salty enough for you.) Serve fish cold with a saucer of dip by its side. Hope you enjoy our fish obsession as much as we do!
Tip: We usually steam four medium fishes at one time and have it over the course of several days. For each meal we have one to two fish. Fish prepared this way and covered will keep for up to 4-5 days in the fridge. And actually the longer you keep it, the better it tastes! Saves a lot of time each day for dinner preparation too if you can just pull it out of the fridge. Yeah, it's win win!
More Chilled out Chinese Dishes at The Hong Kong Cookery:
Chinese Chilled Crab with Vinegar Dip 凍花蟹
Thousand Year Egg and Tofu 皮蛋豆腐
Chinese Drunken Chicken Wings 醉雞翅
Google
To be absolutely authentic for this Chilled Bigeye Fish one must locate a source for the special Chiu Chow Pu Ning Bean Sauce, or 普宁豆酱, that is used for this dish. A briny miso like naturally fermented soy bean sauce, it's the perfect compliment to the fresh sweet fish meat. We found ours at the local wet market at a vendor who sells mostly Chiu Chow food stuffs. If you can't find it, no matter, just substitute with a small saucer of your best soy sauce instead. Yummy!
Chilled Bigeye Fish - Chiu Chow Style Recipe 潮州凍大眼雞
(Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 7 mins Chilling time: 2 hours)
2 medium size Bigeye Fish 大眼雞
1 tbsp salt
6 large slices ginger
1 tbsp Pu Ning bean sauce 普宁豆酱
1 tbsp cool boiled water
Directions:
Rinse the fish thoroughly. Sprinkle salt generously all over and inside the fish. Let marinate for 15-20 mins. Pour off any accumulated juices. Put one slice ginger under, inside and on top of each fish. Steam over high heat for seven minutes. Remove from heat immediately and carefully pour out any juices in the steaming plate. Let cool to room temperature, then remove the ginger slices, cover and chill in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours or until completely chilled.
When ready to serve, take a sharp knife and make two cuts through to the bone at the tail and at the head from top to bottom of fish. Then slip knife in very carefully along bottom (belly) of the fish and slide up along the top of the fish bone until you reach the top of the fish but don't slice all the way through (leave the skin at top of the fish intact). This will allow you to 'open' the fish on the serving plate, (see very first image of this post), allowing folks to easily pluck the fish meat from the skin. If you want to go a bit fancier you can remove the fish bone as well. Just be careful when slicing, it can be a bit tricky until you get the hang of it.
For the sauce mix 1 tbsp of the Pu Ning bean sauce with 1 tbsp of cooled boiled water or until the sauce is to taste. (It's very salty when you don't water down so add water until salty enough for you.) Serve fish cold with a saucer of dip by its side. Hope you enjoy our fish obsession as much as we do!
Tip: We usually steam four medium fishes at one time and have it over the course of several days. For each meal we have one to two fish. Fish prepared this way and covered will keep for up to 4-5 days in the fridge. And actually the longer you keep it, the better it tastes! Saves a lot of time each day for dinner preparation too if you can just pull it out of the fridge. Yeah, it's win win!
More Chilled out Chinese Dishes at The Hong Kong Cookery:
0 comments:
Post a Comment