Three Bean Chinese Steamed Fish 欖角豆豉味噌蒸魚

OM-Goshilicious!!  Here's a truly beautiful something whipped up by my 老公, our resident expert of all things steamed and fishlike.  A super sexy version of the classic Steamed Fish with Black Bean Sauce, perfect for that super special and mandatory fish dish for the Chinese New Year.  We call it the Three Bean Chinese Steamed Fish but that's kinda cheating cuz it's not actually three beans, it just looks like it.

Anyways...this Three Bean Chinese Steamed Fish, or 欖角豆豉味噌蒸魚, infuses a most interesting and tongue enticing combination of three traditional flavors, the Chinese black olive, miso and Chinese fermented black bean, each quite strong on their own merit, to come together in a sauce that is the perfect complement to the delicate and tender steamed fish.

Chinese Black Bean Sauce 蒜蓉豆豉醬

Do you know what these rather plain looking beans are?  These humble little beans are the Chinese fermented black soybeans, known also as Douchi, or 豆豉.  These black beans are used for the making of that ubiquitous Chinese sauce that is used in all kinds of Chinese dishes, be it pork, beef, or seafood, the Chinese Black Bean Sauce, or 蒜蓉豆豉醬.  

As I was saying in our previous post about Chinese Steamed Fish with Black Bean Sauce, I didn't used to be a fan of this sauce, finding it rather overpowering and creating a 'sameness' in each dish in which it was used.  

Until, of course, the day that my 老公 decided to start making his own Chinese Black Bean Sauce, that is.  It turns out that homemade Chinese Black Bean Sauce is soooooo much better than canned or what you get in restaurants, a delightfully unique, multi-layered, intriguingly flavored sauce that will complement whatever dish you decide to pair it with!