Steamed Coral Trout (Dongxingban)
A classic Cantonese dish, steamed coral trout features delicate and tender flesh. Topped with fresh aromatics and sizzling hot oil, it is fragrant and full of umami.
Ingredients
8 items- Coral trout (Dongxingban) 1 whole fish
- Spring onion 1 stalk
- Ginger 1 piece
- Red chili a little
- Steamed fish soy sauce 2 tbsp
- Shaoxing wine 1 tbsp
- Salt a pinch
- Peanut oil 2 tbsp
Nutrition
Steps （6 steps）
Clean the fish: scale, gut, remove gills and scrape off the black membrane inside the belly. Make 3 diagonal cuts on each side. Pat dry with paper towels.
Rub the fish inside and out with a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine. Let marinate for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice ginger, cut spring onion into sections and shreds, shred red chili.
Place some ginger slices and spring onion sections on a heatproof plate. Put the fish on top, then layer remaining ginger and spring onion on the fish.
Bring water to a rolling boil in a steamer. Put the fish plate in, cover, and steam over high heat for 8-10 minutes (about 8 minutes per 500g). The fish is done when eyes pop out and a chopstick pierces easily.
Remove the steamed fish. Discard the steaming liquid (discard it to reduce fishiness). Remove the used ginger and spring onion from the fish.
Top the fish with fresh ginger shreds, spring onion shreds, and red chili shreds. In a small pan, heat 2 tbsp peanut oil until smoking, then pour over the aromatics. Drizzle steamed fish soy sauce around the plate.
Tips
Steaming time depends on fish size: about 8 minutes per 500g. The fish is perfectly cooked when the eyes turn white and a chopstick can easily penetrate the thickest part. The oil must be very hot to release the fragrance of ginger and spring onion.
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