2 small-medium rock fish... minus gills/guts/scales.
Score 3-4 times each side down to the spine.
Season with salt, MSG, fresh ground pepper.
Sliver up 3 cloves fresh garlic
Peel and thinly slice about a cubic inch of fresh ginger
Thinly slice 1/2 sweet onion
Chop 1/4 fresh red pepper into thin 1/2 inch chunks
Finely chop 2 stalks green onion, separate the fine greens from the crisp whites
Coarsely chop a handful of fresh cilantro
Place fish in a pie plate, stuff scores with thinly sliced fresh ginger and slivered fresh garlic.... scatter the remainder in the body cavity and randomly over fish. Scatter crisp green onions, red pepper, and sliced sweet onions over the whole works.
Place into your boiling steam pot and cover. Let steam for 8-10 minutes. During the last 2 minutes, heat a few tablespoons of peanut oil in a separate small skillet to just shy of smoking. Remove cover from steamer and turn off the heat. Scored meat will just start to separate from the bone and a nice sauce/broth will have collected in the bottom of the pie pan, formed from a combination of fish juices and steam. Drizzle a 3-4 teaspoons of soy sauce over the fish. Scatter fine green onions and cilantro over the top. Finish by drizzling HOT peanut oil over the greens to wilt them. It will crackle and pop, releasing even more of the fish/garlic/ginger/onion flavors.
Serve with steamed rice, spooning broth over fish/rice for maximum flavor.
Broke da mout, brah!
NOTE: Chop sticks HIGHLY recommended. Picking thru the bones while eating steamed fish is a breeze in the hands of skilled chopstick users. Much more efficient than a fork.
BTW cilantro was omitted in the pic above because I didn't have any in the fridge and was too far into the cooking process to break away and go to the store. Cilantro is one of the classic ingreedaments for Chinese steamed fish... but if you're out or just don't like the stuff, the dish still tastes great without it.
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