Cantonese Steamed Fish

Roughly chop spring onion, ginger, garlic, and coriander.

In a small pot over medium heat, combine soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, and the prepared aromatics. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Strain the infused soy sauce and discard the solids.

Roughly chop the spring onion and ginger, but leave the garlic cloves whole.

Heat vegetable oil, sesame oil and the prepared aromatics in a small pot over medium heat. Cook until the spring onion blackens, about 10 minutes, then strain the oil and discard the solids.

Prepare the spring onion. Julienne the white part of the spring onion and set aside. Cut off the thick parts of the remaining spring onion into 5-cm lengths to use as a base for the fish. Slice the remaining leaves lengthwise into 2-4 lengths.

Place the lengths into a bowl of ice water for 15 minute, which will encourage the spring onion to curl up, then drain and pat dry.

Julienne the ginger.

Chop the coriander.

Prepare and set up the steamer for cooking the fish over lightly boiling water. I created a makeshift steamer by placing a metal trivet onto a wok filled with water. Use any pot large enough to hold the fish and something hollow that you can set a plate on and that will let steam flow. You'll also need to have a lid that can cover the pot and keep the steam in without touching the fish. I didn't have one large enough, so I created a makeshift lid using aluminium foil that I "domed" over the pot.

Descale and clean the fish inside and out, dry it, and lightly salt all over, including on the inside. Place the spring onion lengths on a plate large enough to hold most, if not all, of the fish, then put the fish on top.

Cut a slit at the top of the fish at the meatiest point. It should run almost from head to toe, and be at least 1 cm deep. This will help the fish to steam evenly all over.

Cover the steamer and steam until cooked, about 8-15 minutes. Aim for 2 minutes per 0.5cm of thickness. You'll know it's cooked when a chopstick easily pierces the thickest part of the fish. You should also notice the eyes turning white and bulging out of the head. Try not to take it out too late; you can always place it back in the steamer if it's undercooked, but it'll turn mushy if overcooked.

When the fish is nearly done, heat the infused oil over medium heat just until it starts to smoke.

Remove the steamed fish from the steamer, carefully keeping any of the liquid that has come out of the fish on the place, then pour the infused soy sauce over it.

Top the fish with the julienned white spring onion, then the julienned ginger, followed by the chopped coriander, and finally the curled spring onion.

Carefully pour the hot infused oil over the raw aromatics to release their fragrance. The oil will spit and sputter as the heat of the oil hits the moisture in the aromatics, so be careful.

Serve the fish. You can use a couple of spoons at the table to carefully remove the fish meat. Make sure to spoon some of the sauce over the fish, and serve each piece of fish with some of the aromatics.