Recipe - Steam Rabbitfish With Ginger Oil

The white-spotted rabbitfish lives in coastal waters and feeds on seaweed and algae. The rabbitfish is highly sought after for eating during the Chinese Lunar New Year. At this time, the fishes breed and their roe are particularly relished. Called 'Pei Tor', the Chinese believe eating it brings good luck. A week or so before the Chinese Lunar New Year, the price of this rabbitfish will just shoot up !


This is off season and I bought a kg of the rabbitfish for $5, for 10 fish.

For this rabbitfish, it seems to be a practice among the fishmongers that they will not gut the fish for customers. So the first thing to do is gut the fish and clean them.

white-spotted rabbitfish

I use a pair of scissors to cut off the tail and head. Using the tip of the scissors, take out the intestines. Rinse the fish and season lightly with salt and let the fish sit for a while. Rinse them one more time. That will remove the sea smell. Other ways of removing the sea smell is to spoon rice vinegar or rice wine over the fish and rinse the fish after a few minutes. The fish is ready for steaming.

For steaming, lay the fish on a serving tray, lightly rub a dash of salt on each fish and put a few slices of ginger over the fish. Steam on medium heat for about 8 minutes.

I top the steam fish with fried ginger and oil for fragrance. Julienne an inch of ginger into thin slices and fry in medium heat with 2 tablespoons of oil. Stir fry till the ginger is golden brown and crispy. Spoon over the steamed fish and serve.

I use light soy with cut chilli padi (small red chillies) and drizzle with lime juice as a dipping sauce.



A very nice 4 minute video on how to steam fish with ginger oil.



Recipe for this recipe is enclosed:http://www.averagebetty.com/recipes/chris-yeo-steamed-fish-recipe/