Chinese Steamed Whole Fish with Preserved Radish (Chye Poh) and Mushrooms
Servings: 4 servings
Learn how to make this easy silky and smooth steamed whole fish topped with Chinese preserved radish (chye poh) and mushrooms.
Print Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 500 gr whole fish thaw if you use frozen
- 200 gr sweet preserved radish
- 4 large dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 small onions
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
Seasoning:
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine or dry sherry
- ¼ cup chicken stock or liquid from soaking mushroom
Garnish:
- 1 stalk green onion finely chopped
- cilantro leaves
Instructions
Prepare chye poh and mushrooms:
- Soak chye poh in water for about 3-5 minutes. This is to get rid of extra saltiness. Even though it's sweet chye poh, it is still very salty. Squeeze out the excess liquid after soaking and discard the soaking water. Finely chop the chye poh into small pieces if it's not chopped already
- Give the shiitake mushrooms a rinse with water. Soak shiitake mushrooms in hot water until really soft, about 15 minutes. Squeeze out extra liquid and cut into slices. Keep the soaking liquid
Prepare the fish:
- I got my fish already scaled and gutted. If you can get one that is already prepared, that's great. You can save some steps from having to gut the fish and remove the scales. You can have this done by the fishmonger or some grocery store will do it for you with a small fee. If you are comfortable doing this yourself, don't let me stop you
How to scale the fish:
- This can be a messy process. Get a large plastic bag and do this inside the bag or the scales will fly off everywhere. Use the back of the knife and run it up and down against the scales and they will come off. Rinse with water until it's clean
How to easily gut fish:
- Simply use a sharp knife to cut the belly part of the fish (at the bottom) starting from near the tail to the head
- Use two fingers to pull out the guts, roe, gills, etc and discard them. Rinse the inside with cold running water until it is clean
- Pat the fish dry with an absorbent paper towel
Cook the chye poh and mushrooms:
- Get one onion and cut into slices. Preheat a pan or skillet, add cooking oil. Stir fry the onion until soft, about 3 minutes. Add chye poh and mushrooms and continue to stir fry for another minute. Add the seasonings and bring to a simmer and cook for another minute. Have a taste. It should be savory with a hint of sweetness. Garnish with chopped green onion. Remove from the heat
Steam the fish:
- Bring the water in the steamer to a boil. Get one onion, peel and cut into large wedges, arrange this on a steaming plate and place the fish on top of this onion bed. This prevents the fish from sticking to the steaming plate and it helps to cook the fish evenly on both sides
- Steam the fish for 12 minutes over high heat and then turn off the heat and let it sit in the steamer for another 2 minutes
- Uncover the lid and you will see some liquid in the steaming plate, pour off the liquid
Serving:
- Top the steamed fish with the cooked chye poh and mushrooms mixture. Garnish with few sprigs of fresh cilantro leaves. Serve immediately as part of multi-course meal
