Steamed Fish with Ginger Chili Lime Sauce

Name: Steamed Fish with Ginger Chili Lime Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 14 min
Total time: 19 min
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 1 pound whole trout (cleaned and gutted); 1/4 cup cilantro (finely chopped + 10-12 sprigs extras for stuffing the fish); 5 ounces napa cabbage (roughly chopped); 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped); 1 teaspoon ginger (peeled and finely chopped); lime wedges; 1 small shallot (peeled and finely chopped); 2 Thai chilis (finely chopped); 2 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce; 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice; 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar

Yummy, delicious, healthy, easy, pretty… This steamed fish dish has it all! If you ask me, steamed fish is one of the easiest and healthiest meals to prepare.

It’s also very hard to mess up and takes less than 25 minutes to make!

The result is pretty spectacular too; a whole steamed fish that’s perfectly moist, light and flaky. Drizzle a little fish sauce on top, sprinkle some chopped ginger, garlic and chilies and finish with a squeeze of lime and you’ve got yourself a classic Thai inspired dish.

For this recipe I am using a whole trout since it’s a fish that’s commonly sold in grocery stores, but you can certainly use any other freshwater fish and the result will be just as good.

Make sure that the eyes of the fish you are picking are clear; muddy eyes means the fish is old while clear means it’s fresh. Ask the fish guy or gal to clean and gut the trout for you.

Believe me when I say you don’t want to do it yourself as it can be a pretty messy activity! You don’t need some super fancy steamer either; as long as you have a large pot with a ‘veggie style steamer’ attachment you should be fine (I am using Gordon Ramsay’s by Royal Doulton 8-quart Multi-pot in the picture.)

pot

I like to brush a little oil at the bottom of the steamer to prevent the fish from sticking.

This makes cleanup time easier. Another trick I like to use is adding a little fish sauce, garlic and ginger to the water so the steam can perfume the fish during the cooking process.

This will give the steamed fish a fragrant and slightly pungent aroma that’s automatically associated with Thai cooking. Steamed fish like this has so much flavor that you can serve it with just a bowl of white rice.

Other options can be a bright and refreshing apple and mango salad or you can match the pungent flavors of the steamed fish by pairing it with a tom yum soup.

All that’s left to do is to use the rice to absorb all that yummy soup and sauce and drop an extra chili or two for more heat.