Steamed Pomfret with Ginger, Lemongrass Broth

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Steamed Pomfret and this ginger and lemongrass combination is absolutely wonderful!

When I moved to Singapore last year the biggest thing I was excited about all the amazing, verdant vegetable produce you get here. For 10 years in Tokyo finding things like lemongrass, galangal and even a pomfret was a bit of a challenge there but I did manage to find it. However that definitely is not the case in Singapore, all the south Asian ingredients are always abundantly available here and I love to cook with them.

This steamed fish dish is one of the most flavourful dishes I have ever created, it’s light, it’s got that balminess to it, it’s spicy and oh it is heavenly healthy. I used to make baked or pan fried pomfret but somehow I always felt the flavours of this particular marination get lost in that type of cooking technique so I thought of steaming it.

To give that oomph to this dish I also made a spicy ginger, lemongrass broth and let me tell you this broth elevates this simple, humble steamed fish to a next level. I served this with aromatic steamed rice.

This is how you make this dish.

Ingredients:

1 golden pomfret about 600g clean and gutted
1 shallot finely chopped or grated
½ cup fresh coriander
1 green chilli
1 or to taste red chilli
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 small clove of garlic finely chopped
Salt to taste
½ tsp lime juice
Baking parchment
A few lemon slices

Instructions:

Place all the ingredients in a mortar and make a fine paste using the pestle. Rub this paste evenly on the fish. Put the lemon slices in the fish belly. Marinate the fish for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven on 180C/350F.

Place the fish on the baking parchment, place another parchment on top, fold it together to make an envelope. If you can’t make an envelope just staple the paper.

Bake the fish in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Serve the fish with all those juices, steamed rice (optional) and ginger, lemongrass broth.

Ingredients (Ginger Lemongrass Broth):