This is exactly the kind of meal I want to come home to after a busy week.
In this recipe, I’ll show you how to make both steamed chicken and steamed fish, finished with my go-to ginger scallion sauce that somehow makes everything taste better. If you’ve never spatchcocked a whole chicken before, I’ll walk you through that too. Once you learn it, you’ll never go back.
You’ll also find this recipe in Đặc Biệt: An Extra Special Vietnamese Cookbook.
Recipe below.
Ingredients
Method
FOR THE GINGER SCALLION SAUCE:
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse it until ginger pieces are small.
- Heat a skillet on high heat and pour the sauce into the pan. Cook for 1 minute or until oil is bright green and transfer into a bowl to cool.
FOR THE STEAMED FISH:
- Place fish on a plate or a shallow dish and half the green onion bottoms underneath it. Season the fish with a pinch of salt and place sliced ginger on top.
- Steam the fish at full steam (meaning the water has to be at a rolling boil) for 7 minutes. If your fish is larger, go for 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix together soy sauce, sugar and water. Add only 1 Tbsp of water at first and taste it. You want this sauce to be delicate so as to not overpower the fish.
- Drain off any liquid that might be on the dish after the fish is cooked. Drizzle the soy sauce mixture over the fish and then place remainder of julienned green onions and ginger on top of the fish.
- Heat up a ¼ cup of ginger scallion sauce until it is sizzling in the pan and pour it over the fish making sure the oil is poured over the julienned ginger and green onions.
- Serve with rice and extra ginger scallion sauce.
FOR THE STEAMED CHICKEN:
- Wash and exfoliate your chicken with coarse salt and pat dry with paper.
- Combine salt and sugar together in a bowl. Note that you may not use all of the seasoning but you want to season the chicken aggressively as this is the only flavor it is getting.
- Place chicken in a steaming vessel and garnish with ginger and scallions.
- Steam for 30 minutes on high steam and then turn the flame off and let it sit for another 15 minutes.
- Once the chicken is done cooking. Pull the steaming vessel off of the water and let it rest for a few minutes to cool. Traditionally, this dish is then chilled and served room temp. I usually like to warm it up before serving.
- Carve the chicken and serve with rice, ginger scallion sauce and crispy fried shallots.
DO NOT OPEN THE LID.
