Steamed Fish with Lime Pickle

Like most people, I am trying to find new ways to include more fish in my diet.This recipe is loosely based on a Hakka Chinese recipe that my best friend’s Mother used to make. It was called Fish and Corned Lime. The Corned Lime was the Hakka way of preserving limes in salt, and then using it in their cooking. The cured lime is said to help aid digestion. My friend's Mother showed me how to make it, and I used to make my own for a while but could not use it up fast enough. Inevitably, I’d have to throw it out. Recently, I found a salt cured pickle from Sri Lanka that tasted pretty much the same, and although it had some extra spices in it, I figured that would only enhance the flavor. I used a Mahi-Mahi filet for this but I think that a less dense fish might be better. Maybe next time I’ll try it with snapper, Basa (Swai) or even Tilapia.

Some of the ingredients

Clockwise, Lime pickle,Shallot,garlic cloves, lemongrass, ginger root, red jalapeno, dried orange peel in middle

  

Chinese cooking wine, lime pickle, soy sauce

Ingredients

1 Fish filet, about 8 ozs
1 shallot

4 cloves garlic

1 stalk of Lemongrass, inner part only, cut in batons

1 Red Jalapeno

2 pieces of dried orange peel, soaked in water until soft

1 piece of ginger root, peeled and sliced

4 pieces of Indian Pickle

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

2 tbsb water or chicken broth

½ tsp sugar

Salt and white or black pepper

Method

1. Sprinkle salt, pepper, sugar, and a light dusting of cornstarch over the fish filet. Place in steamer dish
2. Cut the ginger root and lemongrass stalk as seen in the photo.
   
   They are cut in large pieces that will make it easier for them to be removed before plating. They are not eaten but only used to flavor the sauce.
3. Put the shallot, jalapeno, garlic cloves, and orange peel in a small chopper (see photo)
   
   and coarsely chop.
4. Sauté the chopped mixture, along with the larger pieces of lemongrass and ginger in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Add the soy sauce and cooking wine to this and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
5. Pour this over the fish filet. Add the water or chicken broth. Steam for about 20 minutes depending on the type of fish and thickness of the filet. Before plating, remove the lemongrass stalks and sliced ginger, then spoon the sauce from the steamer over the fish.

   

   Steamed fish with lime pickle, Chinese Broccoli, Brown Rice and Vietnamese pickled Mustard Greens