Clear-Steamed Sea Bass

Ingredients:

- 1 dried shiitake mushroom
- A few rectangular slices of bamboo shoot
- 1 oz (30g) fresh ginger, skin on
- 3 spring onions, white parts only
- 1 sea bass (about 1 1/2 lbs/650g), scaled and gutted
- A few rectangular slices of Spanish or Chinese cured ham, steamed briefly
- 4 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1/2 cup (100ml) clear chicken stock
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp superfine sugar
- 3 tbsp fermented glutinous rice
- 1 tbsp chicken oil or lard
- Salt and ground white pepper

For the dipping sauce:

- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
- 2 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar

Steps:

Cover the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water and leave to soak for at least half an hour.  Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch the bamboo shoot slices, then drain them.  Smack the ginger and spring onion whites with the flat side of a Chinese cleaver or a rolling pin to loosen their fibers.

Put the fish on a chopping board.  Holding your knife at an angle to the board, make a few parallel diagonal slashes into the thickest part of the flesh.  Repeat on the other side.  Rub the fish inside and out with a little salt and 1 tablespoon of the Shaoxing wine.  Put half the ginger and one of the spring onion whites in its belly and set aside for 10-15 minutes.

When the mushroom has softened, remove the stalk and cut the cap in half.  If you wish to be a bit fancy, make lots of tiny parallel cuts perpendicular to the cut edge, so you can fan out the mushroom on the fish.  Mix the chopped ginger and vinegar for the dip in a dipping dish.

Put the remaining spring onion whites in the base of a serving bowl deep enough to hold the fish and some liquid, but which will also fit into your steamer.  (If a whole fish doesn't fit in your steamer, hold your knife at a steep angle to the board and cut the fish in half.  Place the two pieces parallel to each other in the dish.)  Lay the fish across the spring onions.  Arrange the bamboo shoot and ham slices along the center of the fish, with a shiitake half at either end.

Mix together the remaining Shaoxing wine, stock, soy sauce and sugar and pour it around the fish.  Spoon the fermented glutinous rice down the center of the fish.  Place the ginger beside the fish and the chicken oil or lard on top of it.  Steam over a medium flame for about 10 minutes, until you can push a blunt chopstick easily into the thickest part of the fish.

Remove and discard the ginger.  Strain the cooking juices into a bowl and season them with a little ground white pepper.  Tidy up the sliced ham arrangement on the fish, then pour over the cooking juices.  Serve with the vinegar-and-ginger dip.


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