Steamed sea bass with ginger and spring onion

Make Angela Hui's steamed sea bass with ginger and spring onion, then try soy steamed sea bream with ginger and spring onions, sea bass with fermented chilli or sea bass with noodle salad.

Tell someone how much you love them by steaming a whole fish. You can steam almost any firm-fleshed fish such as cod, sea bream, trout, grouper or salmon, but sea bass is one of the most common fish used for steaming in Chinese cooking. This is a straight-forward healthy centrepiece dish that can be left to its own devices. In Cantonese, ‘yu’, the word for fish, shares the same pronunciation with the word which means surplus, going hand-in-hand with ‘leen leen yow yu’ – a common Cantonese expression used during the Lunar New Year meaning to wish people abundance, wealth and surplus every year. For bonus luck points, the fish should be served whole, with head and tail attached, which symbolises a good beginning and ending for the coming year (explaining why this dish is a must for Lunar New Year celebrations). A word of warning, though: an old superstition says it’s a big no-no to flip the fish while eating, as this symbolises ‘belly’s up’, or in Chinese, ‘fan tow’ – a capsizing boat, or death. Don’t be intimidated by using the whole fish: in fact, the cheeks and eyes are the best bit. Mum claims that eating fish eyes boosts omega-3, which is essential for achieving straight As (or Bs in my case). The hardest part of this recipe is simply figuring out how you’re going to steam it. Once you have your steaming arrangement worked out, it’s plain sailing and delicious times.