Hello this is my first post in Food & Flavors!! I'm sure a lot of people have become good chef during MCO, and my wife started to learn more and more new recipes too...

So we have started this youtube channel thing and upload our recipes there.. and we want to share them here too. Please feel free to discuss or leave comments / feedback here about the recipes

I'm starting this first post with my all-time favorite steamed fish, hope you like it


Recipe for this simple home cook dish:

Preparation:
1. Clean the fish and pat dry
2. Chop garlic finely
3. Peel ginger and cut into thin strips
4. Cut spring onion into thin silken threads. Soak in ice water for 5 minutes to make it curl
5. Slice chilli padi

Cooking:
1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok and stir-fry garlic and ginger strips until fragrant
2. Heat up the wok with enough water for steaming. Wait for water to boil. As soon as it boils, place your fish into the wok. Cover your wok tightly and steam for 5 minutes
3. Discard the fishy and cloudy fish “water” after steaming
4. Pour the hot oil with fried ginger strips and garlic over the steamed fish. Add sliced chili. Pour 1.5 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of seasoned soy sauce for seafood over the fish
5. Steam for another 5 minutes
6. Garnish curled spring onion on top of steamed fish

Thanks for the feedback, I’ll take note about music volume next time.

Just wanna check what type of music do you think is suitable for cooking videos?

For steam fish, I'd suggest adopting the less is more method. Going heavy on the aromatics like using browned garlic and seasonings will mask the natural sweetness of the fish. All you need is a good rub of salt on the fish, oil, a good light soy sauce, 2 slices of 20sen sized bentong ginger and spring onions. Sometimes ginger is not even required if the fish is good.

The reason why restaurants throw away "fish water" is because most of them steam the entire fish. The gut cavity and head portion contains alot of funky tasting substances which could ruin the final product. If you have a very beautiful cut of fish like your fillet or even a tail, this step is not necessary. It will be necessary however, if you have a steak of fish with bone in that could be contaminated with blood, then you might consider it. Truth be told, the liquid that you get from steaming a good cut of fish is fantastic. If the flesh tastes so good, why would fish water be unappetising? Right?

Good steam fish = the freshest cut of fish you can find (defo from wet market or a good fishmonger), no blood contamination, light seasoning and good soy sauce. Just my 2 cents.

Ahh well yes, your "eyes eat first", which can be rather subjective and can drastically affect the taste of the dish.
As for the condiments, it depends what flavours does the chef want to deliver and emphasize, strong and heavy or light and clean, whilst still maintaining a balance of flavours.
In the end, it is still the cook's and diners' preferences.