This Chinese New Year fish is sure to bring prosperity this year. This is because the word for fish, “yu” sounds like abundance. So gong xi fa cai to the year of the Rooster. My husband has already started making “cock” jokes. Sigh!
This particular pair of snapper fish were from Footscray Market. We had a beautiful walk there as we live pretty close by. It’s a great place to find all sorts of fresh produce, meat, seafood and restaurants – particularly Vietnamese restaurants.
Serves 4 (approx. 196 calories per serve)
Prep time 15 mins
Cook time 45 mins
Ingredients
1kg snapper, gutted and descaled (I used 2 x 500g snappers)
2-3cm piece of ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp chicken powder (I use Knorr brand)
2 tbsp peanut oil
Bunch of coriander, chopped
1 spring onion stalk, cut int 2cm stalks and halved
Note: I use a roasting tray like this. It comes with a rack, which I remove for this particular recipe because I want the lamb to sit in the beef stock.
Preheat the oven to 200C (fan-forced). You can also steam it but these were quite large so I just put them in the oven.
Wash the snapper, cut 3-4 deep slits on each side and set aside to dry slightly. Then place in a roasting pan.
Meanwhile, mix the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, water and chicken powder together in a bowl. Pour over the snapper making sure the sauce gets in between the slits and inside the cavity of the fish.
Seal the roasting pan with foil and cook in the oven for 45 minutes or until the meat flakes off the bone and set aside in a serving plate.
Heat the peanut oil until it starts smoking. Pour the very hot oil over the cooked snapper letting it sizzle and crisp the skin slightly. Be careful as the oil can crackle a bit.
Garnish with the coriander and spring onion and serve immediately.
More Chinese Recipes
- Tangzhong Chinese Sausage Rolls
- Sichuan Green Beans
- Yee Sang New Year Salad
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Basic Prawn Dumplings
More Seafood Recipes
- Parmesan Crusted Fish
- Cambodian Stir Fried Clams
- Fish Taco
- Sichaun Chilli Fish
- Seafood Boil with Creole Seasoning