Teochew Steamed Sea Bream

In a parcel

SINGAPORE

This style of steamed fish is the one I’m most partial to, mainly because it’s the one I grew up eating. This is traditionally done in a large steamer, or over boiling water in a wok, but it is much easier to do it in the oven. I’ve taken a leaf out of French cookbooks by doing it en papillote – sounds fancy, but what it simply means is that you wrap the fish in parchment paper with a dash of stock and seal tightly so that it steams instead of bakes, yielding moist flaky flesh.

Serves 2–4

• 3 medium dried shiitake mushrooms
• 70g salted preserved mustard greens (about 2 pieces) (see here)
• 1 large sea bream (about 1kg), scaled and gutted
• sea salt
• a 2.5cm piece of ginger
• 1 or 2 red bird’s-eye chillies
• 1 salted plum
• 20g pork fat,* chopped into small pieces
• 1 heaped tablespoon fried shallots (see here)
• 200g cherry tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon fried shallot oil (see here)
• a small handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas 4.
2. Rinse the mushrooms and soak them in just enough warm water to cover, for about 30 minutes, until soft. Rinse the mustard greens and soak briefly in warm water for about 10 minutes just to take away some of their saltiness. Rub the sea bream all over with generous pinches of salt. Set aside while you prepare the vegetables.
3. Slice the ginger into thin strips and chop the chillies finely. Drain the mustard greens and slice thinly. Drain the mushrooms, squeeze, and slice thinly. Reserve the mushroom soaking liquid – this is your stock.
4. Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to wrap the fish, and lay half the sheet over a baking tray. Lightly crush the salted plum and rub its pulp all over the fish, inside and out. Lay the fish on the paper and scatter the mushrooms, mustard greens, ginger, chillies, pork fat and fried shallots over, tucking some under the fish and inside its belly. Place the tomatoes around the fish, then drizzle the mushroom stock and fried shallot oil over.
5. Wrap the other half of the sheet over the fish to form a packet, leaving a bit of space for the cooking juices, and seal tightly by folding and twisting the edges of the paper together. Place in the oven and cook for 20–25 minutes, depending on size. Remember it continues steaming inside the parcel after it’s removed from the oven, so account for that time.
6. You can serve this straight from the baking tray, or transfer the packet carefully to a platter. Unwrap at the table to oohs and ahhs, and finish with a sprinkle of fresh coriander leaves. Serve with plain rice for spooning the delicious juices over.

Note: You can use most types of white fish with a flaky flesh. The traditional fish to use are pomfret or sea bass; I like sea bream because it’s a more sustainable and cheaper option, and its flesh is just as tender and flavourful as bass.