[Music Playing]
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, what do we have here? We have two beautiful fish.
[Ivy Chen] Yeah, yeah, really beautiful.
It's all year long in Taiwan from west to east, the ocean.
And the red one, we call [....] snapper.
The yellow one — because it's a little bit yellowish,
so we call a chicken grunter.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Yeah, so it's a "grunt," is I guess what it's called,
and a big eyed snapper.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] For us. Beautiful. [Ivy Chen] Yeah, yeah, for you.
[Ivy Chen] And I like it because the tail is really beautiful.
It's like a lady dancing.
So, this fish is quite famous in Taiwan.
And, uh, in Taiwan, the best fish go to steam.
So, today we are going to steam this fish.
And before we steam, we marinate fish for about 10 minutes....
....with spring onion and ginger water.
But very unique ingredients in my cooking.
I use that a lot.
So, for marinating you....
....chop your ginger and the spring onion roughly
and put them in the blender
and add some water to break it until very fine.
So, you just drizzle. Pour over the liquid,
with your fish.
So, the liquid — it go everywhere. It's really marinaded.
And remove any fishy flavor — if any.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Right, and we made some cuts on the side at an angle, and....
Again, it's all clean, no gills, but beautiful.
Beautiful fish. And then a little bit of rice wine we sprinkled, correct?
[Ivy Chen] Yes, yes, so now it's ready.
We are going to rinse off the fish and then put on the steamer.
[ambient noise]
[Ivy Chen] [....] have some, uh.... Blood. Fish blood flavor.
So, that's the fishy flavor.
So, we're going to rinse off.
And then before we steam, always dry your fish
so they are not watery.
Dry them and make sure there are no flavor....
No smell at all.
Okay, so now we are going to add our ingredients.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, we're just going to do some ginger.
[Ivy Chen] Add some ginger.... And pour the Cordia seeds and pickle liquid together.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, tell me a little bit about these Cordias seeds, that....
The jar says "plums," but they look like a small olive and they do taste like that.
[Ivy Chen] Yeah, I think you can say that.... Taiwanese Olive. (laughs)
[...]
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Do I want a little bit of the liquid?
[Ivy Chen] Yeah. Half of the juice.
That's the flavor. So, you don't need to season it,
because the Cordias' already pickled in soy sauce.
So, that's all the flavor. I think more.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] More? More juice? [Ivy Chen] Yes, more juice, more juice.
[Ivy Chen] It's quite salty though.
But after steaming, it's really nice.
Okay? So, now I'm going to put a steamer....
....over it.... ....over the, uh, pan....
....And then you can just add the....
[Chef Steve Jilleba] ....The plane in there? [Ivy Chen] Yeah.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] It's a beautiful steamer basket.
[Ivy Chen] All right.
[Ivy Chen] So, cover it for at least....
Two pieces? It takes about ten minutes.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, we want to check the fish now. It's been....
[Ivy Chen] Yeah, it's been....many minutes.
So, we are going to check the tenderness. If the fish is cooked through.
So, we always use chopsticks.
If they can pierce through to the bottom, then fish is ready.
Okay, so we are going to try the back.
It's the thick part. Go through to the bottom. Would you?
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, did it go through to the bottom? So, you're just gonna.... [Ivy Chen] Yeah.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Yes! Easy! [Ivy Chen] Yeah.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] And it looks like it's done. It's beautiful. [Ivy Chen] Right? Easy.
[Ivy Chen] So, it's ready.
So, now we are going to move to the table.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Are we gonna move the steamer to the table? Or the plate? [Ivy Chen] Yes.
[Ivy Chen] To the table?
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Ah, I was wondering how I was going to do that without burning myself.
[Ivy Chen] Okay, because it so hot.
This is still very hot.
And we are going to move the....
[Chef Steve Jilleba] ....The fish onto the platter.
All right, so just kind of lift nice underneath. It's held together beautiful.
[Ivy Chen] So, we're going to have some garnish.
And all the juice.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, does this go on top now?
[Ivy Chen] Yeah. Add the garnish on top, so we are going to....
[Chef Steve Jilleba] The green onion. So, we got some green onions or some red pepper. [Ivy Chen] Everything is just scattering.
[Ivy Chen] Scattering all over the fish.
So, they are very colorful/
Spring onion and chili.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Very nice. [Ivy Chen] And we are going to....
[Ivy Chen] Season....
Drizzle with hot oil.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Again? Same? [Ivy Chen] So, [...].
[Chef Steve Jilleba] More? [Ivy Chen] Enough, enough.
[Ivy Chen] And then when the oil is really hot. [Chef Steve Jilleba] As soon as it starts to smoke....
[Chef Steve Jilleba] A little bit of smoke. [Ivy Chen] Yeah, yeah yeah. A bit of smoke.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] And then just pour it over. [Ivy Chen] And then we just pour it over.
[Ivy Chen] That's the flavor. Very nice.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Alright. [Ivy Chen] Okay.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] You hear that little sizzle? [Ivy Chen] Yeah, yes.
[sizzling sound]
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Very nice.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] The hot oil is doing a few things, right? [Ivy Chen] Yeah.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] What is it actually doing for the....?
[Ivy Chen] Okay, it's actually rises up the aroma from the spices.
So, it.... And also, the spices — it will be cooked....
....In the hot oil.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, it's pulling the flavors from the green onions and the chilies. [Ivy Chen] Yeah. Yeah.
[Ivy Chen] All right, fish is ready! Shall we try it?!
[Chef Steve Jilleba] I think we should try it, of course we should, so.... [Ivy Chen] Alright, cannot wait.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Oh, it looks great!
[Music Playing]