Steam Cod With Tangerine

Chinese New Year is just two weeks from today. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month (Chinese: 正月) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th day. So for this coming festival, let me share with you one of the dish that I have prepared for my Chinese New Year Menu :) It's called Steam Cod With Tangerine and "如鱼得水" in Mandarin.

This is a very eye catching colourful dish that is full of favour. As you can see from the ingredient pictures, I actually used the New Year Tangerine as one of the ingredients because of it's wonderful colour and fragrance. The tangerine is an orange or red coloured citrus fruit and it is a variety of the Mandarin orange. The fresh fruit is also used in salads, desserts and main dishes. Tangerines are a good source of vitamin C, folate and beta-carotene. They also contain some potassium, magnesium and vitamins B1, B2 & B3. The combination of Cod and use of some Chinese Herbs will eventually brings out the natural taste of the dish with any seasonings.

There are a few versions that you can come out with using the ingredients shown in this dish. It's just a matter on how you prepare it to suit your family taste-buds. Eg. If you or your family don't like the strong fragrance of the Dang Gui - 当归片, you can omit it and it be be just like an normal steam cod dish without herbs. But since I am serving this as an individual portion, the usage of Dang Gui is only a small slice per plate just in order to fragrance the cod and cover the fishy smell......This is a very simple, and easy to prepare dish which you can do it even if you don't have tangerine, just replace it with Orange.........

Ok I will leave you with this Chinese New Year dish and I would also like to take this Opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year earlier just in case I am too busy to post anything till then.........

Ingredients: (serves 2)
6 Slices of 2" x 4.5" Cod Fillet(雪鱼)
2 Medium Size Prawns
1/2 Tablespoons Wolfberries(枸杞)
2 Small Slices Of Dang Gui(当归片)
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine(黄酒) or Mirin
1 or 2 Tangerines(桔子)

Methods:
1. Remove the shell of the prawns and leave the tail part on, devein and cut a small opening slit at the middle of the back and push the tail through the hole bending on the belly side.
2. Slowly remove the peel of the tangerine, then cut it into thin strips and set aside. Next remove the white pits of the tangerine flesh and separate each wedges and set aside.
3. Place 3 slices of the cod fish one on top of each other but leave about 1/2 cm allowance between each slice then roll it up and place it on a small plate.
4. Next place the prepared prawn on top of the fish slices (refer to ingredient picture, 1st row - column 2).
5. Break a slice of the dang gui into half then place it on the both side of the fish pyramid, sprinkler with some wolfberries and arrange some tangerine wedges on the side of the plate.
6. Upon steaming, drizzle 1 tablespoon of rice wine on the fish, top with tangerine peel strips and steam over medium heat for about 5 minutes or till cooked through depend quantity used.
7. Serve hot with rice or as starter.


Notes:
a) If you don't like cod, you can replace it with other fish fillet that is suitable for steaming, eg. Grouper - 石斑.
b) You can also omit the prawn and just purely using fish slices.
c) If you don't have Rice Wine, you can replace it with 2 Teaspoons of Hua Diao Jiu (花雕酒) instead as the taste is much stronger than the sweet rice wine.
d) You can also replace it with 2 Tablespoons of Chicken Stock if you do not wish to serve liquor to kids.

Comments from my food taster :)
* You can actually taste a few favour and fragrance in this dish. When you drink the gravy, it's full of tonic and sweetness because of the rice wine, cod and wolfberries and it's also scented with some tangerine fragrance.

*When you give a bite to the fish, it's smooth, silky and it has a combination of dang gui and tangerine peel taste which make it light and refresh.

Related Post:
1. Steam Cod Fish & Double Boil Frog Soup

2. Steam Cod Fish With Crispy Bean