Elevate your Steamed Fish for Chinese New Year!

Today we'll cook this fish with less salt but with an interesting twist Chinese New Year is about gathering with friends and family to enjoy delicious food No Chinese New Year feast is complete without a whole fish because we wish for abundance every year We also want You Tou You Wei So that from the beginning to the end of the year it will be delicious So for today's recipe we'll be using low-sodium soy sauce It's important to reduce sodium in your diet especially when serving meals to elderly individuals or those suffering from chronic conditions such as high blood pressure It's very important So whenever you can reduce salt in anything it's beneficial But reducing salt doesn't mean the dish will taste less as we'll use aromatics to enhance flavor all other receptors on your palette so your guests won't have a clue First of all what we'll do is We'll go behind with the fish we'll separate these two fillets all the way down through the back Cut along the length of the fish until you reach about here then open the fish so that it lies flat Therefore we'll remove the back So this is my own style I like to remove the tail so the fish sits properly on the tray Another step I'd like to take is removing all these bones I'm using a grinder but you can use tweezers or something similar Notice how the residue moves toward this area There are roughly five or seven thousand What we want to do is pull it out Make sure you remove all the bones Run your fingers around the edges of the body Therefore after you've removed the fish you eliminate all the bones What we want to do is mix in a little salt Salt is used to draw out excess moisture and firm up the meat We'll remove all the salt after 10 or 15 minutes Meanwhile while the fish is marinating let's prepare some aromatics now I have chives I have garlic and I have green onions So let's cut everything short Thus here the fragrance is aromatic in the usual Kenting flame But we'll give it a twist We'll add a touch of dried chili and Szechuan green pepper This will give it a subtle spicy kick This is actually a fusion of Kung Pao and Szechuan recipes where I've simply added a touch of Szechuan mala to the Kung Pao heat I'll give it a bit of pressure I'm sure your guest will feel the pressure from it Thus the fish has been poached for approximately 10 minutes I'll clean it up The fish has been poached Place the fish on top and admire how beautifully it sits So the fish is ready The aromatics are ready We'ready to start cooking Let me introduce you to my annual journey When Chinese New Year comes everyone arrives don't they So the great journey is upon us And when the great journey comes you can use it to cook the entire fish That's quite a spectacle isn't it I've arranged the trip You want to make sure the water is completely dry in the bowl because you want the fire to be really strong Wow okay Delicious and spicy Let's put in our fish Now we've been cooking it for 10 minutes Meanwhile I'll prepare a few performances For Chinese New Year we need something delicious and red Therefore I have capsicum But if you don't have that you can use chili peppers You can beat it This section is completely optional Therefore while the fish is cooking let's talk about soy sauce Soy sauce Kikkoman is naturally brewed It contains only four ingredients There's soy there's salt there's water and there's salt again How did they make it less salty Not because they added a little salt at the beginning Therefore what they did was They fully cooked the soy sauce using regular soy sauce Then afterward they removed the salt Thus you get 43% less salt but 100% umami Without adding MSG artificial flavors or artificial colors Everything naturally Well then the time has come Our turn to check the fish Wow Amazing Drain all the water here So the fish has been heated Now let's prepare the aromatics We'll use oil Use 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil so you can bring out the flavor Gently heat the garlic ginger and shallots —just long enough to release their aroma As soon as you see all this powder we'll put out the fire Add half a teaspoon of red beans then a few chilies It depends on how spicy you like it As soon as the powder is ready sprinkle it over the fish Finally I'll begin today Light soy sauce less salty I'll just mix it in Perhaps one or two large spoonfuls So the good thing about low-sodium soy sauce is that you can use it straight away I find it not too salty With regular soy sauce you usually need to cook it You need to get rid of it But I feel that with low-sodium soy sauce I can only mix it in He's perfectly fine We'll just add a few highlights on top so it looks really great And that's it I like to call it Maoli Mala So just imagine bringing all the fish up onto your table Everyone will say You know it looks really complicated But in reality it's very easy Most importantly it will taste incredibly incredibly delicious Thanks to the aromatic notes and of course the richness The soy sauce is less salty So all the effort put into cutting the fish makes it much easier to eat now This is the part where there are usually lots of bones There are no bones left Much easier to eat Let's try it with soy sauce Delicious Imagine eating this at a restaurant—it would cost you $100 Go to the market and buy some fish It's very easy to cut So delicious Just by adding two extra ingredients to a very traditional recipe We successfully created a new and appealing dish I hope you'll try it for this Chinese New Year Even if you want it tomorrow Make sure you take the kecoman bottle low-sodium soy sauce Until next time Enjoy your cooking and farewell