My grandfather always said to me in his native tongue, “Macchi khaya kar, dimaag tez hoyega” which translates to “Eat fish, so you have a smart brain”.

And haven’t we all heard everyone telling a pregnant mother to eat lots of fish?

I also have a friend who would be on a fish diet right before her exams. She swears by it!  Mind you, she is an all rounder. (No names taken, wink wink)

Keeping all that in mind, I try to include fish in my kids diet at least once or twice a week. I know many shy away from cooking fish at home because it seems all too much starting from the cleaning of the fish. These days’ fishmongers are happy to remove and clean the fish completely so cut this reason out of your reluctance.

The second reason I often hear is simply because it seems like a difficult task. Well I hope with this recipe, I would change your mind.

Steaming fish is way easier than frying. The only important thing is to find yourself the freshest fishmonger and buy only the freshest fish and cook it the same day.

Ingredients: (for 1 fish)

• 4 garlic sliced
• 3 celery stalk, chopped 1 inch
• 3 red chilli sliced
• 1 ginger piece juveniles (cut into strips)
• 1/2 ginger cut round (no need to peel)
• 2 spring onions, cut 1inch
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup water or stock
• 2 tbsp soya sauce
• 1tsp sugar
• 3 lemon slices (optional)
• a pinch, black pepper (optional)

Method:

1. Make 3 deep cuts on the fish on each side. Soak in salt & water for sometime.
2. In a heat resistant plate, place round ginger at the bottom. Place fish on top. And lemon slices on top of the fish. Set aside.
3. In a pan, add sesame oil. Quickly add garlic (don’t wait for the oil to heat up as it burns easily).
4. Once the garlic changes to a slight yellow, add soup or water. Followed by all the remaining ingredients; soya sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, black pepper, ginger, celery, spring onions and chillies. Cook this until the base sauce is a bit sticky.
5. Prepare a steamer. Bring water to a boil. Place the fishplate onto the steamer. Steam for 5minutes.
6. Pour in the sauce you prepared in the pan. Steam for another 5 minutes.
7. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!