Crock Pot Chinese Style Steamed Fish For Two

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID: Good, but a little salty and too much ginger
SHE SAID: Good, but yes, a little salty.  Nice and light.

Finished product

A slight change in plans with the public utility strike starting up this afternoon...no Morimoto's due to a revised work schedule (plus longer hours) for the male half of this couple.  He's non-union, so he now becomes an essential worker.

Decided to make some Chinese Style Steamed fish, a local favorite at Chinese restaurants.  Normally the dish is prepared either by steaming the fish in the sauce on the stove or pouring the hot oil mixture on the fish.  We figured the fish would steam nicely in foil packets in the crock pot and we were so glad we tried.

This recipe is simple, inexpensive and oh so good!  We had a lot to do, so being able to whip up the sauce, throw it in the crock pot and 3 hours later have a wonderful meal was perfect.  We used tilapia since it was the only white flaky fish at the local market.  Due to the heavy rains we had, the green onion crops are low, so we couldn't do the green onions sliced in long, thin strips.  Went to the markets AND the farmers market...no green onions, no chives, nothing!  Luckily we had some chopped green onions in the freezer.  You can also garnish with chopped chinese parsley (cilantro)...we didn't just because it wasn't on sale.

Here's the recipe:

Prep Time: 10-15 mins
Cooking Time: 3 hours on low
4 qt crock pot (although I think this would have fit in the 2 qt)

1 lb. tilapia fillet (or other white flaky fish)
1 t. kosher salt
1 1/2 T. minced fresh ginger
3 T. thinly sliced green onions (chopped works too)
2 T. low sodium shoyu (soy sauce)
2 T. peanut oil
1 T. sesame oil
chinese parsley (cilantro) for garnish

Dango from Nijiya Market

Mix ginger, shoyu (soy sauce) and oils together in a bowl.  Lay out pieces of foil (one per fillet - large enough to fold into a sealed packet).  Wash and pat dry your fish, then rub with kosher salt on each side.  Place the fish in the middle of the foil.  Make a "boat" with your foil (see picture above) so when you pour sauce onto the fish, your sauce doesn't spill out of the foil.  Pour sauce over each piece of fish, divide the sauce up equally.  Scatter green onions on fish.  Fold foil into a sealed packet and place foil packets into the crock pot.  It's ok to stack the packets, they will all cook evenly.  Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.  Be careful when opening packets, steam will come out of the packets when opened.  Garnish with chinese parsley (cilantro) if desired.

We served this with stuffing (just because someone gave us some stuffing the night before), but next time will serve with Japanese rice.

On another note, we finally stopped at Nijiya Market and bought some dango.  It was very good for previously frozen dango.  It's not quite as good as eating dango from the street vendors in Japan, but after microwaving the dango, it was pretty close!

Enjoy, we sure did!