Chinese New Year Fish
In Chinese food, fish is a must-have ingredient for Chinese New Year because it’s auspicious.
Fish is “yu” (鱼) in Chinese; it means abundance and a symbol of great fortune and prosperity. Chinese New Year meals will not be complete without a fish as one of the main courses!
Traditional, Chinese people eat fish as a whole, with its head and tail. Whole fish signifies wholeness, which is a lucky symbol. However, not everyone loves whole fish, so I developed this Ginger Soy Fish using halibut fish fillet.
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Halibut
Halibut is a type of flat fish, with a delicate flavor. It’s a white fish and the flesh has a semi-firm texture. It’s a good fish to eat and perfect for pan searing, sautéing or grilling.
Try to buy Pacific halibut as it’s sustainable. Avoid buying Atlantic breed because it’s over fished. You can get live halibut at some seafood stores but it’s very expensive. A live fish is about $60.
You can get halibut fillet for cheaper price as it’s commonly available in many supermarkets. Frozen halibut tends to be rubbery and dry after cooking, so try not to buy frozen halibut fillets.
How to Cook Halibut?
Ginger is the secret ingredient in this pan seared halibut recipe. Ginger imparts an amazing nuance to halibut fish and rids it from potential fishy odor.
It’s important that when cooking halibut, you gently flip the fish over with a pair of chopsticks or wooden spatula. This will prevent the fish from breaking apart. To serve, top the fish with the ginger strips, chopped scallion and serve it with warm steamed rice.
This is one of the best halibut recipes. The fish is doused in a savory and utterly delicious soy sauce. Try my ginger soy fish recipe. Enjoy!
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 348 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
This meal is best served with steamed rice. For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Ginger Soy Fish Recipe
Ginger Soy Fish - crispy and perfectly cooked fish in a mouthwatering sauce. Topped with ginger and scallion, this recipe is so good with steamed rice!
Ingredients
- 12 oz. 340 g halibut fish fillet or other white fish (please see recipe notes)
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 2- inch 2 cm-5 cm piece ginger
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped scallions
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons [soy sauce]
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 dashes ground white pepper
Directions
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1Cut to the fish into thick, but bite size pieces. Add corn starch to the fish fillet.
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2Coat the fish with the corn starch. Set aside.
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3Peel the ginger, slice and cut into thin strips.
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4Mix all the ingredients for the Sauce in a small bowl. Stir to mix well and make sure that the sugar melts.
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5Heat up a non-stick skillet or well-seasoned wok with the cooking oil on medium to high heat. When the oil is fully heated, add the ginger and stir-fry until they turn light brown. Remove them from the oil and set aside in a bowl.
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6Using the ginger-infused oil, pan fry the fish until both surface turn light to golden brown. Make sure you turn the fish very gently with spatula or tong, or preferably with a pair of long cooking chopsticks. Fish fillets are very delicate; you don't want to break them up while pan-frying.
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7Add the Sauce to the fish. As soon as the sauce bubbles. Turn off the heat and dish out. Top the fish with the ginger strips and scallion. Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
What is a white fish? White fish refers to a group of fish with white flesh, for example: halibut, pollock, cod, snapper, sole or flounder. You want to use firm white fish as it’s easier to cook.
Home Cook
For being so utterly simple, with easy-to-get ingredients, this was one of the best recipes I’ve ever used for halibut. It’s actually kind of hard to find Asian recipes for halibut specifically (I’ve used it when it was… really not the best choice). And the crispy ginger? OHHHHHH man. I made a LOT of REALLY good dishes for new years, but this one was stunning. Very much would recommend.
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome!😊👍
Corinne
I made this dish for my family and it has become an instant favorite. Wonderful recipe.
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks! :)
J Flood
My wife was sooo impressed by this dish.
John
Hello Bee I just make the soy ginger fish. I used cod and pared it with Asian pear salad. It was great everyone loved it. Thank you are such a good recipe.
MARY
CAN DRY GINGER BE USED?
Rasa Malaysia
No, it won’t taste good. Just skip and use garlic.
Tina Orlandino
It could but has a very dissimilar taste profile. Not unpleasant just not the same.
Annie
Yum! Do you think there is any good way to reheat this?
Rasa Malaysia
Microwave!
Kelly Smyth
OMG! Delicious! We loved it and will definitely make it again. What would you serve as a vegetable side?
Admin
https://rasamalaysia.com/napa-cabbage/
Narina
Just made this recipe for lunch this afternoon, my husband said I should make it again! It is lovely, thank you for this wonderful recipe! So easy to make as well.
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome thanks for trying!
Brenda
I just made this for my husband and I for lunch. WOW It was excellent! I will definitely make this again soon!! Thank you for posting!!
JO Stafford
Made this tonight, should have cut ginger thinner but so good!
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome!
Micheline
Thank you for this amazing and simple recipe. I used seabass and the skin was nice and crunchy. I paired this dish with a veggie chow mein, white rice and I fried up some lumpia as a starter. We’re big eaters so I almost tripled the recipe. I cooked the fish in batches so as to not break the fillets, then put everything back in before adding the sauce. We’ll def eat this again!
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome!