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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 the whole, with its head and tail, just like my Chinese steamed fish recipe. 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.
Other Recipes You Might Like
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. You can also use cod fish fillets or cod loins, just like my baked cod recipe.
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
Ingredients
- 12 oz (350g) halibut fish fillet or other white fish (please see recipe notes)
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 2- inch (5cm) 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
Instructions
- Cut to the fish into thick, but bite size pieces. Add corn starch to the fish fillet.
- Coat the fish with the corn starch. Set aside.
- Peel the ginger, slice and cut into thin strips.
- Mix all the ingredients for the Sauce in a small bowl. Stir to mix well and make sure that the sugar melts.
- Heat 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.
- Using 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.
- Add 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Tried this recipe with just the fish and marinade (didn’t have ginger and scallions) and it was delicious! So easy and one of my new favorites for sure.
Awesome, please try more recipes.
This was great and dead simple to make. Thanks!
Awesome.
This was very good, but I am finding that all the recipes I tried from your site are excellent.
Thank you and I will keep trying more every day.
Hi Cinzia, yes, all my recipes are easy and delicious. Please try more! https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
We tried your recipe. The sauce is very good.the fish stuck to the pan, we used a lot of oil ,much more then you advised because of it. The corn starch is making it stick.
It means your pan is not heated enough when you cook. Or use a non-stick pan.
Super Tasty. I did this recipe using cod fillet. I didn’t get my fish to colour as well as your picture. Can I clarify do you just lightly coat in cornflour and then shallow fry in pan or wok to obtain colour or should it be deeper oil with more cornflour massaged in as a form of batter?
Pan-fry longer will get to the color. Also, don’t keep turning. Pan-fry, wait, then turn over to the other side and pan-fry. :)
I had the same problem. Despite heating the oil and using a non stick pan the fish stuck to the pan.
There is no way the fish would stick to a well heated non-stick pan. It means you need a better non-stick pan or heat up the pan longer.
When u turn the fish, does the fish look burn or undercook? It can stick to the pan if it not yet cook, heat the pan, heat the oil then put the fish. Wait for awhile till you can see the edge change colour and u can move the fish. Then only turn it. Hope it help.
Excellent and easy to cook! I love ginger and this recipe is great!
Also works well with other types of firm fish
Awesome thanks for trying my recipe, please try more: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
My kids enjoy it. Next time, I would have put the sugar a bit Lesser than 1 tablespoon, it’s a tad sweet.
Sure, you can adjust it per your taste.
This is my go to because it’s easy, not a lot of ingredients and my husband LOVES it!
This was excellent! Never sure when I’m using a recipe from a site that’s new to me how it will be, but this recipe was easy and GREAT! Thank you. I’m looking forward to making more things from Rasa Malaysia :)
Hi Jennifer, thanks for trying my ginger soy fish. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Amazing recipe! Husband absolutely loves this first time round and now asks for it on a weekly basis :D
Thank you for sharing this and look forward to trying out your other dishes
x
Hi Nancy, yes, please try more recipes on my site, they are all very easy and delicious: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/