清蒸鱼清蒸魚
qīng zhēng yú cing1 zing1 jyu2
No New Year table is complete without a whole fish, because 魚 (yú) sounds exactly like 餘 — surplus. The wish 年年有餘, “abundance year after year”, is served steaming, head and tail intact, and part of it is always left over on purpose.
The story behind it
The fish is the most untouchable pun on the New Year table: serving it whole stands for a complete year, and leaving some uneaten makes the “surplus” literally true. Etiquette varies by region — the head may face the eldest or most honoured guest, and in some families nobody flips the fish, because flipping is said to capsize the fisherman’s boat.
Ingredients
- 1 whole fresh fish (sea bass or similar, about 600 g), scaled and gutted
- Big knob of ginger, half sliced and half in fine threads
- 3 spring onions
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce (or steamed-fish soy, 蒸鱼豉油)
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
Steps
- Lay the fish on ginger slices and spring onion; put more in the cavity.
- Steam over high heat 8–10 minutes — just until the flesh flakes at the bone.
- Pour off the steaming liquid; top with ginger and spring onion threads.
- Heat the oil until smoking, pour it sizzling over the fish, then add the soy.