Swatow Mustard Cabbage Grouper Stew

Swatow mustard cabbage or daaih-gaai-choi in Cantonese 大芥菜 link (no.1 on my vegetables page) is commonly available at wet markets at this time of the year (although we are approaching the end of the season). I have been cooking it once a week for the past 2 months, either in soup or stew.

 

 

Eating at a dai pai dong is an interesting and fun experience

What is a dai pai dong?

Dai pai dong are located at street levels, with quite often tables set on pavement (particularly in the evening), or indoor in cooked food centres (like the one in Tai Po Hui Market I am going to talk about.) 

Cooked food centres are rather crowded and noisy places. The stalls are close to each other and the tables (also side-by-side) all look alike. You’d better check that the table you want to sit at belongs to the dai pai dong you have chosen.

Note: The Cantonese pronunciation (Yale Romanization) is daaih-pàaih-dóng - 大牌檔 - literally means: big licence stall.

Steamed Fish

Steamed fish / Jîng-yùh (hùnhg-sâam-yú)

Ingredients:

• 1 grouper/garoupa (fresh), ask your fishmonger to remove the scales and entrails

One very affordable fish is the golden threadfin bream (hùhng-sâam-yú - which literally means red-shirt-fish). This fish is also commonly used in soups.

• 3 slices ginger, finely shredded
• Spring onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• Optional: coriander leaves (I don't like it too much so I leave it out)

Steps:

1. Wash and pat dry fish with paper towel.
2. Rub fish with salt and place on steaming dish; spread shredded ginger over it.
3. In a large saucepan (large enough to hold a rack to steam the fish) bring the water to a boil and place fish (in the steaming dish) on rack inside. Cover and steam until done. As a general rule we count 1 minute per tael (Chinese Ounce).
4. Remove dish from the saucepan. Spill out liquid in the dish and spread spring onions (and coriander) on fish; dribble light soy sauce over it.
5. Pour hot cooked oil over all. Serve immediately.

Weight conversion:
- 1 catty (gàn) = ~600g = 16 tael (leúng)
- 1 tael (leúng) = 37.5g

Option: You can also place slices of (solid)  bean curd (ngaahng) dauh-fuh around the fish in the steaming dish.

Note: There are many varieties of groupers (sehk-bâan) in Hong Kong. Some of them can be quite expensive and housewifes will generally buy the freshwater grouper called gwai-fâ which are cheaper.