Steamed snapper with lemongrass, done properly

The bloke behind the counter at the Nelson Bay Fishermen’s Co-operative always asks the same thing when I’m buying snapper: ‘steaming or crumbing?’ Fair question, and nine times out of ten these days it’s steaming. I reckon most home cooks are missing out on why, mostly because they’ve only ever steamed broccoli and assume fish is the same deal. It isn’t.

This is a proper Hunter-kitchen-trained technique, not a diet hack. Done right you get flesh that’s just set, still faintly translucent at the bone, carrying every bit of the lemongrass and ginger you’ve steamed it over. Done badly you get a grey, watery fillet that tastes of nothing and disappoints everyone at the table. The difference is entirely in the timing, and I’ll get to that.

Why steaming beats the pan for a whole fish

Snapper is a lean, delicate fish. Hit it with high dry heat in a pan and you’ve got about ninety seconds before it goes from perfect to sad and dry, which is exactly the trap a lot of home cooks fall into with fish generally, not just snapper. Steaming is more forgiving because the heat is gentler and more even, and because the aromatics sit right there in the steaming liquid doing the flavour work for you.

I’ll say something a bit contrarian here: poaching gets all the attention on this site, and rightly so for salmon, but steaming is the better everyday technique for whole fish or thick fillets if you actually want dinner on the table without dirtying five pans. The poached salmon with fennel, orange and chilli is a beauty of a dish, but it’s a different job entirely.

The Australian Dietary Guidelines, via eatforhealth.gov.au, recommend fish two to three times a week as part of a varied diet, and healthdirect.gov.au notes the omega-3 benefit of oilier varieties in particular. Snapper’s leaner than salmon or ocean trout but it’s still a solid, sensible choice, and honestly a lot more interesting on a Tuesday night than another round of chicken breast.

Ingredients

• 4 x 180g snapper fillets, skin on, scaled and pin-boned (ask your fishmonger to do this, don’t muck about with tweezers yourself unless you enjoy it)
• 2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, bruised with the back of a knife and cut into 5cm batons
• 4cm knob of ginger, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 long red chillies, sliced on the angle, deseeded if you want it milder
• 80ml light soy sauce (tamari if you’re avoiding gluten)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar or rapadura
• Juice of 2 limes
• 4 spring onions, cut into fine batons
• A big handful of coriander, roots washed and finely chopped, leaves reserved
• Steamed jasmine or brown rice, to serve
• Extra lime wedges, to serve

Method

1. Set up your steamer. A bamboo steamer over a wok works best, but a metal steamer basket over a wide pot is fine too. Bring the water to a proper rolling boil before the fish goes anywhere near it.
2. Scatter half the lemongrass, ginger, garlic and chilli over a heatproof plate that fits inside your steamer with room for the steam to circulate. Lay the snapper fillets skin-side up on top and scatter the remaining aromatics and the chopped coriander root over the fish.
3. Whisk the soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar and lime juice together in a small bowl. Taste it. It should hit sour, salty and a bit sweet all at once, and if it doesn’t, adjust now rather than at the end.
4. Sit the plate in the steamer, put the lid on tight, and steam for 8 to 10 minutes for fillets this size. Don’t lift the lid every thirty seconds to check, you’re just letting the heat out and adding time.
5. Check doneness by pressing gently with a fork at the thickest part. It should flake cleanly and look opaque all the way through, with maybe the faintest translucence right at the centre, which will finish carrying over.
6. Warm the sauce through in a small saucepan for a minute or pour it over the hot fish straight from the bowl, your call. Scatter with spring onion and coriander leaves.
7. Serve immediately over steamed rice with extra lime wedges on the side.

Getting the timing right so the flesh doesn’t turn to mush

Here’s where people go wrong. They either rush it and serve fish that’s still translucent and cold in the middle, which nobody wants, or they leave it in five minutes too long because they’re nervous about undercooking seafood, and end up with something the texture of a damp flannel. Get your steamer properly hot before the fish goes in, use a timer, and pull it the moment it flakes. If you’re using a whole fish instead of fillets, budget 15 to 18 minutes for something around 1.2kg, scored twice on each side so the heat gets in evenly.

And don’t try to shortcut this in the microwave, or wrap it in foil and call it ‘steaming’ in the oven. It isn’t the same thing, the texture’s never right, and I’ve tasted enough of both to know it. If you don’t have a steamer, a wire rack set inside a roasting dish with simmering water underneath and foil pulled tight over the top will get you close enough. But get a proper steamer if you’re going to cook fish this way more than once. It’s not an expensive bit of kit and it earns its keep.

What I serve it with

Plain steamed rice is non-negotiable for me, it soaks up the sauce and keeps the whole plate honest. Beyond that I’ll usually throw together some steamed or blanched Asian greens, gai lan if I can get it, tossed through with a splash of the leftover steaming liquid. If you want something with a bit more crunch on the side, the soba noodle bowl with sesame greens shares a lot of the same flavour DNA and works well as a starter before the fish, or as a base to build the snapper straight on top of instead of rice.

This is also a genuinely good midweek dish if you’re trying to get back into cooking at home more regularly rather than reaching for takeaway, which is a case I don’t think needs much arguing for, but the site’s made it well enough already in the quiet case for cooking at home more often.

A variation worth trying if you want more heat

If you’ve got a crowd that likes things fierier, double the chilli and add a tablespoon of finely sliced bird’s eye along with the long red. Swap the lime juice for a mix of lime and a splash of tamarind water if you can find it, which pulls the sauce into more of a sour-hot direction, closer to a Thai steamed fish. Barramundi works with exactly the same method if snapper’s not looking good at the market that week, and the barramundi with fennel and orange, done properly is worth a look if you want a completely different flavour direction for the same fish.

Snapper prices move around a fair bit depending on the season and what’s coming through the co-ops, so if it’s looking tired or the price has jumped, don’t force it — this method works just as well on ocean trout or a firm white fish like blue-eye. Taste as you go, trust the timer over your nerves, and get your steamer properly hot before anything goes in. That’s really the whole trick.

— Dave Forsythe, Golden Door Living kitchen