Chinese Fish Recipes

Chinese people mainly use deep-frying, stir-frying and steaming to prepare fish. In China, people like to serve the whole fish because serving the fish whole is a symbol of prosperity and also means everything will end up good and well.

Another interesting fact about how Chinese people like to prepare fish and seafood is people generally like to cook their fish by steaming it. Chinese people think this is the best way to taste all the delicious freshness of the fish or any other kinds of seafood. This is even more so with higher quality and more expensive fish or seafood. For cheaper or lower quality fish, most people will tend to deep-fry or deep-fry first then stir-fry it afterward with some sauce. Frying or deep-frying will cover up any fishy taste or smell of lesser quality fish.

So if you’ve had enough of baked, grilled or pan-fried fish and are looking for different ways to cook fish, here is a selection of Asian-inspired and Chinese fish recipes.

Ginger-Soy Steamed Fish

Provided by the former Chinese food expert, a classic Cantonese method of preparing fish, with steamed fillets lightly coated with sauce and then drizzled with green onions and a small amount of hot oil. This recipe comes from cookbook author Farina Kingsley and is one of the new recipes from her recently launched cookbook app “Farina’s Asian Pantry. “

Stir-fry Fish Fillets

This simple stir-fry pairs fish fillets with healthy Chinese dried mushrooms (also known as shiitake mushrooms), carrots and red bell peppers in a flavourful sauce. Feel free to use any type of firm-fleshed fish that will hold its form during stir-frying.

How to Steam Fish

A simple but flavourful recipe that pairs fish with Chinese salted black beans. This recipe comes from cookbook author and restaurateur Leann Chin and includes suggestions for different seasonings.

Sweet and Sour Fish Recipe

This “sweet and sour fish fillet” recipe originates from Eastern China. It’s preferable to use “white fish” like cod, haddock, sea bass or monkfish. I personally like to use monkfish to make this kind of dish because monkfish is not only delicious but the shape is perfect for cutting and the texture is a bit more solid than the other kinds of fish.