If you love easy and comforting family recipes, you can’t go wrong with Grandma’s Steamed Fish with Black Bean Sauce! It’s the ultimate side dish – just marinate then steam for a healthy weeknight meal everyone can enjoy. Plus, we’ve made it even EASIER by using a store bought paste that you can pick up to go!
Can’t get enough of these flavors? Try it with pork ribs!
The easiest healthy side dish for dinner
Grandma’s Steamed Fish with Black Bean Sauce isn’t just a simple recipe for weeknight dinners; it’s one that you’ll love having in your back pocket!
This quick meal is made for those nights where you’ve only got enough time to duck out to the shops and grab a few ingredients. But for this recipe, as soon as you’re home, just set up your steamer and you’re already a few steps away from having dinner on the table!
I honestly can’t fault the cooking process – smother the steaks with a deeply savory paste, create balance using fragrant ginger strips and leave it to steam until the seafood is melt-apart ready.
The flavors in this side dish pack a lot more punch than a classic Cantonese Steamed Fish with Ginger and Shallots (清蒸鱼), and serving it over hot steaming rice will take you right back to your childhood around the family dinner table!
Why this recipe works
- Opting for jarred sauces means the prep time is reduced so you can have more time for yourself.
- Our Steamed Fish with Bean Bean Sauce is made using grouper steaks for minimum prep.
- Using ginger keeps the dish fragrant and reduces fishy smells.
What you’ll need
About the ingredients
We use pre-cut grouper fish steaks for this recipe, but you can use whichever type and cut you prefer. Grouper’s particularly good for steaming because it softens well and also holds its shape, even when cooked for a longer period of time as you would if braising.
You can find black bean garlic sauce in the sauces section of Asian supermarkets. The one we use it the Lee Kum Kee brand, but any will work. Just make sure to adjust the seasoning to taste as different brands have slightly different flavors.
How to make this recipe
Cut the ginger into thin strips, then set aside for later.
Marinate the fish with the black bean sauce, chicken bouillon powder, sugar, salt and oil for a minimum of 20 minutes.
Set up the steamer and spread the ginger on top. Put the dish in to cook on high heat for 50 minutes or until cooked.
Pro Tip: If you poke a chopstick through and it comes out slightly flaky and the color isn’t translucent, it’s ready.
Serve immediately as is!
Recipe FAQs
Certainly! Just make sure to prepare it by gutting and cleaning so you get the freshest flavors.
Make sure that it’s cleaned thoroughly. Get the fish monger to gut and do the first clean for you, then take it home and give it another wash and scrape the scales off. You can even quickly pour a few ladles of hot water over the skin to remove the smell.
If you have some on hand, soak, wash, then lightly smash before use. You will also have to blend it into a paste with some oil, sugar and garlic. Make sure to adjust the seasoning to taste in the final marinade.
Tips for the best results
- Marinate for longer. We do this with beef, chicken and pork to ensure the flavors infuse deep into the ingredients.
- Give the skin a thorough scrape. Run a knife along the skin under running cold tap water to remove any excess scales.
- Top it with a scallion and hot oil. Finely slice some scallions, lay them over the ginger and bring a neutral oil to smoking point. Pour it over the scallions for a fresh aromatic kick.
Make it a Cantonese dinner!
- Start the night off with restaurant-style Oysters with Ginger and Shallots.
- The humble flavors in Braised Chicken with Mushrooms, Black Fungus and Lily Flowers (金針雞), Crispy Pork Belly Stir Fry and Three Colored Eggs (三色蒸水蛋) will complement all the dishes.
- Chicken Feet Soup (雞腳汤) has a nutty fragrance that warms everyone up.
- Enjoy everything over a bed of Dried Scallop and Egg White Fried Rice (瑤柱蛋白炒飯) drizzled with XO Sauce (XO 酱).
- Bean Curd and Ginkgo Nut Dessert Soup (腐竹白果糖水) is a great way to finish the night off!
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Steamed Fish with Black Bean Sauce (豉汁蒸魚)
Equipment
- Steamer
Ingredients
- 1 kg / 2.2 lb fish (we get it from the fish monger
- 50 g / 0.11 lb ginger
- 1 tbsp black bean garlic sauce (or to taste)
- 3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1/2 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
- 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Cut the ginger into thin strips, then set aside for later.
- Marinate the fish with the black bean sauce, chicken bouillon powder, sugar, salt and oil for a minimum of 20 minutes.
- Set up the steamer and spread the ginger on top. Put the dish in to cook on high heat for 50 minutes or until cooked.Pro Tip: If you poke a chopstick through and it comes out slightly flaky and the color isn't translucent, it's ready.
- Serve immediately as is!
Notes
- Marinate for longer. We do this to ensure the flavors infuse deep into the ingredients.
- Give the skin a thorough scrape. Run a knife along the skin under running cold tap water to remove any excess scales.
- Top it with a scallion and hot oil. Finely slice some scallions, lay them over the ginger and bring a neutral oil to smoking point. Pour it over the scallions for a fresh aromatic kick.
- We use pre-cut grouper fish steaks for this recipe, but you can use whichever type and cut you prefer.
- You can find black bean garlic sauce in the sauces section of Asian supermarkets. The one we use it the Lee Kum Kee brand, but any will work. Just make sure to adjust the seasoning to taste as different brands have slightly different flavors.
MMMM love anything with black bean sauce as its my ultimate favourite 🙂
Me too!
Love finding new fish recipes! Looks delicious, I haven’t tried steam fish before. Nor have a I tried grouper. I wonder what fishes might be similar, I am not sure we have grouper around much here in the Boston area.
You can try this recipe with any of your favorite fish, David. I hope you get to try it soon!
The simplicity of this dish is enticing, can’t wait to make it for dinner!
Thanks, Gina!
Looks great! Love fish, and this is such a great way to prepare it!
Yes, love it cooked this way! So much healthier than frying!
Oh wow! This side dish looks amazing and so tasty especially the black bean sauce! I’m so excited to make this soon! My family is going to be all over this steamed fish!
Thanks, Beth! I hope your family loves it as much as we do!