I’ve taken a traditional Korean fish dumpling and made it my own, tied up with a chive stem to make an elegant package of stuffed fish, preferably snapper, which is beautiful in spring. It’s light, balanced, looks very elegant and always gets a great response when we serve it at CHAE.
Serves
4
Ingredients
- 400–500g skin-on snapper fillet
- ½ tablespoon coarse sea salt
- 1 tablespoon makgeolli (cloudy rice wine)
- 100g mung bean sprouts, trimmed
- 4 chives
- 100g scotch fillet (ribeye), thinly sliced
- 1 shiitake mushroom, sliced
- Sauce
- 125ml (½ cup) all-purpose soy sauce
- 125ml (½ cup) traditional persimmon vinegar, or apple-cider vinegar
- Dried red chilli seeds, to taste
Directions
Cut the snapper fillet into four equal pieces.
Dip the snapper fillets in a mixture of makgeolli and salt, ensuring they are well coated. Cover and refrigerate to cure for about 3 hours.
Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil over a high heat and blanch the bean sprouts and chives for 30 seconds, then drain and rinse under cold running water. Squeeze out any excess water with your hands.
Score the thickest part of the snapper pieces and open up the slits. Cut through the snapper pieces then open them out like a book to butterfly. Stuff the cavity with the bean sprouts, sliced beef and shiitake, and sprinkle in some salt. Fold the snapper back over the stuffing, then tie each parcel up with a chive.
Part-fill a large saucepan with water and place a colander or bamboo steamer basket on top, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the colander. Place the pan over a medium heat and, once the water is simmering, steam the fish for about 10 minutes or until it is just cooked.
Meanwhile, make the sauce by mixing the soy sauce with the vinegar in a bowl.
Place the fish on a plate and sprinkle the sauce over the fish. Finish with some dried red chilli seeds if you like a little added spice.
Recipe extracted from Chae: Korean Slow Food for a Better Life by Jung Eun Chae
Published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $70
Photography: Armelle Habib
