"I could eat this dish every night of the week! It is so healthy, light and clean-tasting. The most important thing is to buy the freshest and best-quality fish fillet – the recipe is so simple and refined, the fish is allowed to speak for itself. Suggested fish for this recipe include bar cod, blue eye, snapper, King George whiting, Murray cod, barramundi, mahi mahi, cod and sea bass. You can also make this using 1 × 750 g (1 lb 8 oz) whole snapper or sea bass, scaled, cleaned and gutted. Simply increase the initial steaming time to 6–8 minutes, plus 1–2 minutes after the cabbage has been added. My mum often steams a whole snapper to accompany her many wonderful banquets!" - Kylie Kwong

DIRECTIONS

Place fish in a shallow heatproof bowl that will fit inside a steamer basket. Pour water and wine or sherry over fish, then sprinkle with half the ginger. Place bowl inside steamer and position over a deep saucepan or wok of boiling water and steam, covered, for 5 –6 minutes.

Cut Chinese cabbage leaf into 4 squares and slip inside steamer. Cover and steam for a further 2–3 minutes, or until cabbage has warmed through and fish is just cooked. The flesh should be white; if it is still translucent, cook for another minute or so.

Remove cabbage from steamer and arrange on a serving plate. Using a spatula, carefully remove fish from steamer and place on top of hot cabbage. Pour any liquid left in the bowl over fish, sprinkle with sugar and drizzle with combined soy sauce and sesame oil, then sprinkle with remaining ginger and half the spring onion. Heat peanut oil in a small frying pan until moderately hot, then carefully pour over fish. Sprinkle fish with remaining spring onion, coriander and pepper, and serve immediately.

Extract from Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong, published by Lantern Australia on 2 January 2014, RRP $49.99