Ginger-Lime Cod with Pickled Mustard Greens

This dish is a reinterpretation of my favorite Sichuan fish soup. The original dish is a noodle soup with small pieces of fish and pickled mustard greens, served with steamed rice. I changed the dish to main fish dish with a sauce made of broth from braised pickled mustard greens.

Unlike most Sichuan foods, this dish is not extremely spicy, but has just right balance of sour-spicy-sweet flavors. Sourness and little bit of sweetness from pickled mustard greens go well with the mild spiciness and fragrance from ginger, chili pepper and lime. Lightly cooked oyster mushroom and enoki mushroom add another layer of earthy flavor and interesting texture to the dish.

This dish is much tastier than how it looks. Please try at home.

Ginger-Lime Cod with Pickled Mustard Greens

(Yield: 4 servings / Cooking time: 35 minutes)
* 35 minutes does not include 30 minutes’ marinating time for fish.

Ingredients:

+ 0.8 lb (~360g) cod (any thick white fish should work), 0.2 lb (~90g) per serving
+ white rice flour
+ butter & vegetable oil
+ salt/pepper

Braised Pickled Mustard Greens
+ 1 cup chopped pickled mustard greens (for recipe, please click here.)
+ 1 red chili pepper, seeded and sliced to ~1/6" thickness (I used mild red Hungarian wax pepper.)
+ 1 cup chicken stock (to see how to make chicken stock, please click here.)
+ 2 Tbsp lime juice
+ vegetable oil
+ salt

Mushrooms
+ 50g oyster mushroom
+ 50g enoki mushroom
+ salt




Ginger-Lime marinade
+ 1 tsp roughly chopped ginger
+ 1 tsp lime zest
+ 1 tsp roughly chopped garlic
+ 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil




Garnish
+ 2 scallions, julienne the white and pale green parts only*
+ several sprigs of cilantro, pick leaves only

* Julienne scallions in long form, and submerge in ice water. Ice water will remove the slimy liquid from scallion and also make the julienne curly. Drain and pat dry with paper towel.




for Sauce
+ 1 tsp lime zest
+ 1 Tbsp lime juice
+ 1 tsp ginger juice (grate ginger piece finely and squeeze the juice only)


Procedures:

1. Make ginger-lime marinade by mixing chopped ginger, lime zest, chopped garlic, and olive oil. Coat cod pieces with the ginger-lime marinade well. Tightly wrap with plastic wrap and marinate the fish in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.


2. Drizzle enough vegetable oil in a pan or small pot and add chopped pickled mustard greens and red chili pepper slices. Sweat the mustard greens and sliced red chili pepper over low-medium heat for 2-3 minutes.


3. Pour chicken stock. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Taste the broth, and season with salt & pepper. Adjust the acidity balance with lime juice, if needed.


4. Take out braised pickled mustard greens and chili pepper slices with a slotted spoon. Keep them warm. Leave the braising liquid in the pot.


5. Add cleaned mushrooms to the braising liquid. Cook mushrooms just until they are wilted. (About one minute.)


6. Take out the wilted mushrooms from braising liquid with a slotted spoon. Taste the mushrooms, and season with salt. Keep them warm. Reserve the braising liquid separately. The braising liquid will be used to make sauce in later step.


7. Remove any big pieces of garlic and ginger from the marinated fish and pat dry with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper, and lightly coat the fish with rice flour. (For even cooking, the fish must be at room temperature at least 10-15 minutes before seasoning.)

8. In a sauté pan, add some butter and vegetable oil. Heat the pan until the butter browns but is not burned. In the heated pan, sauté each side of fish for a few minutes until the fish is cooked. To check if fish is done, you can poke the fish with a cake taster. If the taster slides in without any resistance, the fish is cooked. Take the fish out and rest them in a wired rack, and cover loosely with cooking foil.


9. Pour the braising liquid from step #6 to the pan and mix with the browned butter. Swirl and add some lime zest, lime juice, and ginger juice for taste. Taste the sauce, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.


10. Reheat the braised pickled mustard greens and mushrooms if they are not warm enough. Plate the mustard greens and mushrooms and sautéed fish together. And spoon the sauce on top of fish. Garnish with curled scallion juliennes and cilantro leaves.


Enjoy~





* Pickled mustard greens recipe
(adopted and modified from "Pickled Mustard Greens" recipe in Saveur Issue #5.)

(1) Mix 2 cups water, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp sugar and 1 Tbsp salt in a small sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Cool slightly. (2) Clean 1/2 lb Asian mustard greens, and put in a bowl with two green Thai chilies, and 1" piece peeled ginger. Pour the cooled vinegar mixture over the mustard greens, and store in airtight container. (3) After a month, you can enjoy the pickled mustard greens!