Steamed Grey Mullet

The convenience of a wet market is really in how I could just pop in to get groceries, grab some fresh vegetables and fish. I love Tiong Bahru market. But since the fish and seafood stalls at Tiong Bahru Market would be closed or have limited supplies for a few weeks, I'm not bothered to go and squeeze with the crowds who will sweep out stocks before 9.30am. I don't eat much seafood/shellfish, so I can't quite order a seafood box online. Many online fishmongers are closed too. For now, I'll just pop into the supermarket for a quick one to get a fish or two, and the vegetables. Those are really plentiful. So I also dunno why people made a mad rush to stock up on fresh fish and seafood last week. They must have a really big freezer.

Sent the man to do a quick supermarket run that afternoon for fruits and he decided randomly to get dinner ingredients too. We didn't have any cravings and didn't plan to get takeout from any specific restaurants. I might as well sort out dinner myself then. I was hoping for some sort of fish that wouldn't be a snapper or a seabass. The man said that the seafood section was well-stocked. He found fresh grey mullet as a whole fish, and as fillets. I told him to buy a pack of two lovely fillets to steam them for dinner. 

Cabbage was also bought. For some reason, the man really loves cabbage. Each time I ask him what type of vegetables he would like to go with the meal, it's always cabbage, regardless of what the mains or meats are. All right, tonight's vegetables would be stir-fried cabbage with fish sauce, chillies and dried shrimps. 

I didn't steam them fillets Teochew-style (tau cheo and lime). The fillets were steamed plain with sea salt and white Sarawak pepper. I would blanch them with the sauce later upon serving. Prepped a tangy dipping sauce to heat in the pan. Then it was drizzled over the steamed fillets. That was just a sauce of lime juice, soy sauce, spring onions and a ton of garlic. On days I don't feel like having tau cheo or salted plums, this sauce works great. It's super easy to prep, and is perfect to go with different types of steamed fish. #ImpieCooks2021

Grey mullets would be good grilled too, but when they're this fresh, I love them steamed. The kitchen sliced the fillets properly because the bones were lifted right off and there was very little of them in this batch. Tonight's steamed grey mullets went beautifully with brown rice, and yeah, cabbage. Heh.