Spicy Steamed Fish Head

The weather had been bleak for days and the sky had been gray and foggy the whole morning. It made me hesitant to go out, though I had wanted to shop for several run out items like vinegar and butter. In rainy season like this, I usually consume a lot of ginger tea or more spicy food to warm up my body. Since Indonesian is an archipelagic country surrounded by the sea, thus, Indonesian diet consists of a lot of seafood, mostly fish. We do have abundance of fish - many kinds, which we are very grateful for 'cause we have such immense source of protein from the sea.

So, I decided to cook spicy steamed fish head (Chinese style) and here is the recipe:

2 big red snapper fish heads (halved)

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

5 cm of young ginger (julienned) (add more as you like) 

10 hot Thai chayenne pepper (diced, if you don't like spicy leave the pepper undiced) - you can use any paddy chilli too (green ones)

2-3 small calamansi citrus to marinate the fish heads (you can subsitute it with lime or lemon juice just enough to season the fish head in order to eliminate the fishy smell) 

2 Tbs of vegetable oil for sautéing

2 Tbs of sesame oil

3-5 Tbs of salted soya sauce (adjust it according to your taste, I usually don't use anymore salt so I just add more to reach the salty taste).

1 Tbs of salted soya bean (optional) - if you use salted soya bean, you may want to lessen the salted soya sauce.

11/2 tsp of sugar

1 - 1 1/2 cup of water

2 sprigs of scallion, sliced

How to:
1. Marinate the fish heads with the lime juice for 5-10 mins, drained. Place the fish heads in a tin plate. 

2. Pre-heat the steamer and sauté garlic with vegetable oil until fragrant, add diced chilli, ginger, salted soya sauce, sesame oil and salted soya bean(optional). Keep sautéing until it turns brown. 

3.Transfer the sautéd ingredients over the fish heads, sprinkle sugar on top of it, add water.

4. Place the the tin plate in the steamer when the steamer is boiling or ready. Steam for 15 mins.

5.Remove the plate from the steamer when it's done and sprinkle with sliced scallion. Serve with steamed rice.

Sometimes I use dehydrated red pepper though fresh paddy chilli/hot pepper is best