Steamed Tilapia Recipes

8/2/26: My husband and I liked how my last minute steamed tilapia turned out. Here is my “from the garden to the kitchen” inspiration visual. (I am writing this recipe as if it is my own child reading this recipe for the first time to cook for me.) 😂

prep time: 15 minutes
steaming time: 20 minutes+

First, before you even think about gathering the ingredients, make sure you have the cooking tools first. I used the following items to help me steam the fish:

14-inch Hexclad wok with lid
Find the egg broiler rack (whatever you call this item). You can try to find something stainless steel to prop up the plate two inches above the bottom of the wok.

Find the big stainless steel steam pot sectional divider that looks like this…

Cut two canna leaves from the garden like this if you do not see a nice banana leaf me

Main Ingredients:

1 red tilapia
1/16th teaspoon salt
1 2-inch long ginger
1/8th teaspoon lemongrass powder or two lemongrass stalks from the garden
Lee Kum Kee’s “Soy Sauce for Seafood” (Yes, that’s the actual name on the soy sauce bottle.)
1 shallot
2 bundles of bean thread noodle
1 cup dried shredded woodear fungus

Additional ingredients for variation dated 8/2/26:

3 Tablespoon of Vietnamese fermented yellow beans
3 tablespoon of the pickled radish

Instructions:

1.. Soak the mung bean thread noodle in a bowl of lukewarm water. Soak the woodear fungus for ten minutes in water too. Soak the two ingredients for 10 minutes.

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2. While soaking the woodear and bean thread noodle, peel and slice the shallot and julienne the ginger.

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3. Set up the wok and pour two cups of water into the wok.

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4. Place one fish on top of the leaves with two slits.

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5. Sprinkler lemongrass powder and ground black pepper over the fish and inside the fish.

6. Stuff the fish belly with the sliced ginger and shallots.

7. Strain and place the wood ear fungus and bean thread noodle from the water and place the ingredients around the fish.

8. Top off with the seafood soy sauce, yellow fermented beans, and some of the pickled radish.

9. Lastly, close the wok with the lid and steam the fish for about 20 minutes. Pierce the fish with a chopstick to see if it’s tender enough to go through the fish in not. If fish is tender, serve immediately.