Steamed dace fish cake with tangerine peel & broad bean rice
A bouncy, fragrant steamed fish cake with aged tangerine peel, over brown rice with broad beans and Job's tears — low-fat, made the night before.
- 1 hr 20 min
- Serves 2
- Steam
- Easy
Why it suits you: Phlegm-Dampness feels heavy and phlegmy, and damp, foggy equinox weather adds to the sluggishness. The fish cake is steamed, not fried; broad beans and roasted Job's tears strengthen the spleen and drain damp, and tangerine peel resolves phlegm. A modest lunchbox, made the night before.
Method
Prep 20 min · Cook 60 min- 1Rinse the brown rice and Job's tears, soak for 1 hour, then cook with 280 ml water on the rice cooker's brown rice setting.
- 2Blanch the broad beans for 3 minutes, cool under the tap and slip off the skins. When the rice clicks off, stir them in and leave covered for 5 minutes.
- 3Soak the tangerine peel until soft, scrape off the pith and shred finely; chop the spring onions. Add both to the fish paste with the ginger and pepper and stir in one direction until springy.
- 4Press the paste into a cake about 1 cm thick on a plate and steam over boiling water on high heat for 10 minutes until cooked through. Drizzle with the soy sauce.
- 5Cut the fish cake into pieces and pack with the rice. Cool and refrigerate; the next day, microwave for 2–3 minutes until piping hot.
Cautions
- If you have G6PD deficiency (favism), never eat broad beans — use green peas instead.
- Avoid Job's tears in pregnancy; cook diced Chinese yam with the rice instead.
Chef's tips
- Wet-market fish stalls sell ready-seasoned dace paste, so no extra salt is needed. Frozen broad beans work if you can't find fresh.
The TCM view
Broad beans are sweet and neutral and drain damp; dace is sweet and neutral and supports the spleen and fluid balance; aged tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm and dries damp and resolves phlegm; roasting takes the chill off Job's tears; brown rice is sweet and neutral. A little ginger and pepper warm the middle — damp-draining without weakening digestion.
