Steamed rice rolls with fish and tangerine peel
Homemade rice flour sheets steamed thin and silky around grass carp slices and tangerine peel, finished with sweet soy — fragrant, light and good for clearing damp.
- 27 min
- Serves 2
- Steam
- Medium
Why it suits you: Phlegm-damp types feel heavy and sluggish, with poor appetites and a thick tongue coating, and Chushu's humid heat makes greasy breakfasts especially unwelcome. Tangerine peel dries damp, resolves phlegm and stirs the appetite, grass carp warms the stomach and rice flour strengthens the spleen. Steamed rather than fried, the thin sheets are fragrant and silky and won't sit heavily.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 12 min- 1Whisk the rice flour, cornflour, a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp oil with the water into a thin batter and leave for 10 minutes. Soak the tangerine peel, scrape off the pith and shred finely; chop the spring onions.
- 2Mix the fish with a little salt, the ginger and half the tangerine peel and leave for 10 minutes.
- 3Brush a flat metal tray with oil, pour in a ladle of batter and swirl to coat. Scatter over some fish, spring onion and peel, cover and steam over a high heat for 2–3 minutes until translucent and bubbling.
- 4Roll up from one side with a spatula and transfer to a plate; repeat with the rest. Heat the soy sauce, sugar and 2 tbsp hot water until dissolved and pour over the rolls.
Cautions
- Watch for small bones in grass carp; the sweet soy sauce contains salt and sugar, so use just a little if you have high blood sugar.
Chef's tips
- Stir the batter each time before using as the flour sinks; if you don't have a rice-roll tray, a round cake tin or shallow flat plate works.
The TCM view
Tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm, moving qi, strengthening the spleen, drying damp and resolving phlegm — a key herb for damp. Grass carp is sweet and warm, warming the stomach and harmonising the middle; long-grain rice is sweet and warm, boosting qi and supporting the spleen; ginger warms the middle and transforms fluids. Steamed with little oil, it strengthens the spleen and dries damp.
