Steamed Salmon With Black Bean Sauce

Salmon isn't traditional in Chinese cooking, but since it's common in the United States and works so beautifully with the black bean sauce, we chose it for this recipe. Steaming accentuates the fresh flavor or the ingredients. The sumptuous sauce is redolent of garlic and ginger; it will highlight the flavor of any seafood, meat, or vegetable dish.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 5 ounces fish, about 1/3 cup sauce, and 1 teaspoon onion tops)

Ingredients

• Marinade:
• 2  tablespoons  rice wine or sake
• 1  (1/2-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, thinly sliced
• 2  (1-pound) salmon fillets (about 1 1/2 inches thick)
• Cooking spray
• 
  Sauce:
• 1 1/2  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4  cup  low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4  cup  rice wine or sake
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  cornstarch
• 1  tablespoon  vegetable oil
• 3  tablespoons  fermented black beans, rinsed, drained, and chopped
• 3  tablespoons  minced green onions
• 2  tablespoons  minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2  tablespoons  minced garlic (about 8 cloves)
• 1  teaspoon  crushed red pepper
• 
  Remaining ingredient:
• 2  tablespoons  minced green onion tops

Preparation

To prepare the marinade, combine the first 3 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag, and seal. Marinate in refrigerator for 20 minutes. Remove fillets from bag, and discard marinade. Place the fillets, skin sides down, on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 450°.

To prepare sauce, combine broth and next 4 ingredients (broth through cornstarch) in a small bowl. Heat oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beans and the next 4 ingredients (beans through red pepper); stir-fry 10 seconds. Add broth mixture; bring to a boil, and cook for 1 minute or until thick.

Pour black bean mixture over fillets; cover pan with foil. Bake at 450° for 17 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Cut the fillets into 6 portions; serve with sauce, and sprinkle with minced onion tops.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

340 (40% from fat)

Fat:

15.2g (sat 2.6g,mono 6.8g,poly 4g)

Protein:

32.6g

Carbohydrate:

13.5g

Fiber:

0.3g

Cholesterol:

99mg

Iron:

1mg

Sodium:

547mg

Calcium:

23mg