Steamed Cantonese-Style Barramundi
with Rice, Roasted Green Beans & Sweet Soy Ginger Sauce
- Fish
- Soy
- Wheat
: In our spin on classic Cantonese-style steamed fish, these firm, mild-flavored barramundi fillets are the stars (and they really shine). After gently cooking in a simple homemade steamer—believe it or not, you already have all the tools in your kitchen!—they’re finished with a flavorful, zippy mix of soy sauce, ponzu, fresh ginger, and scallions. Sides of fragrant, fluffy jasmine rice and tender roasted green beans round out this impressively easy meal.
Ingredients
6 milliliters
Ponzu Sauce
(Contains: Fish, Soy, Wheat)
6 ounce
Green Beans
2 tablespoon
Soy Sauce
(Contains: Soy, Wheat)
10 ounce
Barramundi
(Contains: Fish)
2 unit
Scallions
¾ cup
Jasmine Rice
¼ ounce
Cilantro
1 thumb
Ginger
Not included in your delivery
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Sugar
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
4 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
Adjust rack to top position and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry produce.
In a small pot, combine rice, 1¼ cups water (2¼ cups for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer.
Cook until tender, 15-18 minutes. Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
While rice cooks, trim green beans if necessary. Peel ginger and slice lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick planks; stack planks and slice lengthwise to create ¼-inch-thick matchsticks. Trim and halve scallions lengthwise; cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces, separating whites from greens. Roughly chop cilantro.
In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, ponzu, 2 TBSP warm water, and 1 tsp sugar until sugar dissolves (4 TBSP warm water and 2 tsp sugar for 4 servings).
Cut a 12-inch-long piece of aluminum foil. Roll up foil lengthwise, then form into a coil.
Place foil coil in center of a large pan. TIP: We used a 10-inch stainless steel (not nonstick) pan—the foil could damage a nonstick pan!
Toss green beans on a baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper.
Roast on top rack until browned and tender, 12-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, pat barramundi* dry with paper towels; season all over with salt and pepper. Place barramundi, skin sides down, on a heatproof plate. TIP: We used an 8-inch dinner plate (the plate should be slightly smaller than the pan).
While fish steams, heat 1 TBSP oil (2 TBSP for 4 servings) in a small pan over medium-high heat. Add ginger and scallion whites; cook, stirring, until fragrant and scallion whites are lightly browned, 2-3 minutes.
Stir in scallion greens and half the cilantro. Add soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring, until sauce has reduced slightly, 30-60 seconds.
Divide rice and roasted green beans between shallow bowls in separate sections; top rice with barramundi. TIP: If you want to remove the skin, turn the fish skin side up and gently pull the skin away using a fork.
Spoon sauce over barramundi and garnish with remaining cilantro. Serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Sep 2026- Flavor: The sweet soy-ginger sauce is a highlight — fragrant and savory — though many found it too salty; using low-sodium soy sauce or reducing the amount makes a big difference 🍲. The barramundi itself is mild and delicate, so the sauce does most of the flavor work.
- Ease of prep: The improvised foil-coil steamer is clever but adds complexity, and many found the overall dish required more pots, pans, and time than expected. Those who used a steamer basket, baked the fish in the oven, or pan-fried it found the process much simpler.
- Suggestions: Cut the soy sauce by a quarter to a half to tame the saltiness, and add a squeeze of lime juice or a splash of rice wine to round out the sauce. If you don't have a stainless-steel pan for the foil method, baking or pan-searing the fish works just as well. Add extra zucchini or swap in broccoli or green beans for a more substantial vegetable side.
- Leftovers: The second serving holds up well overnight and reheats nicely — one reviewer noted it was even better the next night.
Reviews from our home cooks
I loved this dish. The Barramundi was perfectly steamed, the Sweet Soy Ginger Sauce was the perfect complement to the fish. Perfectly roasted zucchini. (I only roasted 10 minutes and it was perfection. I have found that roasting the length of time you suggest to be way too long in past recipes.) Nothing notable about the rice. Great dish, however.
This should be an all-time favorite! We always enjoy the barramundi and this was no exception. The sauce with the ginger, the soy and the ponzu was amazing. This had authentic Cantonese flavor. The fish was a great size, always fresh and steamed to perfection. I would surely order this again.
This was our favorite recipe so far! Never had barramundi, and was impressed by the clean flavor and meaty texture. The sauce was delicious, slightly sweet and herbal, if just a bit too salty for my taste. Easy to follow directions and a very innovative method for steaming the fish. Will definitely make this again!
This was SPECTACULAR!! We never had barramundi fish. It steamed really nicely. The soy sauce mixture with ginger was the perfect topping. Loved this dish!
This recipe was overall good but the directions for the steaming the barramundi could use an alternative option if you don't have a stainless steel pan. After researching on reddit for this recipe, and saw a lot of other people had recommended a steamer. Using that recommendation, I was able to cook the remainder of the meal successfully.
This was delicious! Best way so far to cook the barramundi. And it blended so well with the rice and green beans. We really liked it.
This steamed barramundi was absolutely delicious! I will be cooking more fish this way in the future! The rice could have been a little more interesting.
Barramundi is not overly fishy and the cilantro and green onion combo, in the sauce, was uniquely delicious. Would have appreciated more green beans and less rice to make it more of a nutritional meal.
Overall it was tasty. Lots of rice, which was good, very skimpy on zucchini- maybe 1/4 cup per person cooked. Barramundi weighed 9 oz uncooked. Less than stated but it was enough.
Even though fish usually cook up pretty fast, steaming the barramundi in this manner didn't seem to do the trick. I ended up cooking them in the pan. I could eat barramundi every day!
