Five Spice Steamed Salmon

• Season salmon back and front with salt and pepper. Mix garlic powder and five spice together. Lightly sprinkle each fillet and allow to marinade for 10-15 minutes.

Make Sauce

• Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together and setting aside. Make sure that the sugar has dissolved completely.

Steamer

• Add enough water to your steamer so it is about an inch below the top of the trivet. Cover with a tight fitting lid and bring to a rolling boil. While the water is coming to a boil prepare the fish for steaming.

  Note: If using a bamboo steamer, depending on its size, you may need to use a couple of tiers, so the salmon can all cook at the same time.
  

Steaming Fish

• On a heat proof plate, create an aromatic bed with the thyme sprigs, 1/3 of the ginger, 1/2 of the garlic and the yellow onion.
• Arrange the salmon fillets on top of the aromatic bed. This will create enough space between the plate and the fish to allow the steam to circulate freely. This will ensure that the salmon cooks evenly and is infused all over with the aromatics.
• Place the prepared salmon in steamer, cover with lid and cook for 8 minutes. Remove the lid and place remaining sliced garlic evenly over the salmon. Cover and steam for another 1-2 minutes. This will take the raw edge off of the garlic. Turn heat off.
• Spoon the prepared sauce over the salmon fillets and replace the lid.
• In a small pan, put 2-3 tbsp. of high temperature cooking oil. Over medium high heat, sauté ginger until golden 2 minutes.
• Add pearl onions to the sautéed ginger and cook for approximately 30 seconds.
• Using a slotted spoon, remove the ginger and pearl onions. Spoon then evenly over the salmon fillets. DO NOT COVER WITH LID!
• Gently squeeze the water out of the green onions and distribute them evenly over the salmon fillets.
• Heat the infused pearl onion and ginger oil until just smoking. Immediately, pour the hot oil over the green onions and garlic. They'll sizzle and release their aroma.
• Use Caution When Removing The Steam Plate From The Steamer. Steam, accumulated juices and the steam dish/plate are very hot and can cause bad burns.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Making Your Steamer

• Creating a steamer at home is easy. All you need is a pot or pan, a trivet and a lid. This is my setup for steaming fish. I choose this 14" pan so I can steam whole fish or several fillets at a time.
  
• Select your pan and heat proof plate or dish. The trivet needs to be able to support the plate without tipping over. The trivet top, like the heat proof plate mustn't be isn't immersed in the water.
  
• There must be at least 1 inch of head room between the base of the pan the the top of the trivet.
• If you don't have a trivet, you can create one using aluminum foil. Depending on the size of your heat proof plate and the pan that you will use as a steamer, roll 3-4 foil balls of equal size. Or make a foil doughnut ring.
  
• Place the balls strategically around the pan so that is the heatproof plate has a level support.
  
• The balls need to be large enough to keep the base of the plate from touching the water when it's at a rolling boil. But not too large that it prevents you from covering the plate with the lid to create a tight seal.
• To make the base for the steam plate to sit on, I've used inverted ramekin dishes, heat resistant bowls even the removeable stainless steel cups used to poach eggs.
• The main points to remember are that you have a pan large enough to steam your food and that the steaming plate/dish isn't sitting in the boiling water. And that the lid can fit tightly.
  
• Deliciousness on a plate!