I have featured Chinese steamed fish before on this blog, but this time I decided to add a little twist to an old favourite of mine, I added a handful of goji berries to the fish before steaming.

Growing up in the city of Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia), I had absolutely no idea what a 'real' fishing trip constituted- let me share a harrowing experience I had when I unwittingly accepted a friend's invitation to go on a party boat to catch giant squid. Yes, these squids' heads are as big or bigger than a human head - so their namesake, giant squid is not a joke. Anyways, apparently the seas were rougher than expected that night and I seriously thought I was going to fall into the black ocean and meet a watery end. Firstly, the entire party boat was filled with fishing fanatics - the winds were billowing (howling like a banshee almost) and the sea was so choppy, it was indeed a terrible terrible experience and a litttle embarassing as well since one of the boat hands had to kindly accompanied me throughout the experience and tried his best to comfort me. Well, my friend had to stand at the side of the boat to fish for the squid and I refused to stand so close to the water so my dear friend put me in the care of the kind (and rather puzzled) boat hand since I was on the verge of tears most of the time. Looking back, I guess it can be vaguely described as 'funny' BUT as always, time always puts a positive glaze on
most incidents no matter how bad they were at that time - notice I used the word 'most', there are always exceptions to the general rule. I still recall my law professor telling us this wise statement, there are so many general rules in the study of British law BUT of course there are even more exceptions.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand, Goji berries, also known as wolfberries or
lycium barbarum are tiny sweet-tasting red fruits around the size of a raisin. The Chinese people have been growing and consuming these fruits since thousands of years ago and these tiny fruits are believed to possess a myriad of healing properties. I steamed my ling cod the usual way that is with ginger slices and green onions and added the berries for a delicate layer of extra sweetness. I used a bamboo steamer to steam my fish - I highly recommend getting a bamboo steamer as it is so versatile and is easy to clean as well.