Sweet and Sour Fish, 糖醋鱼

"It's gotta fry evenly" - Uncle Q

In this recipe, we deep fry a whole fish and top it with a stir-fry sauce.

"It's gotta fry evenly" - Uncle Q

Ingredients 

• 2 whole fish; any of the following will work:

  • Yellow croaker, 黄瓜鱼

  • Crucian carp, 鲫鱼

  • Grass carp, 草鱼

  • Striped bass, 鲈鱼

• 3/4 cup tomato sauce

• 1 egg yolk

• sweet potato starch (or corn starch)

• carrots

• onions

• red/green bell peppers

• diced pineapple

• rice wine

• 2-3 teaspoons soy sauce

• 4 teaspoons sugar

• 1/3 cup white vinegar

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt 

Steps

First prepare the vegetables. You’ll want to wash and slice the carrots, onions, and bell peppers. You can also dice the pineapple at this point.

Wash, descale, and gut the fish. Standard procedure. You can ask the grocery store to help you with this.

Then cut 3 large slits diagonally on each side of the fish. The cuts should resemble large gills that span the height of the fish.

 Cut fresh ginger and scallions. Place them inside the fish with a little salt to marinate for 15-20 minutes. You probably don't need this much, but these scallions are huge.

To prepare the fish for deep-frying, discard the ginger and scallions. Coat the outside and inside of the fish in a layer of egg white. 1-2 eggs should do. Then rub in sweet potato starch (or corn starch) over the fish.

Make sure to get inside the slits.

Heat up frying oil in wok until hot. Open up the slits, and place the fish in the wok to fry. Ensure the fish is standing up right so the slits stay open.

To check when the fish is done, you can poke the fish with a chopstick.

Strain the fish and set aside for a couple minutes.

You can deep fry the fish a second time for a crisper crunch. Strain all oil out.

In an empty hot wok, heat a little oil for stir frying. Stir fry sliced carrots, onion and red/green pepper.

Add diced pineapple and a dash of water.

Add 3/4 of a cup of tomato sauce. 

Add a dash of rice wine, a couple teaspoons soy sauce, 4 teaspoons sugar, 1/3 cup white vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring the sauce to a boil.

Mix some cornstarch and cold water together. Then pour this into the sauce and bring it to a boil to thicken and reduce.

Once the sauce is thick, pour the sauce over the fish.

And you're done!