Yen Can Cook: Sweet and Sour Fish
Initially I want to share this recipe before Chinese New Year but I intentionally asked the fishmonger cut off the head which is a NO NO during the festive season. Serving a whole fish during Chinese New Year symbolizes a good beginning and end to a new year as well as completeness of the good energy and wealth.
Ingredients (Serves: 2-3)
1 whole fish (about 500g), gutted, scaled and cleaned
1/2 teaspoon salt
5-6 cherry tomatoes or 1 tomato
1/4 red or yellow onion, cut into bite size (optional)
1/2 cucumber, cut into chunks (optional)
Note: vegetables added into this dish are versatile, you may add in capsicum, pineapple or chili if you want some heat in your dish.
Cooking oil
Sweet and sour sauce
4 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon light soy sauce
100ml water
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Step 1: Rinse and pat dry the fish. Rub salt all over the fish including the insides Set aside.
Step 2: Mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
Step 3: Heat up oil in a wok, pan fry each side of the fish for till golden brown and fully cooked. Remove and place on a serving plate.
Step 4: Pour away excess oil till about 1 tablespoon is left in the wok. Fry the the onions half a minute or so. Pour in sauce mixture (Step 2) and bring it to a boil. Add the tomatoes and cucumber, cook for about a minute till the tomatoes are soften.
Note: My version is a bit watery, you may reduce the amount of the water if you want a thicker consistency.
Step 5: Pour the sauce over the fried fish and serve.
HAPPY COOKING!
it doesn’t look watery at all.
iching, thank you 🙂
I love sweet and sour fish but too lazy to fry whole fish at home. So, I’d order it when I eat out but usually fish slices coz they’re much easier to eat. For me, that whole fish serves one…..me…just that with rice and I’ll be contented! ^_~
Kris, ya, restaurant version is normally with fish fillets. The sweet and sour sauce goes well with white rice, I must admit 😛
I always enjoy eating this sweet and sour fish with lots of rice.
TM, flood the rice with the sauce right? Sam (my daughter if you don’t know :P) like to do like this too 🙂
ooo, i didn’t realise there was a belief about fish head having to be intact during the festive season – learned something new today 🙂
Sean, good beginning and ending for the whole year 🙂