Fish Slices with Tomato Sauce (茄汁魚片)

Without any premeditation on my part, the last four recipes I've posted have involved pork, so I'd say its time to shift gears and do some fish. Sweet and sour fish is one of those dishes I frequently enjoy when eating out, but had never tried making at home. Along with eggplant Sichuan style, it's often one of the first dishes I try at Chinese restaurants. There are a lot of variations, and I tend to prefer a more vinegar-forward profile rather than a sweeter one. Peimei has a sweet and sour fish recipe found in the Eastern China section of her first book (this refers to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces, along with the city of Shanghai). This recipe begins with chopping the head off the fish, butterflying and deboning. The fish is battered and fried to spectacular results, and Peimei comments that "most of our foreign friends prefer this way." I did not have a whole fish nor the desire to undertake this. 

What I did have was a pound of assorted cod bits I picked up at Trader Joe's for four bucks. I found another recipe in the Southern China section (Guangdong and Fujian provinces and the city of Hong Kong) that involved fish slices and a very similar sauce, called "fish with tomato sauce." The Chinese name is pronounced qiezhi yupian in Mandarin. I was puzzled by this at first, since the most literal translation would be "eggplant sauce fish slices." This being a southern recipe, I asked Dad for some context and found out the Cantonese pronunciation of qiezhi contains the key: keh jup, thought by many to be the origin of the English word ketchup. The usage of qie here is just an abbreviation for fanqie, the Chinese word for tomato. Amusingly, this literally translates to "foreign eggplant."

The recipe itself is pretty simple. Rather than battering the fish, we simply dredge it in cornstarch after marinating, much like in the sweet and sour pork recipe I posted three years (it's been that long already?) ago. As I mentioned above, I used cod pieces, which were of assorted shapes and sizes. This wasn't ideal, and I would recommend starting with proper fillets and cutting the slices to be more uniform. Cod worked well here, but other fish would do fine. I will probably try it with swai in the future. Overall, I enjoyed the dish, but would make it more vinegar-heavy next time to suit my own preferences.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. white fish fillets (I used cod)
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 10 (approx.) small black mushrooms
• 1/4 c green peas
• 1/2 c (approx.) cornstarch for dredging
• Vegetable oil for frying

Marinade

• 1 egg white
• 1 Tbs cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt

Sauce

• 3 Tbs sugar
• 3 Tbs white rice vinegar
• 6 Tbs water
• 3 Tbs ketchup
• 1 Tbs Shaoxing wine
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Instructions

Start out by soaking the black mushrooms in warm water. I press a folded paper towel on top of the mushrooms to keep them covered with water. Check after half an hour. If the mushrooms are still firm, chop in half, remove stems, and resume soaking. When mushrooms are fully softened, squeeze water out and dice.

Fish pieces marinating

After starting the mushrooms soaking, prepare the fish. Cut fish into small pieces, about one inch squares. In a large bowl, mix the marinade ingredients, add fish, and toss to coat well. Let the fish marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

While the fish is marinating, mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and keep ready for later. This is also a good time to dice the onion.

Fish after frying

Preheat oil in deep fryer or wok to 375 degrees F. When the oil is ready, spread cornstarch on a plate and dredge the fish slices on both sides. Fry in batches until crunchy. Each batch should take no more than a minute in the oil. Set the cooked fish aside on a paper towel lined plate.

Sauce, ready to add the fish

Heat a small amount of oil in a wok on high heat. Stir fry the onion and mushroom for about one minute. Stir the sauce again and add to the wok. Add the peas and cook for another minute. Add the fish. Turn the burner off and toss to fully coat the fish. 

Notes

This is one of my most faithful recreations of a Peimei dish. I did increase the amount of peas from the original. The amount of mushrooms and peas can be adjusted to personal taste. If I made this again, I would probably also increase the vinegar-to-sugar ratio bring the sourness forward a little more.

Jägerschnitzel

As many of you no doubt know, I'm a great lover of schnitzel of all stripes. All the way back in 2012, I wrote a post on Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein and in 2015, I did the Japanese version. One variety I haven't done yet is the breaded tenderloin, an Indiana staple I'll have to start making for myself pretty soon. As I've discussed before, schnitzel is a very well-traveled little dish. As I understand it, Austrians are quite particular about how a Wiener schnitzel is prepared and served (with lemon and potato salad) while saucing schnitzels is more of German thing. I haven't asked an actual German or Austrian about this, so don't quote me. Whatever the origin, jägerschnitzel is a classic and an excellent one at that. 

The term jägerschnitzel means "hunter's schnitzel" and refers to a cutlet with a mushroom sauce. There seems to be a lot of different opinions about what exactly is in the mushroom sauce and whether or not the cutlet should be breaded. As usual, I read several recipes I found online and concocted my own based on my preferences. While the classic Viennese style demands veal, I usually use pork or chicken (boneless thighs pounded thin are great for this) for my schnitzels, as both are cheaper and easier to get. On the topic of breading, I sort of split the difference and dredged the cutlets in just flour, skipping the egg wash and breadcrumbs. The flour coating promotes a nice crust on the meat, but by not breading I also dodge the shallow frying process. This uses a lot less oil and you can get straight into making the sauce without having to clean up in between.

Ingredients

Cutlets

• Pork chops (I made 2, but there is enough sauce for about 4 cutlets)
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Paprika
• Garlic powder
• Flour for dredging
• Vegetable oil as needed

Sauce

• 8 oz. mushrooms, rinsed and sliced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs flour
• 1/2 c red wine
• 1 c chicken stock
• 2 splashes Worcestershire sauce
• Pinch of dried thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Vegetable oil as needed

Instructions

Prepare the mushrooms and onion ahead of time so they will be ready to go when it is time to make the sauce. If your chops have a bone attached, remove them and trim off large sections of fat. Place the meat in a gallon-size bag and pound to about 1/3 inch thick.

My chops had a weird little bonus piece

Heat vegetable oil in a saute pan on medium-high heat. Use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. While the oil heats, season the cutlets with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. Dredge in flour. When the pan is hot, shake off excess flour and place in the pan. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the outside is well browned and meat is cooked to desired temperature, adding oil as needed. A little pink on the inside is fine for pork, and will prevent it from drying out. When done, move the cutlets to a plate and cover with foil. You may have to cook the cutlets in batches or multiple pans if you have a lot of them.

Mushroom and onion after butter was added

Add more oil to the pan. Saute the mushrooms and onions together until onions are well softened and mushrooms have cooked down. Season with salt and pepper. Add the butter and stir in as it melts. Add the flour and cook together a few more minutes, stirring frequently. 

The finished sauce

Deglaze the pan with wine and reduce for a minute. Pour in the chicken stock and add thyme and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce by about half, or to desired thickness. The sauce should be a medium thickness, still pouring easily but not spreading all over the plate.

Serve the cutlets and spoon the sauce all over them. This recipe makes enough sauce for about 4 cutlets. Extra sauce can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

Lion's Head Meatballs (獅子頭)

We recently acquired a copy the Joyce Chen Cook Book. Joyce Chen was a pioneering figure in the development of Chinese food in the United States. Chen is credited with inventing both the flat-bottomed wok and the Chinese buffet. After leaving China, she made her home in the Boston area. In her restaurants, potstickers were re-branded as "Peking ravioli" to appeal more to American audiences. Many Chinese restaurants in Boston still call them that. The book itself is out of print, but we found a very good quality used copy on Amazon. Like Peimei's books, this one also comes from the 1960s, but the perspective is from making Chinese food in the United States, as opposed to Taiwan. Chen's recipes are generally quite simple in terms of ingredients, but go into a lot more detail on the step-by-step instructions than Peimei does. As with Peimei, I'm going to be making recipes from this book, discussing them, and updating them for the 21st century. It will be especially interesting to see dishes that appear in both.

For my first Joyce Chen creation, I'll be looking at shizitou, literally translated as "lion's head." These are large, soft meatballs made from ground pork, so named for their resemblance to, well, lion heads. They aren't the most common thing to see in Chinese restaurants, so I often order them when they're available. Shizitou are a classic dish of eastern China, and I ate quite a few of them in Shanghai. I've featured a lot of western and southern Chinese dishes on the blog, and I really need to delve deeper into this region. I've preserved most of the original Chen recipe here, though I have scaled it down to one pound of meat rather than two pounds. I did, however, use the original amount of sauce, and I don't think it would have been enough sauce for the full two pounds. Overall, I think Chen nailed it here, and they turned out great. Next time, I may tweak the seasoning a bit, but the texture was perfect.

There is nothing particularly unusual in this recipe, but this is a good time to discuss the various kinds of Chinese cabbage. There are three main types you'll commonly see: napa, bok choy, and Shanghai bok choy. I use napa a lot, and you can see it popping up as a component in many different recipes here. For eating on its own, though, I prefer Shanghai bok choy. Compared with regular bok choy, they are smaller (about 6 inches long as opposed to a foot) and the whole thing is a pale green instead of white stalks with green leaves. They are tender and mild and also work well as the center component of lovers' shrimp. While you can usually find napa and regular bok choy in supermarkets, I usually only see Shanghai bok choy in Asian markets. The last thing I wanted to mention is MSG (monosodium glutamate). Chen adds a little of it to the meatballs, and it shows up in a lot of her recipes (and a few of Peimei's, as well). I omit it, not because I buy into the fear mongering surrounding it, but because I expect most people won't have it on hand. 

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 lb pork shoulder, with fat
• 2 Tbs + 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/4 c cold water
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine or Amontillado
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbs cornstarch

Coating

• 2 Tbs cornstarch
• 1 1/2 Tbs water

Sauce

• 1/2 c water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbs dark soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbs light soy sauce

Everything else

• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1 - 1 1/2 lb Shanghai bok choy (can also use regular bok choy or napa)
• 1/2 Tbs cornstarch
• 1 tsp water

Instructions

If using whole pork shoulder, grind the meat. Chen recommends running the meat through the grinder twice. Since I had already ground my pork, I chopped it with my knife a bit. Combine the meat with the rest of the meatball ingredients. Mix well and let set in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Meat after resting

While the pork is resting, mix the cornstarch and water for the coating in a bowl. Heat a little vegetable oil (just enough to cover the bottom) in a dutch oven or saute pan on medium heat. 

Forming the meatballs

Divide the meat into four equal portions. Form each portion into a ball and roll in the cornstarch mixture to coat. Carefully place each meatball in the pan. Fry until browned. 

Meatballs frying -- note the white cornstarch coating

Carefully turn to brown on as much of the outside as you can. When flipping, make sure to loosen the bottom with a spatula first. The mixture should be quite loose, so the meatballs will naturally flatten a bit. 

Ready to braise

When done browning, remove the meatballs and set aside. Drain the excess oil from the pan. Add the water, sugar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce for the sauce. Place the meatballs back in the pan and bring to a boil. Back off the heat to low, cover, and cook for 90 minutes. Flip the meatballs halfway through. 

Stir frying the vegetables

While the meatballs braise, prepare the vegetables. If using Shanghai bok choy, remove the bottom half inch and separate the sections. The center core can stay together. Rinse well to get rid of any dirt. If using regular bok choy or napa, cut into 2-inch slices after rinsing. When about 10 minutes of the meatball cooking is left, stir fry the vegetables on high heat. Vegetables do not need to be cooked through, just browned. I did this in two batches -- do not crowd the wok.

Before going in the oven

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the vegetables in a casserole dish. Place the meatballs on top. Mix the last 1/2 Tbs of cornstarch and 1 tsp of water into a slurry. Add to the sauce and pour all over the meatballs and vegetables. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with rice. If you start cooking the rice about when you start the vegetables, it will finish at about the same time.

Notes

In Shanghai, I often ate shizitou in a bowl of soup noodles rather than with rice. Chen also recommends that the meatballs can be made in advance and held in the refrigerator. As the braising process is lengthy, I like this suggestion. When ready, you can just start at the vegetable stir frying and bring the meatballs up to heat in the oven. She also notes that crab meat can be mixed into the pork.