Sweet and Sour Fish (糖醋魚片)

With how busy things have gotten this semester, I haven't had as much time to blog or even make particularly interesting meals. We are still planning out two weeks worth of meals to minimize exposure, and trips to the Chinese store have been especially rare. Today's recipe is a classic sweet and sour fish that doesn't have any hard-to-find ingredients. Sweet and sour fish is a beloved dish in our household, and this was a request from Ariel. I jumped into volume II of Pei Mei's Chinese Cook Book to see what I could find. This is an adaptation of Pei Mei's "fish rolls in sweet and sour sauce." Pei Mei's dish involves wrapping the fish in tofu skin to make little packages, which are then deep fried. I didn't have the tofu skin, so I adapted this into a more standard sweet and sour fish with dredged fish slices. The original recipe is called tangcu yujuan, or "sweet and sour fish rolls." I'm calling mine tangcu yupian, which means "sweet and sour fish slices."

This dish is superficially similar to the fish slices with tomato sauce recipe I did in 2018. For the fish, we start with an egg-white based marinade, dredge, and quickly deep fry. I continued my experimentation with potato starch this time. No matter what you do, the crunch doesn't last too long in the sauce, but this did retain some, and I was happy with the result. You can always use corn starch instead, but the crust you get from potato starch is nice. The sauce is the classic mix of rice vinegar, sugar, and ketchup. I personally prefer my sweet and sour fish more on the sour side, so I cut the sugar down quite a bit. The sauce did get a little too thick with the full tablespoon of corn starch here, so I think I would cut it to 2 teaspoons next time. Although the fish and sauce are similar to the other recipe, the other ingredients are not. Instead of peas, onions, and mushrooms, this one uses the classic aromatic combination of scallion, ginger, and garlic. This places the fish firmly as the star of the show. Overall, this was another successful Pei Mei adaptation that I would definitely recommend giving a try.

Ingredients

Marinade

• 1 egg white
• 1/2 Tbs. Shaoxing wine or amontillado
• 1/2 Tbs. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Black pepper (about 1/4 tsp; I didn't measure)

Sauce

• 3 Tbs. white rice vinegar
• 3 Tbs. ketchup
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 6 Tbs. cold water
• 1/2 Tbs. sesame oil
• 1 Tbs. corn starch (adjust to taste)
• Salt to taste

Everything else

• 1 lb. cod fillets (or other firm, white fish)
• Potato starch for dredging (or corn starch)
• 1/3 oz. minced ginger (about 1/2 Tbs.)
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced and divided into white and green parts
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• Vegetable oil

Instructions

Cut the cod fillets into bite-sized slices. Combine with marinade ingredients and allow to marinate for 30 minutes. While the fish marinates, prepare the other ingredients. 

Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Fill a wok with oil and heat to about 400 degrees F. Spread potato starch out on a plate. Dredge the fish slices on both sides and deep fry in batches (I did three batches). Cook until light golden brown and crunchy and set aside on a plate. Clear any debris from the oil between batches.

Empty out the wok and save the oil for another use. Wipe the pan clean and return 2 Tbs. oil. Heat over high heat and stir fry the ginger, white parts of scallions, and garlic for a few seconds. Add the sauce and bring to a boil. Stir together as the sauce thickens. Add the green parts of the scallions. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed. 

Add the fish pieces and toss until completely coated. Serve immediately with rice.