China · Home-style
Braised Fish in Soy Sauce
The everyday Chinese way with a whole fish: pan-fried until set, then simmered in a savoury soy and vinegar sauce until the flesh is tender and fully seasoned.
There is no single recipe for this dish and every household has its own ratios, which is why it appears on so many tables in different guises. The fish is fried first to build a skin that survives the long simmer, and the sauce is sweetened with sugar and sharpened with vinegar in the northern manner. Removing a fish that sticks to the pan is not possible, so the flesh is scored before it goes in and the pan is kept on low heat.
Ingredients
- ginger shreds3 pieces
- garlic cloves4 pieces
- dried chillies3 pieces
- salt10 g
- vinegar5 ml
- soy sauce5 ml
- white sugar10 g
- scallion2 pieces
- bird’s eye chillies2 pieces
- msg, to taste, use sparingly5 g
- oyster sauce5 g
Directions
- 1
Prepare the ginger and garlic and chop them.
- 2
Chop the dried chillies and set them with the ginger and garlic.
- 3
Turn the fish over and repeat the frying.
- 4
Add the ginger, garlic and chillies and stir-fry until fragrant.
- 5
Pour in the Shaoxing wine, a little more than usual, and stay back while it does this, as a great deal of smoke comes up.
- 6
Pour in the vinegar (add more if you like it sour).
- 7
Then add the white sugar and the soy sauce (dark soy).
- 8
Add cold water, just enough to cover the fish, turn to medium heat, cover, and after about a minute turn the fish over and cover again.
- 9
After three to four minutes, add the salt, the bird’s eye chillies and the oyster sauce (msg, chicken bouillon and the like), cover again and keep turning the fish as it cooks.
- 10
When the liquid has reduced to just below the fin along the fish’s back, or to whatever amount is left, turn the heat to low, add the coriander and chopped scallion, cover for twenty seconds and turn off the heat.
Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.