Szechuanfish Recipes

SICHUAN BOILED FISH (SHUI ZHU YU, 水煮鱼)

Steps:

• Cut the fish into ¼-inch thick slices at a 45-degree angle. The goal is to get pieces of fish with a lot of surface area, as they'll shrink once cooked.
• Next, marinate the fish. Add 3/4 teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper, and 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine. Mix (best with your hand) everything well. Next, add the egg white and mix, followed by 1½ tablespoons cornstarch. Mix until the marinade starts to feel "slimy," for lack of a better term. Finally, drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil over the top--there's no need to mix it in, just drizzle it over the surface. Put the fish in the refrigerator, and marinate for about 20 minutes.
• The active cooking time takes less than 10 minutes, so make sure the rest of the ingredients are prepped while the fish is marinating, and that you're ready to eat right afterwards, because this dish is best served immediately.
• In a wok set over high heat, add the chicken stock, water, ginger, garlic, scallions, ¼ teaspoon of white pepper, and 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine. Bring it to a boil. Now is a good time to add salt to taste. Next, add the bean sprouts, and bring to a boil once more. Cook for one minute. Now turn down the heat. Using a fine-meshed strainer, spider, or large slotted spoon, scoop all of the solids out of the soup and transfer to a heat proof serving bowl. It's very important that your serving vessel be heat-proof, as you'll be pouring very hot oil into it later.
• Now, in a small pot, slowly heat up ½ - ¾ cup oil. It doesn't have to be exact, but you should use at least a ½ cup. To test whether the oil is heated to the correct temperature, dip a wooden/bamboo chopstick into the oil and look for small bubbles forming around it, but no smoke. If the oil is smoking, it's too hot!
• When the oil is heating, bring the soup back to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Place your fish, one piece at a time, into the soup. Once all the fish is in the soup, turn up the heat and bring everything to a boil. Once boiling, immediately pour everything (fish and soup) on top of the vegetables in the serving bowl.
• Quickly sprinkle the dried chili peppers and the green Sichuan peppercorns evenly over the fish, and pour the heated oil evenly over everything. The oil should be hot enough to sizzle the chili and the peppercorns, but not hot enough to burn the spices. Serve immediately!

SHUI ZHU YU (SICHUAN BOILED FISH, 水煮鱼)

Steps:

• Check to see if there are any residual fish scales. If yes, run your knife gently from the tail to the head to remove the scales.
• Starting at the top of the head, slice along the collarbone.
• Using mainly the tip of your knife, run the blade along one side of the spine to make a 1/2" (1 cm) shallow cut through the skin.
• Make a small slice near the tail, which will be the base of the fillet.
• In smooth motions, use your knife gently to slice the flesh while pressing against the bone and the other hand holding the flesh. Slice the flesh away from the spine until it reaches the rib cage.
• Carefully angle the blade of the knife downward so that you can carve around the bone. It's OK if some of the bones are attached with the fillet, which you can remove later.
• Once the flesh is released from the rib cage, keep slicing it until the fillet is fully detached from the bone.
• Flip the fish over and repeat on the other side, this time from the tail, until you get two pieces of fish fillets.
• Trim the thin white belly from both sides and discard the pieces (depending on the type of the fish they might taste quite oily, but you can reserve them as well).
• Using a heavy knife or a cleaver, remove the head and tail by pressing the knife against the bone and use one strong motion to cut through it. Chop the spine into 4 pieces.
• Starting at the bottom of the fillet, tilt your knife to 45° and slice the fish into 1/4" (1/2 cm) thick pieces.
• Add the cut fillets, bones, and head (if using) to a medium-sized bowl. Keep the bones and the head on one side of the bowl. Add the marinade ingredients. Gently use your hand to mix the sliced fish until the ingredients are evenly coated. Then gently rub the rest of the seasonings onto the bones and fish head. Be careful not to poke your finger on the fish bones. Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.
• Cut the dried chili peppers in half.
• Heat a medium-sized pot over medium-low heat with 2 tablespoons oil. Add the dried chilis, and Sichuan peppercorns. Cook and stir until fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes. Transfer the spices to a plate to cool slightly, reserving the oil in the pan.
• Add the fried spices into a small food processor or blender. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Set aside.
• Reheat the same pot over medium heat and add the garlic, ginger, green onion whites, and dried chilis. Cook and stir until fragrant, 1 minute or so.
• Add the doubanjiang. Stir for another 2 to 3 minutes. Turn to low heat if the paste starts to stick to the pan too much. You can also pour a bit of water into the pan to release the paste.
• Pour in the Shaoxing wine and use a spatula to lift as much of the brown bits from the bottom as possible.
• Add 5 cups of water and keep scraping the bottom.
• Add the sugar, soy sauce, white pepper, and mushroom/chicken powder (if using). Cook over medium-high heat until bringing to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes. Use a mesh strainer to remove the solid spices and discard them.
• Prepare a large heat-proof bowl, large enough to hold all the broth, the vegetables, and the fish.
• Add the vegetables to the broth and blanch for 1 minute. Remove them from the broth and place them on the bottom of the big bowl.
• Bring the broth back to a simmer. Add the fish bones and head. Cook for 2 minutes, or until the fish head is cooked through. Add the fish bones to the big bowl. (You can add the fish head as well if the bowl is big enough and if you plan to serve the fish head).
• Bring the broth back to a simmer. Add the fillet slices using your hand, a few pieces at a time, and separate them during the process. Poach for 30 second to a minute, or until the fish is just cooked through. Transfer the fish into the big serving bowl.
• Bring the broth to a boil again. Stir to fully dissolve the cornstarch slurry and pour it into the broth, stirring constantly. Cook for 1 minute. Then pour the broth into the serving bowl, until the fish slices are mostly covered. Set aside the remaining broth if there is any left. (*Footnote 2)
• Spread the prepared topping spices over the broth. You can add a few pieces of dried chili peppers for garnish (optional, and they won't add too much heat).
• Heat the remaining 1/4 cup oil over medium heat in a small pot or saucepan until just smoking. Carefully drizzle the spices over the serving dish. The oil will spatter a bit but shouldn't cause a mess.
• Serve immediately as a main dish with steamed rice.

SZECHUAN FISH

Steps:

• In a wok brown the fish on all sides with the green onion& garlic.
• Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the fish.
• Cover& cook on low heat for 20 minutes.