Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (21 page)

Make about four diagonal slashes across each side of the fish, into the thickest part of the flesh. Rub the fish inside and out with the Shaoxing wine and rub a little salt into its belly cavity. Set aside for 10–15 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.

Pat the fish dry inside and out with paper towels and rub a little salt into its skin. Add 4 tbsp oil to a seasoned wok over a high flame. Then fry the fish in the oil, turning once and tilting the wok to reach the head and tail, until the fish is lightly golden on both sides. Set aside.

Return the wok to the heat with an extra tablespoon of oil, if necessary. Add the chilli bean paste and stir-fry for a few moments until it smells delicious and the oil is reddening. Add the garlic, ginger, black beans and chilli flakes and stir briefly until they also smell wonderful. Then pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Return the fish to the wok and let it simmer in the sauce. Keep tilting the wok and spooning the sauce over the fish. Turn the fish once during the cooking. When the sauce is much reduced and the fish cooked through (poke a chopstick into the thickest part of its flesh, behind the head, to make sure), gently remove it to a serving dish with a spatula or two.

Add the spring onion and red pepper slivers and stir a few times then, off the heat, stir in the sesame oil and scatter the remains of the sauce and seasonings over the fish.

BRAISED TROUT IN CHILLI BEAN SAUCE
DOU BAN YU
豆瓣魚

The first Chinese recipe I ever cooked was a version of this dish from Yan-Kit So’s
Classic Chinese Cookbook
. Years later—and having eaten it countless times in the Sichuanese capital Chengdu—it remains one of my favorite fish dishes, and everyone else seems to love it too. The fish lies in a spectacular sauce, a deep rusty red in color, sumptuously spicy and aromatic with ginger and garlic. In Sichuan, they tend to make it with carp. Back home in London, I’ve made it with sea bass, whole trout and fillets and, more recently, with organic mirror carp. They all taste delicious. (As with many Sichuanese dishes, the soul of the recipe lies in the combination of flavors and you can be flexible about the main ingredient, which is one reason why Sichuanese cuisine travels so well.) I’m particularly happy that the recipe works so well with mirror carp, one of the most sustainable fish and ripe for revival in places such as Britain, where it has long fallen out of favor.

You will probably find that the fish disintegrates slightly during cooking. Don’t worry: you can arrange it neatly on the serving plate and pour the sauce over it. And when your guests taste it, if my experiences are anything to go by, they’ll be so overcome with rapture that they won’t care what it looks like.

1 rainbow trout (about ¾ lb/350g), scaled and cleaned, but with head and tail intact

Salt

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

½ cup (100ml) cooking oil, plus 2–3 tbsp more

2½ tbsp Sichuan chilli bean paste

2 tsp finely chopped ginger

4 tsp finely chopped garlic

¾ cup (200ml) chicken stock

1 tsp light soy sauce, to taste

2 tsp potato flour dissolved in 1½ tbsp cold water

3–4 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

1 tsp sesame oil

Make three even, diagonal cuts into the thickest part of each side of the fish, to allow the sauce to penetrate. Rub it inside and out with a little salt, then rub the Shaoxing wine into its belly cavity. Set aside for 10–15 minutes, then drain off any liquid and pat it dry. Rub a little more salt into the skin on both sides (to prevent sticking).

Add the ½ cup (100ml) oil to a seasoned wok over a high flame. When it is hot, slide in the fish and fry on both sides until it is a little golden (it won’t be cooked through). You need to turn the fish carefully and tilt it so the oil comes into contact with all the skin. Pour off the oil into a heatproof container and slide the fish on to a plate.

Clean the wok if necessary, then reheat it over a high flame. Add the 2–3 tbsp oil and reduce the heat to medium. Add the chilli bean paste and stir-fry until the oil is red and smells delicious. Add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry until you can smell them. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Slide in the fish and cook for five minutes or so, seasoning with soy sauce to taste. Keep spooning the sauce over the fish and tipping the wok so the whole fish is cooked. (If you are using a larger fish, turn it halfway.) Using a wok scoop and fish slice, carefully lift the fish from the sauce and lay it on a serving dish.

Increase the heat, stir the potato flour mixture and add just enough to thicken the sauce to a rich, clingy consistency (do this in stages to avoid over-thickening). Stir in the spring onion, then switch off the heat. Stir in the sesame oil and ladle the sauce over the waiting fish.

VARIATION

Mirror carp in chilli bean sauce

For a 1½–1¾ lb (700–800g) carp, follow the recipe above, but increase the quantities to 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 3½ tbsp chilli bean paste, 1 tbsp garlic, 1 tbsp ginger, 1 cup (250ml) stock and 4 tbsp spring onion greens. Cover the wok while simmering so the thicker parts of the fish cook through, raising the lid from time to time to baste with the sauce.

SWEET-AND-SOUR FISH “TILES”
TANG CU WA KUAI YU
糖醋瓦塊魚

The sweet-and-sour sauce made for this dish is dramatically different from the Cantonese version, with its fruity tomato paste sauce. Here, the sauce is made from sugar and Chinkiang vinegar, with the flavors of ginger, garlic and spring onion. In Sichuan, this dish would be made with carp; here I’ve used whiting instead.

The same sauce can be used to dress deep-fried chicken or tofu.

9 oz (250g) white fish fillet, such as whiting

2 spring onion whites, cut into very fine slivers

Good pinch of very fine slivers of fresh red chilli

2 cups plus 2 tbsp (500ml) cooking oil

1 tbsp finely chopped garlic

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

For the marinade/batter

2 tsp Shaoxing wine

⅛ tsp salt

1 small egg, beaten

4 tbsp potato flour

½ tsp cooking oil

For the sauce

5 tbsp sugar

½ tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar

¾ tsp salt

1¼ tsp potato flour

5 tbsp chicken stock or water

Lay the fish, skin-side down, on a board. Holding your knife at an angle to the board, cut the fillet into slices about ⅛ in (½cm) thick and place in a bowl. For the marinade, add the Shaoxing wine and salt and mix well. Then mix in the egg and flour to evenly coat. Finally, add the oil. In a separate bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the sauce. Set the spring onion whites and chilli slivers to soak in cold water (this will make them curl up prettily).

Heat the 2 cups plus 2 tbsp (500ml) oil in a seasoned wok over a high flame to about 350°F (180°C). Use chopsticks to drop half the fish slices into the oil, taking care they don’t stick together. Deep-fry until lightly golden. Remove from the wok with a slotted spoon and set aside on paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining slices. Pile up all the fish slices on a serving dish.

Drain off all but 2 tbsp oil, add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry briefly until they smell wonderful. Give the sauce a stir and pour it into the wok, stirring as it thickens. Add the spring onion greens, mix well and then pour over the waiting fish. Sprinkle with the drained slivered spring onion whites and chilli, and serve.

VARIATIONS

Fish-fragrant fish “tiles”

Pour over a fish-fragrant sauce (tap
here
) instead of the sweet-and-sour one here, for a Sichuanese flavor.

Salt-and-pepper fish “tiles”

Instead of a sauce, serve the deep-fried fish with a dip of three parts of salt mixed with one part of ground roasted Sichuan pepper.

SALT-AND-PEPPER SQUID
JIAO YAN YOU YU
椒鹽魷魚

This gorgeous Cantonese preparation can be served as an appetizer or a main course. The fragrant, frilly pieces of squid are embraced by morsels of garlic, chilli and spring onion, with an uplifting sparkle of Sichuan pepper. Incidentally, the “salt-and-pepper” (
jiao yan
), a mixture of one part ground roasted Sichuan pepper and three parts salt, makes a great dip for all kinds of deep-fried and roasted foods, including fish or chicken in batter, roast duck and tofu cubes. (Try it, also, with deep-fried potato chips and roast potatoes.)

2 small squid (1 lb 7 oz/650g uncleaned, 11 oz/300g cleaned)

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

3 tbsp potato flour

1½ cups plus 2 tbsp (400ml) cooking oil

2 tbsp finely chopped garlic

2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion whites

1–2 tbsp finely sliced fresh red chilli

¼ tsp ground roasted Sichuan pepper, mixed with ¾ tsp salt

2 tbsp finely sliced spring onion greens

Ask your fishmonger to clean the squid, reserving the wings and tentacles as well as the main body. (If you want to do it yourself, gently tug the tentacles, innards and bony blade out of the body. Cut the tentacles away and pull out the beak. Discard the head, innards and beak. Peel the wings from the body of the squid. Peel away and discard the purplish membrane that covers the wings and body. Rinse everything well in cold water.)

Slice open the body of the squid along its length and lay it flat on a board. Then, holding your knife at an angle to the board, score the whole surface in parallel cuts a few millimetres apart. Don’t worry if some of your cuts go through to the board: the squid will taste delicious and look appetizing anyway. Then, holding your knife perpendicular to the board, make parallel scores at right angles to the first cuts. You should end up with the whole surface cross-hatched. Do the same with the wings. Then cut the body into bite-sized pieces. Place in a bowl with the wings and tentacles, add the Shaoxing wine and mix well.

Drain the squid as far as possible. Add the flour and mix well. Heat the oil in a wok over a high flame to 350°F (180°C). Add half the squid and deep-fry until lightly golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the squid.

Drain off all but 1 tbsp oil. Add the garlic, spring onion whites and chilli to the wok and stir-fry over a medium heat until they smell wonderful. Increase the heat to high, return the squid with the Sichuan pepper and salt mixture to the wok and stir and toss for a minute. Finally, add the spring onion greens, mix well and serve.

VARIATION

Salt-and-pepper tofu

For a vegetarian version, cut 14 oz (400g) plain white tofu into bite-sized cubes and deep-fry until golden. Toss in fragrant stir-fried garlic, chilli and spring onion whites as above, adding the salt-and–pepper and, finally, the spring onion greens.