Sweet and Sour Fish

Chef floWer's Note:

I really enjoy eating this dish but it just takes so long to make it. The only things I change is I left out the egg and used milk to dip the fish and I used vegetable oil as I couldn’t find groundnut oil. I also use can pineapple so I can use the juice. This recipe comes from a book called 'The Asian Kitchen' (The best of Chinese and Far Eastern cooking) by Lilian Wu

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

The Fish

• 450 g fish fillets, skinned, boned and cubed (Must be white and at least 2 cms (or more)
• 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 -3 tablespoons cornflour
• peanut oil, for deep frying (Groundnut oil)

For the Sauce

• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 4 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoons pineapple juice
• 3 tablespoons chinese rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 2 teaspoons chinese rice wine or 2 teaspoons medium-dry sherry
• 3 tablespoons peanut oil (Groundnut oil)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tablespoon fresh gingerroot, chopped
• 6 spring onions, sliced diagonally into 5 cms lenghts
• 1 green capsicum, seeded and cut into 2 cms in pieces
• 115 g fresh pineapple, cut into 2 cms in pieces
• salt & fresh ground pepper

Directions:

1. Put the fish in a bowl. Sprinkle over the five-spice powder and soy sauce, then toss gently.
2. Cover and leave to marinate for about 30 minutes.
3. Dip the fish in the egg, then in the cornflour, shaking off any excess.
4. Half-fill a wok with oil and heat to 190oc. Deep fry the fish in batches for about 2 minutes until golden.
5. Drain and keep warm. Carefully pour off all the oil from the wok and wipe clean.
6. To make the sauce, blend together in a bowl the cornflour, water, pineapple juice, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, ketchup and rice wine or sherry. Miz well then set aside.
7. Heat the wok until hot. Add 2 teaspoons of the oil and swirl it around. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a few seconds. Add the spring onions and green capsicum and stir-fry over a medium heat for 2 minutes. Add pineapple.
8. Pour in the sauce and cook, stirring until thickened. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and add seasoning to taste.
9. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve at once.

Reviews

[mightyro_cooking4u]

I enjoyed this dish. I used white sugar because I didn't have caster. No pineapple chunks, used hot green peppers I had frozen from the garden. Served over rice. Made for Make My Recipe.

[chia]

i made this dish with shrimp and served it with your stir fried rice noodles, great combination. i used 1 tbsp of white vinegar for an extra sour kick and used the juice from the canned pineapples. this was easy to make and had alot of flavor.

[Peter J]

This was just out of this world! ! I used two tablespoons of brown sugar rather than caster sugar and took on board Jewelies suggestion of red capsicum for a bit of extra colour. I went with tinned pineapple but used the egg because I think it helps bind a little better and gives a nice crisp texture. It's really well suited to serving over plain rice and was well enjoyed along with a nice glass (or two ;-)) of chardonnay.