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Fish/Seafood: Crispy Fish in Sweet & Sour Sauce

Source of Recipe

Cookin' Dad's Recipes


List of Ingredients

1 whole fish (seabass, yellowfish--I used yellowfish, or any good meaty frying fish)
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. white pepper
about 1 1/2 tsp. salt. (for 2 lbs.)
2 eggs mixed with 1 cup water and 1 tbsp. flour
lots of cornstarch (about 2 cups)

Sauce Ingredients:
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tsp. regular prepared mustard
2 tsp. ginger (minced as fine as possible)
1 tsp. garlic (minced as fine as possible)
about 3 tbsp. green onions, green part only
About 1 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with little more than 1 tbsp. water for thickening sauce.
About 2 tbsp. hot oil (add to sauce after thickened)


Recipe

About 3-4 hours before frying, mix ginger powder, garlic powder, white pepper and salt, then sprinkle evenly on fish, being sure to include the inside part. Place in fridge until ready to fry.

Mix sauce ingredients which included everything except green onions, cornstarch and oil. Be sure to mince garlic and ginger as fine as possible (maybe try food processor). Set aside and allow flavors to mix.

About 20 min. before you fry, beat eggs, water and flour together. Next, dip fish in mixture, being sure to cover inside part. Now dip fish in cornstarch mixture; you can lightly pat it on as you roll fish in mixture. Be sure to coat insides of fish. After first coating, you should have a light, even coating on fish. Next, redip fish in egg mixture, then recoat with cornstarch. If you want regular crispy, dipping once will suffice. After you are through coating fish, set in fridge for a few minutes. After you have dipped fish for second time, you should have a nice, even coating about 1/4 inch thick. Make sure every inch of fish has been coated.

Heat oil in wok until just before smoking point. For the skin on the fish to be crisp, the oil needs to be HOT (around 370 degrees). When you place fish in oil, you should see a lot of bubbling. During the frying process, you can also ladle hot oil on parts of fish, like the tail, that may have not been covered by oil. After about 3 min., turn fish and fry for a couple of minutes before reducing temp. Total frying time is about 10 min. You need the slightly longer fry time to ensure fish is very crisp. Don't worry about the fish being too dry because of longer frying time. The batter forms a wonderful protective shell.

After you drop fish in wok to fry, heat up sauce and, just before it reaches boiling, add cornstarch mixture. When mixture boils, reduce heat stirring until mixture thickens. Add hot oil, stirring well. Next, add green onions and stir well. When fish is done frying, drain well and place on platter. Pour about half the sauce over fish and reserve the other half to pour over white rice and fish once you have served everyone.