C.D.'s Crispy Fish in Sweet & Sour Sauce
Source of Recipe
Posted By: Cookin' Dad
Recipe Introduction
Dear TSR Friends,
I'm posting early today during lunch because I may not be able
to get on tonight. Anyway, I made this dish last night and
it was absolutely delicious. If you like extra crispy fish
with a transparent, glossy, red sweet and sour sauce, then this
dish is for you! The fish looked beautiful after I took it
out of the wok and poured the sauce over it. This is definitely
a good company dish if your guests like fish. I usually have
leftovers, but not last night--even my picky daughter, who is not
a big fish eater, asked for seconds.
My father-in-law didn't help with this dish and I must admit
I had to do a bit of guesswork. It took two batches before
I finally figured out the sauce(I may dump the first batch--lol!).
Regards,
Cookin' Dad
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. (my fish was a little over 12 in. long
and weighed around 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
zing to sauce, but the flavor is not as authentic with extra
mustard. Depending on your own tastes, you can reduce mustard to
1 - 1 1/2 tsp. Personally, I like the 2 tsp. amount for that
little extra. However, if I make this dish for Chinese guests,
I'll probably reduce amt. to 1 tsp.
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. I decided
to double-dip for an extra crispy coating (and crispy it was!).
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
has been coated. This is somewhat tedious, but easier than making crispy
crispy beef.
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. (you don't have to do this,
but I did because I was afraid of temp. getting too high and burning
the fish). Total frying time is about 10 min. You need the slightly
longer fry time to ensure fish is very crisp (just the way my
family likes it). 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. Enjoy!
P.S. Make sure you have a good metal spatula and tongs on
hand for easy handling of fish during frying.
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