Basket Fish
A decorative dish shaped like a flower basket, made with grass carp, ham, and mushrooms. It is fresh and fragrant, with a tender texture and a lightly sweet-and-sour flavor.
Ingredients
Grass carp (scale, remove fins and gills, cut open belly to remove innards and wash)
1 piece (750g)
Lard (for stir-frying)
75g
Soaked dried shiitake mushrooms (cut into strips)
100g
Scallion whites (cut into strips, some lightly crushed and soaked in water)
50g
Soaked winter bamboo shoots (cut into strips)
100g
Ginger (cut into strips, some lightly crushed and soaked in water)
50g
Soaked kelp (for tying fish rolls)
75g
Cooking wine
50g
Soaked white fungus (steamed)
1 piece
Cooked ham (cut into strips)
100g
Salt
4g
Water starch
25g
Ground white pepper
0.2g
Tomato sauce
75g
Sugar
40g
Garlic
10g
Instructions
1
Prepare strips
Cut the ham, shiitake mushrooms, 10g scallion, and 20g ginger into 5cm-long strips. Lightly crush the remaining scallion and ginger, and soak in water to make a scallion-ginger juice.
2
Prepare the grass carp
Scale the grass carp, remove fins and gills, cut open the belly to remove the innards and wash clean. Cut off the fish head and tail and set aside. Cut the fish along the back and remove the flesh. Blanch the fish bones until cooked and set aside. Remove the skin from the fish meat and slice into 30 pieces about 5cm square. Place in a bowl, add cooking wine, scallion-ginger juice, and salt, mix well, and marinate for 30 minutes.
3
Roll the fish rolls
Place the assorted strips on each fish slice, roll into 10mm-thick rolls, and tie tightly with kelp strips. Once done, arrange the fish rolls on a large fish platter in a basket shape. Place the fish head and tail at the front and back. Shape the fish bones into arc-shaped basket handles and embed them on both sides of the fish rolls. Place the white fungus in the middle, sprinkle with chopped ham, and steam over water for 30 minutes. Remove from heat.
4
Pour sauce and serve
Heat a wok over the fire, add lard and heat until hot. Add the tomato sauce and stir-fry until red oil emerges. Add 300g chicken broth, salt, sugar, and cooking wine, and bring to a boil. Thicken with wet starch, drizzle with a little hot oil, and pour over the fish rolls.
