Braised Fish Strips with Celery
A Sichuan dish with a golden, glossy appearance. The fish is tender and flavorful, made by braising fried fish strips with celery hearts.
Ingredients
fresh fish (fins, scales, gills, and innards removed, cut into long strips)
1 kg
celery core (leaves and tough strings removed, cut into segments)
250 g
vegetable oil (actual consumption about 100g)
800 g
broad bean paste
100 g
cooking wine
100 g
soy sauce
25 g
white sugar
10 g
scallion (cracked for marinating or sliced into blossoms)
10 g
ginger (cracked for marinating or minced)
10 g
garlic (minced)
10 g
wet cornstarch
a pinch
vinegar
a pinch
MSG
5 g
pepper powder
a pinch
broth
to taste
salt (for marinating fish)
a pinch
Instructions
1
Step 1
Remove the fins, scales, gills, and innards from the fish, rinse clean, and cut into strips 6 cm long and 3 cm wide. Mince the ginger and garlic. Cut the scallion into large blossom slices, set aside some scallion and ginger, crack them for use in marinating. Wash the celery, remove leaves and tough strings, cut into 4 cm long segments. Mix the fish with salt, cooking wine, and the cracked scallion and ginger, marinate for 2 hours to infuse flavor.
2
Step 2
Deep fry the fish strips in boiling oil until golden, then remove and set aside. Leave 50–100g of oil in the wok, fry the broad bean paste until crispy and fragrant, add broth and simmer briefly, then add the fish, cooking wine, scallion, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and pepper powder. Bring the broth to a boil over high heat first, then simmer over low heat until the fish is cooked through. Next, add the celery and blanch briefly, add a few drops of vinegar, thicken the sauce with wet cornstarch, drizzle with a small amount of hot oil, and serve.
