Chrysanthemum Mandarin Fish
Grass carp fillets are scored in a crosshatch pattern, battered, and deep-fried until they curl into chrysanthemum-like petals. The crispy fish is served with shrimp balls and drizzled with a tomato-based sweet-and-sour sauce.
Ingredients
mandarin fish fillet
600 g
shrimp
50 g
cilantro
50 g
cooked lean ham, finely chopped
10 g
egg yolks
2
vegetable oil (about 150 g absorbed)
1500 g
chicken broth
200 g
tomato sauce
100 g
fine salt
50 g
sugar
175 g
vinegar
50 g
cooking wine
25 g
white pepper
1.5 g
MSG
1.5 g
starch
125 g
chopped scallions
10 g
minced ginger
10 g
Instructions
1
Step 1
Wash the mandarin fish and place it on a cutting board. Cut into 10 blocks about 1.6 cm in diameter. Score a cross pattern on each block and arrange in a plate. Add fine salt, cooking wine, and white pepper to marinate briefly. Then toss with starch and coat evenly with egg yolks.
2
Step 2
Wash and drain the shrimp, chop into a paste and place in a bowl. Add minced ginger, chopped scallions, fine salt, egg white, starch, and a little water, and stir into a smooth paste. Then squeeze into grape-sized shrimp balls to form the flower centers. Finely chop the ham.
