Scallion-Spicy Fish Strips
A classic Sichuan dish: fish strips are marinated, deep-fried, then braised with scallions, ginger, and dried chilies for a glossy red finish and a fragrant, savory-spicy flavor.
Ingredients
Carp (scaled, fins and gills removed, gutted, backbone removed, cut into strips; grass carp, mandarin fish, or silver carp may be substituted)
600 g
Scallion (split and cut into 6 cm long segments; some used for marinating)
50 g
Dried chili peppers (seeded)
10
Vegetable oil (actual consumption about 120 g)
800 g
Sesame oil
12 g
Ginger (sliced; some used for marinating)
15 g
Soy sauce
40 g
Salt
5 g
Cooking wine
30 g
Monosodium glutamate
5 g
Stock
260 g
Sugar
a pinch
Instructions
1
Prepare ingredients and marinate
Scale, remove fins, gills, and viscera from the fish, wash, then remove the backbone and cut into strips 1.5 cm wide and 4 cm long. Split the scallions and cut into 6 cm long segments. Slice the ginger. Seed the dried chili peppers. Marinate the prepared fish with 7 g ginger, 10 g scallion, 5 g salt, 15 g soy sauce, and 20 g cooking wine, mix well, and marinate for about 60 minutes, then drain off the liquid.
2
Fry fish strips
Heat the vegetable oil in a wok to 80% hot, add the fish strips, fry until about 80% cooked, then remove and drain the oil.
3
Braise and reduce the sauce
Heat a wok over high heat, add 25 g vegetable oil, briefly stir-fry the scallions and ginger, then pour in the stock and add the dried chili peppers, sugar, and the remaining soy sauce and cooking wine. Add the fried fish strips, cook over high heat until the sauce thickens, drizzle with sesame oil, and serve. Remove the scallions and ginger before eating.
