Stir-fried Thick Fish Slices with Fermented Rice Sauce
A classic Shandong (Lu) dish of mandarin fish slices stir-fried in a fragrant fermented rice lees sauce. The evenly cut fish remains tender and delicate, while the rich, mellow lees aroma infuses every bite.
Ingredients
Mandarin fish meat (washed, cut into 4cm long segments, then sliced diagonally along the grain into 2cm wide, 0.4cm thick thick slices)
750 g
Green broad beans (cooked in broth until flavorful)
20 g
Soaked wood ear mushrooms (sliced)
20 g
Clean winter bamboo shoots (sliced)
20 g
Starch (for coating the fish slices)
30 g
Egg white (for coating the fish slices)
20 g
Fine salt
5 g
Fermented rice sauce
250 g
Shaoxing wine
15 g
Rendered lard (for stir-frying)
50 g
Instructions
1
Slice the fish
Wash the mandarin fish meat, cut into 4cm long segments, then slice diagonally along the grain into 2cm wide, 0.4cm thick thick slices.
2
Coat the fish
Place the fish slices on a plate, mix with wet starch and egg white until evenly coated, then add fine salt and stir to combine.
3
Prepare side ingredients
Slice the wood ear mushrooms and winter bamboo shoots; cook the green broad beans in broth until flavorful and set aside.
4
Make the sauce
Combine the fermented rice sauce, Shaoxing wine, fine salt, and wet starch in a bowl, and stir until well mixed into a sauce.
5
Par-fry fish slices
Heat rendered lard in a wok over medium heat to 40% heat (approx. 88°C), add the fish slices one by one using chopsticks, stir gently with a spatula once they float to the surface, then remove and drain excess oil when cooked through.
6
Stir-fry with sauce
Leave a small amount of oil in the wok, heat over medium heat to 60% heat (approx. 132°C), pour in the prepared sauce, stir until it thickens, then add the par-fried fish slices, toss several times.
7
Plate the dish
Transfer to a serving plate, sprinkle with cooked green broad beans, and serve.
