Sweet and Sour Carp
A vegetarian, Zhejiang-style rendition of sweet-and-sour carp, shaped to mimic the whole fish. The coating turns crisp while the interior stays tender, with a balanced sweet-sour glaze and a savory finish.
Ingredients
tofu skin
2
potato (steamed, peeled, passed through a food mill)
0.5500 g
vegetarian clear soup
200 g
water chestnuts (crushed)
2
bamboo shoot slices (rehydrated, sliced, blanched in water)
25 g
cilantro segments
25 g
vinegar
25 g
flour
25 g
cooking wine
10 g
MSG
to taste
soy sauce
5 g
cornstarch (wet)
100 g
salt
a pinch
sugar
50 g
peanut oil
1.5500 g
shiitake mushrooms (shaped into fish eyes)
sesame oil (drizzled on top)
Instructions
1
Step 1
Cut two sheets of tofu skin to the same size and stick them together. Steam the potato until fully cooked, peel it, and pass it through a food mill. Slice the rehydrated bamboo shoots into thin strips, blanch them in water, then mix thoroughly with the mashed potato. Spread the cornstarch paste evenly over the tofu skin sheets, place the mashed potato in the center, fold up the front and back leaving a small gap, then fold in both ends. Use your index finger to hold the front of the roll and roll the entire package up, while pushing the filling back with your index finger to shape the fish head. Cut a small semicircular mark at the back of the head. Use the shiitake mushrooms to make fish eyes (simply cut out small circles), shape the body into a fish form, cut a notch in the tail, make a few small cuts on the tail, score one side of the fish body with crosshatch cuts, then spread the wet cornstarch paste evenly over the surface. Deep fry in warm oil until cooked through, then place on a serving plate.
2
Step 2
Combine the vegetarian clear soup with sugar, vinegar, MSG, cooking wine, salt, soy sauce, cornstarch, crushed water chestnuts, and cilantro segments to make a sauce. Heat the sauce, drizzle with sesame oil, then pour it over the prepared fish to serve.
