Chinese-Style Fish: Pike Fillet in a Spicy Sauce with Vegetables

Name: Chinese-Style Fish: Pike Fillet in Spicy Sauce with Vegetables
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: Chinese cuisine
Ingredients: Fish fillet with skin (pike) 1 kg; Green bell pepper 1; Garlic 1 head; Peanuts (raw) 0.5 cup (70 g); Hot red pepper 1; Ginger 1 piece; Tomatoes 3-4; Cilantro 5-6 sprigs; Soy sauce 2 tbsp; Cornstarch 3-4 tbsp (29–39 g); Vegetable oil 4-5 tbsp; Brown sugar 2 tbsp (27 g); Dried hot red pepper (whole pods and ground), cinnamon sticks, Sichuan pepper, fennel seeds to taste

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1 h

A well-made Chinese-style fish can be the centerpiece of a festive table. It is not hard to cook fish in a spicy sauce, even if the spices are unfamiliar. All the ingredients are easy to find. Depending on your taste, the dish can be hot or almost mild.

Chinese recipes usually surprise with their unusual, quite exotic ingredients. Chicken with peanuts, or, as this masterpiece of Sichuan cuisine is usually called, kung pao chicken (Chinese 宫保鸡丁), is made with a well-known Chinese spice blend, five-spice powder (wuxiangmian). Surprisingly, it is very easy to make at home.

When I make Chinese-style fish, I prefer not to use five-spice powder because of its sweetish aftertaste. That spice suits wok-fried sweet pork better, while the fish should be fairly hot and spicy.

Chinese cuisine is a broad range of regional cuisines of China, as well as the culinary traditions of Chinese people living all over the world. Many specific cooking techniques, with a good dose of philosophy, make Chinese dishes very popular. Chinese cuisine is said to have eight branches, but I think, counting the cuisines of the various diaspora communities, there are more. As a lover of hot, rich dishes, I find Sichuan cuisine the most appealing, with its hot and somewhat oily dishes.

Sichuan pepper holds a special place in Sichuan cuisine. It is the most important spice there, and it has nothing to do with pepper. This aromatic seasoning is the husk of the fruit of Zanthoxylum trees (prickly ash). Battered fish turns out well with this spice.

Chinese-style fish cooked with hot pepper, garlic and Sichuan pepper has a hot, aromatic flavor. Along with a pleasant, slightly burning taste, Sichuan pepper adds a citrusy note and a light, brief numbness.

13 ingredientsTo the recipe

More with pike

Pike or Cod Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Pike Heads with Garlic

1 h 30 min

Ingredients

2-3 servings

Fish fillet with skin (pike) 1 kg
Green bell pepper 1
Garlic 1 head
Peanuts (raw) 0.5 cup
(70 g)
Hot red pepper 1
Ginger 1 piece
Tomatoes 3-4
Cilantro 5-6 sprigs
Soy sauce 2 tbsp
Cornstarch 3-4 tbsp
(29–39 g)
Vegetable oil 4-5 tbsp
Brown sugar 2 tbsp
(27 g)
Dried hot red pepper (whole pods and ground), cinnamon sticks, Sichuan pepper, fennel seeds to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Whichever recipe you choose, Chinese-style fish works best with firm fillets of a large fish. Traditionally carp is used most often. Pike fillet is excellent too; it is not much used in China, but it does exist there: 狗鱼. Perch, silver carp and grass carp also work. We had pike at hand when we cooked, decided Chinese-style pike fillet would turn out well, and it did.
Remove all the bones from the fish fillet carefully, trying not to damage the skin. It is important that the fillet stays on the skin, otherwise the fish will turn into pâté while cooking. Cut the skin-on fillet into large pieces, 2-3 per serving.
Dredge the fish pieces in cornstarch and refrigerate for 30 mins. No spices are needed here. All the spices that make the fish hot and aromatic go into the sauce during cooking.
Peel all the vegetables. Remove the seeds and white inner membranes from the fresh hot pepper, since they give most of the heat, then chop it very finely with a knife. Seed the large green pepper and cut it into cubes. Peel the garlic and halve each clove. Peel a piece of ginger the size of a matchbox and cut it into 3-4 parts. Scald the tomatoes, remove the seeds and skin, and blend the flesh with 2 tbsp of brown sugar (27 g) and 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce.
Heat the vegetable oil, olive or corn, in a saucepan. 2-3 tbsp of oil is enough. Add to the oil at the same time the raw (or blanched) peanuts, the prepared garlic and ginger, 2-3 cinnamon sticks, 10-12 dried hot pepper pods, 0.5 tsp of Sichuan pepper, the chopped fresh hot pepper and 0.5 tsp of fennel seeds.
Fry everything quickly, for 2-3 mins, over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Add the chopped green pepper and fry for 5-6 mins. Then move all the vegetables to a separate plate. Be sure to clear any leftover spices and vegetables from the pan.
Add the remaining oil to the pan and heat it well. Take the starch-coated fish fillet out of the refrigerator and put it into the hot oil skin side down. This is important.
Fry the fish on the skin side for 2 mins, turn it and fry for another 2 mins. There is no need to cook the fish through. It is enough for it to brown lightly and turn golden.
Turn the fish fillet back onto its skin and cover with the fried vegetables and peanuts. Spread the vegetables out, trying to fill the gaps.
Next, pour over the fish the sauce of tomatoes, soy sauce and brown sugar. Add hot water from the kettle so the fish sits in liquid, slightly rising above the surface. From here on, do not turn the fish over. It will cook in this position until the very end.
Simmer the fish, covered, over heat just above the minimum, so the tomato and soy sauce barely bubbles. Cooking time is 30-40 mins.
From time to time you can lift the lid and nudge the pieces of fish a little from their places. That way the sauce gets under the fish and keeps it from burning.
Remove the lid, turn up the heat and let the sauce reduce a little to thicken. In the end the fish should be in a very thick, bright sauce.
Put the Chinese-style fish on plates and sprinkle with cilantro and, if you like, hot red pepper.
Boiled rice or, if you like, mashed potatoes go very well as a side dish. Personally, I think fresh bread is quite enough. Chinese-style fish in sauce and a piece of bread, that’s all!