Who doesn’t like crispy tender boneless fish fillet, even served alone? But when it is combined with black bean sauce, the fillet bursts with flavor and tastes so much better.
Fish Fillet with Black Bean Sauce Ingredients:
- Grouper
- Bok choy
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Scallion
- Black bean sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Chinese cooking wine
- Starch
- Egg
- Sugar
- Salt & pepper
Fish Fillet with Black Bean Sauce Directions:
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- Cut the head and tail off. Fillet the fish and remove the skin, set the head and tail aside for later.
- Marinate fish fillet with starch and seasonings.
- Lightly coat the head and tail with flour then deep fry.
- Deep fry the fish fillet with warm oil to hold the fish’s shape and set aside for the next step.
- Stir fry ginger, garlic, onion until aroma comes out. Add soup stock, oyster sauce, black bean sauce, and then add the fillet to the stir fry.
- Arrange bok choy, fish head and tail on the plate, and then serve with fish fillet on top of the vegetables.
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Black Bean Sauce:
Douchi, “Chinese salted black beans”, or “fermented black soybeans” is a type of fermented and salted black soybean.
Black bean sauce is used only as a seasoning, and is not meant to be consumed in large quantities, being typically extremely salty. However it’s a great addition to perk up mild fish or vegetables.
Technique of “Passing Through”:
Chinese restaurants commonly apply the “passing through” technique, or guo you, in which foods are briefly par-fried prior to more cooking. “Passing though” is a preliminary stage in the process but undeniably affects the end result.
By passing items through a shallow pool of hot oil, flavors can be sealed in–their shapes preserved and solidified–while the textures remain tender. “Passing through” is, essentially, a shallower and gentler form of deep-frying, so home cooks can easily apply the technique.
In passing through, the items almost always marinate in cornstarch and egg, both of which helps form a thin, protective crust. The fillet’s texture remains firm, yet tender, and won’t flake apart during a subsequent stir-frying step.
