Fish With Sweet And Sour Chili Sauce

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How would you eat a whole fish? Eating the entire fish is certainly the greatest part, regardless of whether you decide to grill, roast, deep fry, or steam it.

How do you prepare the sauce for the fish? The most common type of sauce I always make is sweet and sour sauce.

I would like to share with you today an alternative method for making fish with a sweet and sour flavour.  The flavour is both acidic and sweet. However, the components and the process of making the sauce are completely different. The traditional components of the sweet-and-sour fish dish include vinegar, sugar, and tomato sauce. The main ingredients in this dish are tamarind juice and fresh chilies, which I use not only to give the sauce a beautiful and vibrant colour but also a spicy flavour to the dish.

One advantage of this dish is that I can prepare the sauce ahead of time and simply reheat it right before serving. This is a great recipe to serve seafood and other dishes to a large group of people without having to worry about the flavour of the meal being ruined.

 

INGREDIENTS

4-5 cloves garlic

2-3 Cilantro roots, chopped

¼ tsp white peppercorns

2-3 mild red chili peppers, cut into small chunks

1-2 Thai chilies or bird eyes chilies, chopped

3 Tbsp chopped palm sugar

1 ½ tbsp soy sauce

2 ½ tbsp tamarind juice

¼ cup water

¼ cup chopped cilantro

800 grams of any white whole fish

Vegetable oil for frying

 

 


METHOD

1) Pound the cilantro roots, garlic, and white pepper with a mortar and pestle until it has a rough paste. Add the mild red chilies and bird eyes chilies and pound until the mixture resembles a rough paste as well.

2)In a deep bottom wok, add just enough cooing oil to fry the fish at medium-high heat.

3) Making several incisions on both sides of the thickest portion of the fish, pat it completely dry. Carefully slide the fish down to the wok and let it fry until crispy, flip it halfway through!

4) In a wok, over medium heat, cook the chili mixture in some vegetable oil, stirring constantly. When the mixture starts to dry up, add tamarind juice, water, soy sauce, and the palm sugar. Stir until the palm sugar melts. Let it simmer for 1-2 minutes until you achieve a thick, syrupy consistency. Taste and adjust to your liking. Turn off the heat, add the chopped cilantro and stir to mix.

5) Place the fish on a serving plate. Pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with some chopped cilantro and sliced chilies.

Note: You may make the sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. Just before serving, bring it back to a boil, whisk in the chopped cilantro. In case it becomes excessively thick while it was left to sit, dilute it with a small amount of water.

 

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