Fish as Chinese people like it in the South

Yangshou Beer Fish

Ingredients:

3 lbs fresh water fish (catfish, carp etc.)

ginger

salt

3-4 tsp white Chinese vinegar

green pepper

tomato

5-600 ml beer (lager)

1 tsp tomato purée

4 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp oyster Sauce

few cloves of garlic

(in China MSG!!!)

2 tsp dark soy sauce

ground pepper

spring onion

Time of preparation: 10 minutes

Time of cooking: 20 minutes

Basically to prepare this unbelievably delicious and suprisingly easy fish dish, the two things that you have to choose well are a big enough pot (wok is the best) and a good old, undeservingly forgotten fresh water fish. In China it would mean numerous choices, everbody has their own favourite, but since in Europe the choices are limited, I would recommend you to choose the ugly, ”muddy” but still somewhat cute carp or catfish. Whatever you choose, forget sea-water fish and forget about choosing the one that contains the least fat, you need taste, dontcha???!!!

Now comes the preparation part. I know, it is disgusting, slimy but if you wanna eat fish there is no other way. Anyway there are several websites and cookbooks from which you can learn to scale the fish fast and easily, to remove the guts etc. After finishing it, probably most of the people would start to make fillets, steaks or at least get rid of the head and other ugly parts but there are several reasons why not to do so. First of all, there is nothing more appetizing than a whole piece of fish, steaming on a big white plate. Secondly – as I have experienced in China – the best meat of any kind of animal is always on or close to the head of that animal, should it be beef, lamb, fish, anything. And last but not least, if you cut deep enough slits into the meat, then when frying the fish, the smaller fishbones become crispy and you will only have to deal with the big ones, which is a sacrifice that I can gladly make. In conclusion, I’d say that for this dish you should either leave the fish as it is (dressed fish) or cut it into two pieces while removing the backbone.

When the fish is ready, start heating a wok or a big enough pot, pan in which you can fry the fish. To start, put some oil into the wok and when it is hot enough add some slices of ginger as seasoning. After some seconds you can gently slide the fish down into the oil from the side of the wok. First we always fry the skin side to obtain a beautiful golden colour. Frying will take altogether around 5-6 minutes. While frying add some salt and a few teaspoons of white rice vinegar. When the bottom has already turned into golden brown and the edges have changed their colour as well add some small tomatoes and chopped green pepper.

Now we have arrived at the moment when we add the most important ingredient the beer (lager, 500-600 ml). I know it might sound a bit strange but wait until the end, it is gonna give the fish a distinct, characteristic flavour, which is after all the reason why we use it. After adding the beer we can start seasoning. Add the tomato purée, light soy sauce and the oyster sauce. At this point we can turn the fish carefully and now we leave it to simmer for about 10 minutes for the liquid to evaporate.

Finally, when it is almost ready you can add the dark soy sauce and if you really wanna stick to Chinese cooking traditions, then add some MSG, but because of health concern I always leave this part out. So we are almost ready, season the fish with some ground pepper, put some fresh chopped spring onion on top and there is nothing else left. Put it on a plate and everybody: 

Help yourselves!!! Bon appétit!!!