[Chinese Recipes] Braised Spicy Fish

This braised spicy fish dish is named as Doubanjiang fish(豆瓣全鱼) in Chinese. For the lovers of Sichuan cuisine, you may find that there are many featured fish dishes in Sichuan Cuisine for example spicy boiled fish (水煮鱼) and boiled fish with pickled vegetables (酸菜鱼). This dish is my mother’s featured dish. Whenever we have guests, she will be praised for this easy braised spicy fish.

The main seasonings used for this dish is Doubanjiang and dou-chi. If those two kinds of paste I are difficult for you to find, you can replace the doubanjiang with other chili paste and increase the garlic, ginger and scallion a little bit more.

The fish for this dish can be grass carp, weever or other freshwater fish.

Firstly clean the fish carefully, remove the entrails and scale. Add 1 tablespoon of cooking wine or sherry and 2 teaspoons of salt evenly on the surface and marinade for around 10 minutes. You can cut some scratch on the surface if the fish is relative big in size. I skip this step since I only have a small size fish.

Then we prepare other ingredients. Cut ginger, garlic and scallion into small sections and peppers into thin shreds.

Put some oil in pan. Add the marinated fish when the oil just warm to sauté about 5 minutes or until the both sides become slightly golden brown.

Now begin to stir-fry the sauces. Add oil firstly and then ginger, garlic and scallions in to stir-fry until you can smell the fragrance. Add doubanjiang and dou-chi in to cook for around 2 minutes with middle fire until you can sell the red oil.

Return the fish back and add 1 tablespoon of cooking wine and half of the peppers shreds. Cover your pan and cook for 2 minutes. Turn the fish over and cook for around 2 minutes.

Sprinkle some chopped spring onion and decorate with pepper shreds.

Braised Spicy Fish—Sichuan Style


Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 20 mins



Famous Sichuan Style Braised whole Fish with Doubanjiang. Also named as doubanjiang fish
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Sichuan cuisine
Keyword: Braised, fish, Spicy
Servings: 2
Calories: 364 kcal
Author: Elaine
Ingredients

• 1 fresh water fish
• 1.5 tablespoon doubanjiang
• 2 teaspoons dou-chi
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 green round pepper
• 1 red round pepper
• 1 root ginger
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 scallion
• 1 tablespoon cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon chopped spring onions

Marinating sauce

• 1 tablespoon cooking wine
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Instructions

1. Scale and wash the fish carefully. Marinade with 1 tablespoon of cooking wine and 2 teaspoons of salt. Do spread the salt evenly. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Prepare other ingredients one by one.
3. Add 1/2 tablespoon oil in pan and sauté the fish until both side are slightly golden brown. Then transfer the fish out.
4. Heat up the left 1/2 tablespoon oil in pan. Add ginger, garlic and scallions to stir-fry until aroma with middle fire. Add doubanjiang and dou-chi in to stir-fry until you can see red oil.
5. Return the fish back to the pan. Add 1 tablespoon of cooking wine and pepper shreds in. Cover the pan to cook for around 2 minutes and turn the fish over to continue cooking for 2 minutes.
6. Transfer the fish out and garnish some chopped spring onions on top. I also add some pepper shreds as a decoration.

Recipe Notes

When sauté the fish, add the fish in when the oil in warm but not hot, otherwise the fish skin might be destroyed.

You can also add some vegetables or mushroom in to make this a balanced healthy dinner.

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Chinasichuanfood.com. Thanks so much!