【Jiangsu】Squirrel Yellow Croaker

Overview

It’s almost the New Year, I believe you all will be busy at the Spring Festival family dinner! At our reunion banquet, fish must be served with fish, which means there will be plenty every year; in addition, there will also be yellow croaker, hairtail, smoked fish and other fish delicacies. In addition, there has always been a famous dish in our Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas called squirrel mandarin fish, which is sweet, sour, beautiful and delicious. However, it is a little troublesome to make at home. Most of the time, if you want to eat it, you have to go to a restaurant to order it. I wanted to learn to cook it once, but I didn’t buy mandarin fish because I was worried about failure, so I used a small yellow croaker at home to practice it; haha: because the yellow croaker is so small, it seems that the fish meat can’t be seen after frying, and even the bones are crispy and fall off, which naturally affects the appearance. In order to make this dish, I also borrowed an old-fashioned iron pot to fry the fish; although the operation is indeed a bit complicated, the taste is really great~~~

Tags

• hot dishes
• home cooking
• chinese banquet
• canola oil
• chopped green onions
• cooking wine
• cornstarch
• five spice powder
• ginger powder
• minced garlic
• sugar
• yellow croaker
• fish sauce
• green beans
• salt
• tomato sauce

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Prepare related ingredients: mince green onions, sesame seeds, and garlic and set aside

   

2. 2 Wash the yellow croaker after removing its scales, gills and internal organs. Cut the fins on the side of the fish with a straight knife about 3 cm to the fish bones

   

3. 3 Then lay the knife flat and cut diagonally about 2.5 cm

   

4. 4 Use the above method to cut both sides of the fish body crosswise

   

5. 5 Use 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp cooking wine, 1 tsp fish sauce and 1/2 tsp white pepper, mix evenly, spread all over the fish body inside and outside and marinate for 10 minutes

   

6. 6 Place the green beans in the microwave on high heat for 2 minutes, then mix the cornstarch and appropriate amount of water into a thick cornstarch paste

   

7. 7 At the same time, pour 600 grams of canola oil into the wok and heat over high heat

   

8. 8 Lift the fish tail and wrap it in the cornstarch paste, covering it evenly

   

9. 9 When the oil is 70% hot, lift the fish tail with one hand, grab the spatula with the other, and gently slide the fish into the oil pan

   

10. 10 Put the fish into the pot, use the spatula with your left hand to push the tail of the fish to make the fish body into a semi-circle, and continue to use the spatula with the right hand to pour hot oil on the fish

    

11. 11 Until the fish meat on the surface becomes golden and crispy, take it out and put the fish tail upward on a plate

    

12. 12 In a separate pan, sauté the onions, ginger and garlic, add a little water, sugar and 1 pinch of salt, bring to a boil, then add the tomato sauce and mix well

    

13. 13 Pour in a little newly prepared starch paste to form a thick gravy, add green peas and stir-fry and turn off the heat

    

14. 14 Pour tomato juice onto the fried yellow croaker