Sweet and Sour Fish Recipe
October 14th, 2008 | Chinese, Chinese Recipes, Nyonya Recipes | 16 Comments
(Chinese recipes, prepare authentic Chinese food now!)
Please meet Piggy at Piggy’s Cooking Journal–a beautiful food blog that I absolutely adore and constantly drool over. A fellow Malaysian–from my hometown Penang–Piggy cooks, bakes, and writes about Asian food and other good eats. Please welcome her as a guest writer on Rasa Malaysia with the following serving of sweet and sour fish. Yum!
Sweet and Sour Fish
Guest Writer: Piggy’s Cooking Journal
Most of my friends do not cook as they find that cooking is a chore rather than an activity they’d enjoy. They are always bewildered that I am willing to put in a lot of effort to cook, even when I’m dining alone at home.
Contrary to what these friends may think, I usually do not spend long tedious hours in the kitchen. I do, occasionally, whip up some complicated dishes but that might not be something I’d like to do everyday. Just like the others, I do have those moments when I just don’t feel like doing anything at all.
But no matter how unwilling I am to cook, I still need to eat, especially after eating similar dishes for several days. That’s when I turn to my piles of cookbooks and look for the simple yet satisfying recipes to try out. Over time, I have gathered quite a long list of recipes that I would take out from time to time when I want to have a yummy home cooked meal in the shortest time…(get the sweet and sour fish recipe after the jump)
Over the weekend, I’ve just added one more such recipe to my list of “simple and satisfying” dishes. The sweet and sour fish only took me less than 45 minutes, from wok to tummy, including cleaning up the dishes and oh, that also included the several minutes of photo taking at leisurely pace. This sweet and sour fish dish is that simple and yet it left me gastronomically satisfied. Find it hard to believe? Well, give the following sweet and sour fish recipe a try then!
Adapted from Penang Nyonya Cooking
Ingredients:
1 whole fish, about 400g
Gravy:
1/2 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon preserved soy bean paste (tau cheo)
100ml water
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 red chilli, finely pounded
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Sugar, to taste
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch, mix with 2 tablespoons of water
Garnishing:
Coriander leaves
Method:
1) Clean the fish, wash and drain. Steam the fish until cooked, about 8 minutes. Remove and set aside.
2) To prepare the gravy, heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok. Add onion and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes, or until soft.
3) Add preserved soy bean paste and stir-fry until fragrant.
4) Add water, tomato sauce, pounded chilli, light soy sauce and sugar. Bring to a slow boil.
5) Add cornstarch solution and stir quickly for a few more minutes.
6) Pour the gravy over the steamed fish. Garnish with coriander leaves, serve.
Related Recipes:
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Hi RM, it’s a great idea to have a guest writer and hello Piggy. Your sweet and sour fish looks very delicious. Drool.
Thanks for the reminder of my mom’s cooking. Simple and quick. The ‘tau cheo’ with white rice!! heavenly.
Will it be alright if the fish is steamed together with the pre-cooked gravy?
Hi~ Today is my “fish” day, So I have to cook fish. Drop by for some inspirations, Yes, ignited!
Nice and simple dish!
Welcome Piggy! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Well done, Piggy! This is a lovely dish :)
Hello all, Thanks for your kind comments. :-)
Hi food for tots, I’ve not tried this method but I think it should be able to produce the same result. However, you might not be able to get thick gravy (the addition of cornstarch solution) if it’s steamed with the fish, since such texture is usually achieved by stir-frying. It’s great to get new idea though, I will give it a try myself one of these days.
Stumbled upon this post via Google. I love sweet and sour fish, but I prefer sweet and sour fish recipe where the fish is deep-fried…I guess the recipe would still work as the sweet and sour sauce should be the same. Thank you.
Hi, I am Malaysian fellow also!
Sweet & sour fish is a popular dish at my home. To make the dish more irresistable, I normally add some diced pineapples & cucumber.
Pepsi :)
Hmm I prefer the less healthy version – fry the fish instead of steaming.
That fish and sauce look fabulous. I love the colors in the photo with the green garnish. Looking forward to checking out your blog, Piggy!
This is like comfort food for me! I love my mum’s cuz she makes the skin of the fish all crispy!
Hi Piggy. Love anything sweet and sour but mine gotta be deep-fried first. ;)
May i know what type of fish to buy in Singapore or Malaysia market? Dun mind giving the English as well as the Malay name. Thanks!
Hi, I’ve just cooked this fish as per your recipe and my oh my, yummmmmmyyyyyy!!!
I’m the lazy sorta person so what I did was cooked the fish in the sauce together and when it’s done, I dished out the fish 1st and add in the cornstarch last to thicken the sauce. My short cut! lol…
You got a great site going on here, love it! And thanks for your hard work of posting!!!
So nice of you to leave such supportive comments. And thanks for trying this sweet and sour fish recipe. Try the rest of my sweet and sour dishes posted, such as sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour chicken. Their ingredients almost identical and cooking is as easy, too. Enjoy!