Sweet and Sour Fish

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE FISH:

  • 12 ounces cod fillet (340g, rinsed clean, pat dry and cut into 1-inch cubes)
  • 3 cups peanut oil (for frying)
  • 2 table spoon rough tapioca strch
  • ½ egg
  • Salt
  • 2 table spoon fine tapioca starch
  • ½ table spoon Rice wine

FOR THE SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE:

  • ¼ cup onion (cut into even size pieces)
  • ¼ cup red bell peppers (cut into even size pieces)
  • ¼ cup green bell peppers (cut into even size pieces)
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • 3/4 cup canned pineapple chunks
  • ¾ cup pineapple juice from the can
  • 2 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
  • ⅓ table spoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger and garlic
  • ⅓ cup water
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoons fine tapioca starch (mixed into a slurry with 2 tablespoons water)

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Make sure your fish fillet is clean and pat dry to ensure your fried fish gets really crispy. Heat 3 cups of oil in a small pot (to conserve oil). You can use a thermometer or check the temperature by putting a drop of batter into the oil. The batter should not turn brown right away. Instead, it should rise immediately to the surface and turn a very light golden brown.
  • To make the batter, mix together all the ingredients––the rough tapioca starch, fine tapioca starch, salt, egg, and rice wine. When you’re ready to fry, mix in the sesame oil.
  • Next, drop the fish fillets into the batter. Ensure they are evenly coated, but allow the excess to drip off (if there’s too much batter on the fish, you’ll end up with dough balls!). Carefully place the fish into the oil one piece at a time, ensuring that they don’t stick to each other. Fry in batches so that the fish pieces aren’t overcrowded, frying for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown.
  • Scoop the fried fish out and transfer to a cooling rack placed over a baking sheet to drain. Repeat until all the fish has been fried.
  • Next, put two teaspoons of the frying oil in a separate wok or skillet over high heat, and toss in the onions and peppers. Stir-fry for 30 seconds, and then stir in the ketchup. Fry for another 20 seconds––frying the ketchup brings out the color and makes for a better depth of flavor in the sweet and sour sauce.
  • Mix in the pineapple, pineapple juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger & garlic, salt, sugar and water, and bring the liquid to a low simmer for 2 minutes. With the sweet and sour sauce still simmering, slowly stir in the fine tapioca starch slurry until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.
  • At this point, if the fried fish fillets have softened, you can refry them in the hot oil 30 seconds in larger batches. The higher heat is needed because the oil will cool immediately after putting in a larger batch of fish in the oil. Re-frying will make it extra crispy.
  • Once the fish is ready, toss it into the wok with sweet & sour sauce, and fold into the sauce with 3 or 4 scooping motions until the pieces are lightly coated. Plate and serve immediately!
Sweet and Sour Fish

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