Sweet & Sour Fish

Next stop Shanghai! On our food journey across the world this weekend, I decided to make this great alternative to the usual sweet & sour chicken. A lot of people shy away from making Chinese cuisine at home as it is known, that although the cooking time does not take so long it is the preparation that makes one slog in the kitchen. This really does not have to be if you prepare and plan in advance. I normally go to our fresh fruit and vegie market at least once a week. Once a month I buy in bulk. I buy all types of vegetables and fruit that we like to eat at home and spend part of my weekend chopping and freezing these in portions. This way I always have fresh vegies nicely frozen for any type of meal. When I wanted to cook this sweet & sour fish I hardly spent any time cutting and preparing the vegetables.


Ingredients:

500g fish (do not use a very soft type of fish for this) - cut in bite size pieces
1 egg
3 tablespoons cornstarch
soya sauce
1 large onion cut in thick slices
1 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g Mixed Chinese vegetables (I used cauiflower, peas, carrots, leeks, mushrooms, sprouts, bell peppers etc.)
2 tomatoes cut in half then in thick slices
1 small can pineapple

For the sauce:
3/4 cup of water
1/4 vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon soya sauce



Method:

Blend cornstarch, egg and some water together and make a nice smooth batter. Add some soya sauce to taste. Put the fish pieces in the batter and mix so that all the pieces are nicely covered. Take out, let drip and fry in portions in hot oil until nice and brown. Remove from oil and put on some kitchen paper so that some of the oil gets soaked up. Keep warm.

In a wok add some oil (Rape or Sesame oil) and fry the onions and garlic until tender. Except for the tomatoes and pineapple, add all the vegetables you are using.

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl. Add the mixture to the wok and let simmer for a few minutes. When the sauce has thickened add the tomatoes and pineapple. At the very end add the fish pieces to the sauce & vegetable mixture.

Serve this with steamed basmati rice.

Verdict:
"Different with the fish, but extremely good" was Tom's comment to this. Soeri, asked what the pieces of meat were and I told him it was fish "Hmmmnnn I like to eat this stuff" and with that he literally stuffed his mouth spoonful after spoonful. I was a bit worried that Soeren might turn this down, as he likes to separate his vegetables to his fruit ... and keep them that way. I was very glad that he excepted this combination.
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1 comment:

  1. Yes, I learnt this from my parents who do the same. They live in Dubai and go to several different markets (Lebanese, Indian etc.) and buy whatever they need and freeze everything. It really is amazing what my mum freezes. Cakes, bread etc. No wonder they have two freezers!!
    In Germany the usual sized freezers are soooo tiny and I insisted on a huge one when we bought ours! It is so easy then - take out and quicky steam or cook as you like. I have not tried much with fruit except for berries, but if you do you can always let me know.

    happy freezing ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

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Meeta