Chinese New Year is only a few days away. Whole fish is a must-have dish at my family’s New Year’s eve dinner. Fish in Chinese “Yu” has the same pronunciation as abundance. It symbolizes a year of abundance and good luck. Happy Chinese New Year everyone, the year of the dragon!
Whole Fish with Bean Paste
1 Tilapia, about 2 pounds, cleaned
2 tablespoons spicy bean paste, chopped finely
8 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped ginger
4 stalks scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
1 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon corn starch, mixed with 2 tablespoon water
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup water
1. Before cooking, dry the fish inside and out with paper towels. Make 3 cuts on both sides of the fish. Put salt inside and out.
2. Heat up 2 tablespoons oil in a flat pan to medium heat. Pan fry the fish, 2 minutes each side till it’s lightly brown. Take out the fish into a plate.
3. Add 2 tablespoons oil into the pan, and sauté ginger, garlic, and bean paste together about 1 minute.
4. Add sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and cooking wine, and mix up. Add water in and let it boil.
4. When it boils, put fish back. Cover and let it cook about 10 minutes. Occasionally scoop the sauce on top of the fish.
5. Take out the fish into a plate. Add scallions into the pan, and then add wet starch. Let it cook for about 1 minute.
6. Pour the sauce on top of the fish, and garnish with remaining scallions. Serve.
Thanks for sharing this b4 chinese nu yr! Looks very yummy. Wish u happy in the coming yr!
This is the real deal. An excellent recipe and video as well. We had this for dinner tonight and it was wonderful. I used 1 cup of chicken stock instead of water, but I just happened to have some homemade stock on hand. I made another recipe similar to this before and both times I wondered if it is worth it to fry the fish for 2 minutes on each side. It doesn’t seem to add much in terms of flavor or texture, but I could be wrong. Perhaps next time I might just skip the frying.
Forget all that though, just make this dish.
Normally fish is deep fried first, but I choose to pan fry. You are right that you don’t have to fry at all.
Hello again, Ling!
I cant wait to prepare this recipe on Sunday for my family!
However, when I got back from the grocery store, I realized that I bought SWEETENED black vinegar, not the regular black vinegar.
Do you think the sweetened vinegar will still be suitable for this dish? Or do you think I can even use white vinegar?
Thanks,
Danielle
Hello Ling,
Will sweetened black vinegar be suitable for this dish? Or can I use regular white vinegar?
Sure.
Dear Ling,
I’m your loyal follower on YouTube. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. I love it! I used salmon instead of whole fish, but it still came out wonderful. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for supporting my channel. Enjoy cooking!
Regards,
Ling