We fell in love with this claypot fish recently that this dish appeared on our dining table at least once a week. We bought a lot of fresh White Snapper fishes during our trip to fisherman village in Sekinchan, Selangor. We tried steaming it, pan frying it, but we prefer claypot, which is still the best. It absorbed the flavour from the sauce really well, can taste the fish sweetness and meat still juicy, won't dry out.
White Snapper is better known as "pak zhou" in Cantonese or "pek cho" in Hokkien/Teochew, is the same family as Red snapper ("hung zhou" in Cantonese / "ang cho" in Hokkien/Teochew).
The below recipe is for 1-2 person & I'm using a small claypot. Like those individual portion claypot chicken rice size. So make sure your fish must be able to fit into this pot size. My whole fish weighs about 370g.
Ingredients :
1/2 Fish (either head or tail)
2 cloves Garlic (sliced)
1 tbsp Ginger (julienned)
1 tsp Fermented Black Beans (roughly chopped)
1 tsp Fermented Soy Bean Paste (Taucu)
*2pc Chilli Padi (optional)
* spring onion for garnishing
Oil for frying
Seasoning:
1 tsp Oyster Sauce
1 tsp Light Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Shao Xing Wine
Dash of Black Pepper
75ml Water
2 tbsp Oil
Step by step :
1. Heat up wok & pan fried fish on both sides till golden brown. Remove & set aside.
2. Heat up claypot. Can use leftover oil from frying fish.
3. Saute ginger and garlic till fragrant.
4. Add fermented black bean, bean paste, black pepper, sugar and fish sauce and continue to saute for 1 minute.
5. Add water and oyster sauce. Bring to a boil.
6. Add in cooked fish and cover. Cook in high heat with lid on for 2 minutes to let fish absorb the seasoning sauce.
7. Turn fish on the other sides and cover with lid on, cook on high heat for another 2 minutes.
8. Finally add shao xing wine and spring onion into gravy and cover for a last 1 minute.
9. Serve hot. Garnish with more spring onions on top.
Happy Cooking.
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