Red Fish Snapper with Sweet & Sour Sauce
DAY 11. HUB #11
Great Fish for Dinner
Do you rate this fish recipe?
Why choose Red Fish?
Red fish or Red Snapper are one of the most common fishes can be found in the wet market. It is also known as “Ikan Merah” locally in Malay language which literally means “Red Fish”
Here, the price of one medium size Red Fish is equivalent to 5-6 Sardine fishes because it has more meat, soft, tender meat and the flesh is white too.
Nevertheless, some may dislike to scrape off the Red Fish scales which are abundant on both sides of the fish because it is troublesome as the scales keep popping to your skin and everywhere.
Hence, most consumers would request the fish mongers to do the “troublesome” job and to remove the intestines as well.
My homemade sweet and sour sauce
Do you buy or get FREE chilli sauce?
Why use Sweet and Sour Sauce ?
Sweet and sour sauce is commonly used in seafood recipes as the tangy and sweet sour taste help to overcome the strong seafood odor.
One way to decrease the fishy odor is to deep fry the fish until crispy rather than steaming.
Sweet and sour sauce is a combination of:
- chilli sauce
- tomato sauce
- oyster sauce
- vinegar
- sugar
You can omit the vinegar and tomato sauce if you dislike the flavor. Alternatively, you could buy Thai chilli sauce that comes in a small bottle for a fair price.
Anyway, I got my chilli sauce and tomato sauce for FREE by ordering take-away from McD , KFC and Burger King. Ask for additional sachets of these sauces and they are willing to give extra 4 sachets to the ones you have.
Among the brands, I love "Life" brand, a little sweet and spicy.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
I love Minor's brand. It comes in 2kg, good enough to last for a year for me and the sweet and sour taste is awesome, similar to KFC and McD chilli sauce except for a little sourish taste.
It has no MSG, suitable for vegetarian, my in-laws are vegetarian, by the way.
When I use this sauce for my Red Snapper Fish dish, I need not add in any vinegar or sugar but I did add in a little oyster sauce and corn starch to thicken the sauce.
Perfect sauce for dipping homemade chicken nuggets, fried chickens and onion rings too.
How to choose red fish
- QUICK AND EASY FISH RECIPES
Do you like fish? Here are some wonderful fish recipes for you to choose from. For those who love spicy food, choose Asam Fish and Spicy Fish. For sick patients and lack of appetite, choose Baked and Steam fish for speedy recovery.
Tips on how to choose fresh fish
I remembered that during my younger days, my mom used to drag me along to the local wet market and taught me some tips on how to choose fresh fishes. Here are the tips:
- Always look for clear eyes- bright clear eyes indicate that these fish are freshly caught. Red eyes and white eyes means these fish had been caught more than a day and are turning stale soon.
- Red under the gills- Use your fingers to flip open the gill covers . Make sure that they are red gill filaments inside. Do not choose those with dirt or sand that covered the filaments.
- The skin bounces back when your finger press lightly on the fish body- fresh fish looks a bit bloat with shiny scales. Overnight fish body is usually flatten and the skin comes off easily when you touches it.
- No intestines or “shit” coming out from the fish tummy- I really detest when I see these type of fish with shit coming out from the "buttock" side! Worse of all, some of these fish had small fishes in its mouth! Seems that they were having their meal when they were caught.
There were a few “red eyes” fishes which indicated the fishes were not fresh and some of them had small tiny fish which looks like “ikan bilis” in the Red Fish mouths! I flipped a few of the fishes on both sides to check for the eyes, gently pressed the bodies before decided to pick out 2 large size Red Fishes for our Sweet and Sour dinner.
A Reminder
Remember to clean the fish's intestines, gills and filaments thoroughly before cooking them. Otherwise, you would be able to smell and taste the fishy odor which may put you off!
You can request the fishmonger to cut the fish
How to Remove Guts From a Fish
Red Fish with Sweet and Sour Sauce
Here is the step-by-step recipe with photos for better understanding of the instructions
Cook Time
Prepare in advance
Ingredients to prepare
- 2 pieces of medium red fish or 1 large red fish, intestines and gills removed and cleaned
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ big red onion, chopped
- 10 slices carrot
- 1 tbsp corn flour
- a pinch salt
- 2 slices fresh ginger
- 1 small tomato, optional (cut into cubes)
My own homemade sweet and sour sauce
How to prepare the Sweet and sour sauce:
This are the sauces that you need to prepare.
(mix all together in a small bowl )
3 tbs chili sauce
2 tbs tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oyster sauce
How to thicken sauce mixture
You need to thicken the Sweet and Sour sauce with corn flour mixture. Otherwise, the sauce will turn out watery and a little sour.
Here's how to prepare the corn flour mixture:
½ bowl water mix with 1 tsp corn flour
Remember to stir the mixture before you pour it into the Sweet and Sour Sauce.
How to fry Red Fish with Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Heat up the wok with 5-10 tbs cooking oil ( depending how many fish you are frying )
- Pat dry the fish(s) , sprinkle some salt on to the body of the fish of both sides
- Then, spread some corn flour on to the fish on both sides too.
- When the oil is hot , deep fry the fish until both sides are crispy and brown.
- Remove the fish(s) to a plate.
- Remove all the excess oil. Just leave 1tbs of oil in the wok.
- Fry garlic and onion until fragrant.
- Add in strips of carrots and stir fry for 1-2min.
- Turn the fire into the smallest, pour in the mixed sauces and ½ bowl of corn flour mixture.
- Let it simmer for 3-5min and add in the fried fish(s).
- Ensure that both sides of the fish(s) are well coated with the sweet and sour sauce.
- Turn off the heat. Transfer the Sweet and Sour Red Fish into a plate. Serve hot with white rice.
Have you clean a fish on your own?
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 2 person per fish | |
| Calories | 230 |
| Calories from Fat | 225 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Fat 25 g | 38% |
| Saturated fat 4 g | 20% |
| Carbohydrates 51 g | 17% |
| Sugar 22 g | |
| Protein 61 g | 122% |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
© 2012 peachy
