Sichuan Fish with Pickled Mustard Greens
This recipe is completely new territory for me. I’ve eaten a lot of Chinese food, but have never really ventured into anything pickled. This is a dish that you won’t find at most Chinese restaurants in the U.S. You may instead find Sichuan boiled fish in a hot chili oil broth. This recipe has a hot and sour broth with poached fish slices and pickled mustard greens. Dare I say that this dish is definitely for the more adventurous eater. It has it’s own “funk”, and I mean that in the best way possible. If you aren’t a fan of sour, this might not be for you. Think of this recipe as poached sauerkraut fish.When choosing fish, you want to use a firm fleshed white fish such as tilapia, catfish, or cod. I happened to have a couple of walleye fillets. Cut the fish fillets into 1/4”-1/2” thick slices. You don’t the pieces to be too big. The objective here is to quickly have the fish poached in the broth.You can serve this as a soup like in the picture. But if you want to serve this the authentic Chinese way, you would scoop out all of the greens with a slotted spoon onto a serving dish after it has simmered for 15 minutes. Then the fish would be quickly poached in the broth. The fish is then layer across the greens with a little bit of the broth on the bottom. Lastly, the Sichuan oil is drizzled over the fish. To eat this, serve with a small bowl of rice. The purpose of the Sichuan oil drizzled over the top is to add an extra umami flavor to the fish. This step is very necessary and should not be skipped.
Ingredients
Fish Marinade
- 1 lb white fish fillet sliced into 1/2” thick pieces
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbsp potato starch
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
Sichuan Fish with Pickled Mustard Greens
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 5 dried chili peppers
- 6 garlic cloves sliced
- 1 leek sliced
- 2 ginger slices
- 3 green onions chopped
- 2 tbsp spicy bean paste
- 3/4 lb pickled mustard greens sliced
- 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 4 cups chicken stock plus more
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
Sichuan Oil
- 2 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
- 1 tsp sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp spicy bean paste
Instructions
- Mix together the fish marinade ingredients.
- Add in the slices of fish, making sure they are evenly coated in the marinade. Marinate for 20 minutes.
- Heat up cooking oil inalag pot over medium high heat. Add in the dried chilies, leeks, garlic, ginger, and green onions. Cook down for 5 minutes.
- Add in the pickled mustard greens. Cook for 5 more minutes.
- Stir in the bean paste, making sure that everything is evenly coated in it. Deglaze with the cooking wine.
- Pour in the chicken stock, sugar, salt, and white pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Add in the fish. Simmer another minute or two, until the fish is cooked through.
- In a separate small sauté pan, heat up cooking oil over medium heat. Add in the peppercorns and bean paste.
- Cook until the peppercorns start to darken.
- Drizzle some of the oil over the fish.
