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    Home » Recipes » Pantry

    Twice Cooked Fish

    Last Modified: September 21, 2018 by Elaine| 18 Comments

    6.6K shares
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    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    Crisp pan-fried fish with a popular Szechuan twice flavoring method.

    I have received this recipe request previously and I am so excited and happy to know that someone in my readers have tested this dish. It is not famous even outside Sichuan area. But it is a brilliant dish.
    The method twice cooking comes from a classic Szechuan style double cooked or twice cooked pork belly “回锅肉”. In that dish, the pork belly is firstly cooked in water with some common ingredients and then re-cooked with Sichuan peppercorn, doubanjiang and other seasonings. Well cooked pork belly slices can absorb the taste from seasonings and create yummy taste with the help of the fat meat.

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    Fish has different attributes from pork. It can be cooked within a very short time and may break easily. So the first time cooking should be different too. There are two ways of treating the fish before stir-frying. One is deep-frying and the other is shallow frying. Deep-frying gives the fish pieces a very thick shell, which will further take the responsibility of taking the flavors in and keep the fish meat as tender as possible. This method is more popular in restaurants. However, shallow frying creates only a thin layer of skins, which allows the taste go inside. This one is more home cooking friendly. So I introduce shallow frying process this time.

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    Cook’s Note

    Coating each piece of fish meat with starch might be quite time consuming and evening coating need higher skills. You can transfer the fish meat in a plastic bag and then slightly shake with starch. When well coated, let the fish pieces stand for 5- 10 minutes so the starch can absorb the water and become sticky, otherwise it escapes during any movement in the shallow frying process.

    Ingredients

    • 1 fish fillet, snakehead or other type you prefer (around 600g)
    • 1 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
    • 1 tbsp. soy sauce
    • pinch of salt
    • ¼ tsp. sugar
    • 5-6 ginger shreds
    • cornstarch for coating

    Stir-fry

    • 1 tbsp. cooking oil
    • 1 tbsp. doubanjiang
    • 1 tbsp. fermented black beans, dou-chi
    • 1 thumb ginger, sliced
    • 2 gloves garlic, sliced
    • 2 garlic sprouts, cut into small sections
    • 3-4 long peppers, shredded
    • 4-5 scallions
    • 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
    • pinch of salt

    Steps

    Cut the fish into pieces around 2cm thick. Add cooking wine, ginger shreds, soy sauce, salt and sugar and massage for 1 minutes. Set aside and marinade for 10 minutes.

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    Add ¼ cup of cornstarch in a bag and place the fish fillet in. Slightly shake until every piece of fish is well coated with the cornstarch. Then stand for 5-10 minutes.

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    Prepare a shallow pan and add ¼ cup of oil and shallow fry the fish pieces until hardened and golden brown on surface. Transfer out.

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    Leave around 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan, slow down the fire and fry doubanjiang for 1 minutes until the red turns red. Add garlic, ginger and dou-chi and fry until aromatic.

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    Place chili peppers, scallion sections and garlic sprouts in. Fry until almost soft and return the fish, add light soy sauce and salt. Mix well. Serve immediately.

    twice cooked fish steps|chinasichuanfood.com

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

    Twice cooked fish

    Elaine
    Szechuan style twice cooked fish
    5 from 5 votes
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 15 mins
    Cook Time 10 mins
    Total Time 25 mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Sichuan
    Servings 2
    Calories 418 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 fish fillet ,snakehead or other type you prefer (around 600 grams)
    • 1 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
    • 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
    • pinch of salt
    • ¼ tsp. sugar
    • 5-6 ginger sheds
    • cornstarch for coating

    Stir-fry

    • 1 tbsp. cooking oil
    • 1 tbsp. doubanjiang
    • 1 tbsp. fermented black beans ,dou-chi
    • 1 thumb ginger ,sliced
    • 2 gloves garlic ,sliced
    • 2 garlic sprouts ,cut into small sections
    • 3-4 long red peppers ,shredded
    • 4-5 scallions
    • 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
    • pinch of salt

    Instructions
     

    • Cut the fish into pieces around 2cm thick. Add cooking wine, ginger shreds, soy sauce, salt and sugar and massage for 1 minutes. Set aside and marinade for 10 minutes.
    • Add ¼ cup of cornstarch in a bag and place the fish fillet in. Slightly shake until every piece of fish is well coated with the cornstarch. Then stand for 5-10 minutes.
    • Prepare a shallow pan and add ¼ cup of oil and shallow fry the fish pieces until hardened and golden brown on surface. Transfer out.
    • Leave around 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan, slow down the fire and fry doubanjiang for 1 minutes until the red turns red. Add garlic, ginger and dou-chi and fry until aromatic.
    • Place chili peppers, scallion sections and garlic sprouts in. Fry until almost soft and return the fish, add light soy sauce and salt. Mix well. Serve immediately.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 418kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 62gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 150mgSodium: 989mgPotassium: 1037mgSugar: 2gVitamin A: 310IUVitamin C: 16.6mgCalcium: 47mgIron: 2.4mg
    Keyword fish, twice cooked
    Tried this recipe?Mention @ChinaSichuanFood

    twice cooked fish|chinasichuanfood.com

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Richard

      January 03, 2018 at 11:18 am

      This is great! My favorite recipes are those which are lesser known, and not often posted in English -- since I can't read Chinese, it's wonderful to see you post a more regional recipe. Thank you for all of your hard work!

      Reply
    2. Ken

      January 13, 2018 at 3:54 pm

      5 stars
      Great recipe. We make it often! what is snack headfish? This is great with bluefish or even mackerel. But with loster it is divine!

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 16, 2018 at 10:06 am

        Hi Ken,
        Thanks for your feedback. That's a typo. It should be snakehead, a very popular fresh water fish.

        Reply
    3. David Spilkia

      January 13, 2018 at 10:42 pm

      A few questions. You don't list the garlic sprouts in the recipe. How much do you use and how do you prepare them?
      The amount of dou-chi in the photo where you are doing the cooking looks like a lot more than 1 Tbsp.
      I don't see any green chili peppers in the photos. Did you leave them out?
      thanks

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 16, 2018 at 10:10 am

        Usually 2-3 garlic sprouts are enough. It is just side ingredients. I simply cut it into small sections.
        For the peppers, I use red pepper mainly as a color supplement, so green ones must be skipped. Thanks for the correctness.

        Reply
    4. chris 06

      January 14, 2018 at 8:12 am

      Je suis de l'avis de Richard. C'est un plaisir de découvrir des recettes régionales et surtout de famille.
      Tu t'investit beaucoup, et tes photos sont toujours réussies. Bises Chris 06

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 16, 2018 at 10:12 am

        Thanks Chris,
        It is so pleasant to read such a nice comment. Happy cooking and I hope you can make more yummy Chinese dishes in your kitchen with me.

        Reply
    5. Herman

      January 16, 2018 at 4:17 am

      5 stars
      Dear freinds, Always I appreciate this lovely and magnificent help to improve my chance to enjoy my life through eat well. This is an amazing and so simple reciipe that I will enjoy how correspond: in small quantity many times a year. The gods belss you. Herman, from Leticia in the Colombian Amazon area.

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 16, 2018 at 9:58 am

        Thanks!

        Reply
    6. Chino

      July 21, 2018 at 12:42 pm

      Elaine how much grams is 1 whole snakehead fillet?

      Reply
      • Elaine

        July 22, 2018 at 7:44 am

        Wow, it actually depends on how large the fish is. But I use around 600g in this recipe. Nice catch! I will update this in the recipe.

        Reply
    7. Frank Mosher

      January 05, 2020 at 3:27 am

      5 stars
      Your recipes arte all exceptional!! Thank you from Canada.

      Reply
    8. Yiting

      May 10, 2020 at 11:26 am

      5 stars
      Thank you--another delicious recipe! The pictures of the process were extremely helpful

      Reply
      • Elaine

        May 10, 2020 at 8:48 pm

        Thanks Yiting! I am glad to find there are helpful.

        Reply
    9. Ramil Buhian

      June 18, 2020 at 1:23 am

      5 stars
      This is awesome..one of my favorite Chinese dish

      Reply
      • Elaine

        June 18, 2020 at 8:17 pm

        Ramil,
        There is only a small group of people knowing this dish. Glad to know you tested it.

        Reply
    10. Kailey

      June 26, 2020 at 11:37 am

      Hi, so excited to find an English recipe for this dish! Regarding the dou-chi, is this recipe calling for the dry black beans or the black bean sauce? I have the dry black beans at home and planned to make the sauce in preparation for this recipe. Also, what peppers would you recommend to keep the spice level at a minimum?

      Reply
      • Elaine

        June 28, 2020 at 7:57 am

        Kailey,
        Firstly this one is not very spicy. Should be acceptable for the most.
        You can use either dry black beans or black bean sauce.

        Reply

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