Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

I recently joined a cooking forum called Chef Talk, a Food Lover’s Link to Professional Chefs. Although they don’t have many discussions on Chinese or Asian cooking, I did get some great cooking tips from there. I then compare notes with my mom. After all, sometimes a home cook employs different cooking techniques because our wok cannot be as hot as a professional chef’s wok. The pots and pans we use are smaller, and we are not about to have the kitchen stove spattered with oil everytime we pan fry or sear something.

For fish, I had had problems with the fish breaking apart when I flip it, so this time, I dusted it with a bit of flour before I pan fried it.

Ingredients:

- 1 red snapper fish fillet
- salt
- corn flour (or any multi-purpose flour)
- 1 stalk green onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp dried silver anchovies (optional)

Method:

1. Heat up a frying pan with 2 tbsp of oil. Medium heat.

2. While the oil is heating up, lightly sprinkle some salt and corn flour on both sides of the red snapper fillet. Rub gently to spread evenly. If you are using the dried silver anchovies at the end, then use less salt here as the anchovies are salty.

3. Do not touch or move for about 5 minutes or you won’t get a light brown crust.

4. After five minutes or so, use a spatula to turn the fish and again, leave it alone to let the brown crust form.

5. When the fish is cooked (you can tell from the fish becoming opaque), transfer to a plate.

6. Stir fry the chopped green onions and the dried silver anchovies. The anchovies are salty and adds taste to the dish.

7. Place the green onions and anchovies on top of the plated fish.

Cooking Tips:

To test if the oil is hot enough, sprinkle a tiny bit of corn flour onto the oil. It should sizzle.

If done right, pan fried fish should be slightly crispy on the outside and flaky on the inside.