Chinese Style Fish with Spicy Bean Sauce

 We hit up the 20/20 cricket game on Friday night. Matt's been harking on at me about going popping my cricket game cherry this summer. A terrible New Zealander, I'd never been to see a game in my life. And apparently 20/20 is the way to go - it's a faster game, with a great atmosphere.

I have to say, I didn't watch too much of the game. But I had a great time. And while I say I didn't watch much, by the end of the game, I could tell you what the score was, and what that meant. I learned about 6's and 4's. I knew how many balls in an over, and how many overs in the game (I'll give you a clue, it's 20 - which seems rather obvious when you realise it was a 20/20 game. Needless to say, this had to be pointed out to me).

Wellington being Wellington, it was a rather social game, seeing a number of different groups of friends on the way there, some even being in our aisle. Cricket is so happening right now!

On the way out, I bumped into my friends Anita and Abbey, who are planning a trip over to the Wairarapa in two weeks time to celebrate 4 of our friends turning old (which is clearly at the age of 25). I bantered on about the massive cake I'm planning on making them for the occasion, which requires1.5kg of cream cheese. That's right, 1.5kg! Heart attack in cake form. It's gonna be awesome!

Saturday night rolls around, and we were supposed to head to a friend's birthday party/another friend's leaving party. Unfortunately, our friends Lucy and Matt who are moving down from Hamilton very shortly, were on their way down to stay at ours in aide of flat-hunting. So I cooked us up a tasty treat for a casual Saturday night in.

This recipe comes from my favourite new book, Balance and Harmony by Neil Perry, which has already been featured in my last post here. Neil seems to be a fan of fermented bean paste, which I've never heard of. It sounds a bit weird. Adding 'fermented' to the title of something doesn't really get my tastebuds going. But in the interests of trying something new, I thought I'd trust the man.

I'm glad I did. The bean paste has an amazing sweet, tangy, soyish, musky flavour which is a far cry from the unappetising title. If you haven't tried this stuff, please do. It adds an amazing depth of flavour, which is unlike anything I've tried before.

The original recipe called for deep-frying the fish first, which adds another layer of texture. But I've steamed it here just to healthify it up a little. If you don't have a steamer, you could pan fry or bake the fish in a foil package. I served this simply with my perfect steamed rice and bok choy.

Chinese Fish with Spicy Bean Sauce (Serves 4)

1 x 500-600g whole fish. Fillets would also be fine. We used moki which Matt caught that morning. Any fish will do, but something with a deeper flavour would be best.
1T shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine. Dry sherry or gin is a good substitute)
2T oil
4 spring onions, sliced
1 2cm piece of ginger, finely grated
3 cloves of garlic, finely grated (or crushed)
1T spicy bean paste - pick this up from your local Asian supermarket
Another 1T shaoxing
185ml fish or chicken stock
1T sugar
1T sesame oil

Place the fish in a large, flat tray. If using whole fish, make a couple of deep slits in the thickest part of the fish. Pour the shaoxing over the top and sprinkle with salt. Let it marinate for 10 minutes or so while you make the sauce. Put a pot of water on the boil and a steamer on top. If you don't have a steamer, you could easily bake the fish, or pan fry instead.

Put the oil in a medium sized pot and heat until just smoking. Stir fry the spring onions, ginger, garlic and hot bean paste until fragrant - 1 or so minutes. Add the 1T shaoxing, and stir it in. Add the sugar, sesame oil, and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer until the sauce thickens. Taste for seasoning and add salt as necessary.

When the sauce is done, take it off thePublish Post heat and steam your fish until done - a whole fish should take around 10 minutes. The fillets will take less time.

Put the fish onto a serving platter (either whole, or the flesh only). Pour the sauce over the fish, and serve immediately.