boiled fish

Sichuan Boiled Fish, or shui zhu yu, is all the rage these days. I think it might be the most popular dish in all of China right now. For my part, Shui zhu yu is one of the dishes that I still miss from China. In restaurants, Sichuan boiled fish is usually made with a whole fish––often snakehead, carp or catfish. We would usually order the catfish, because it’s tender and has relatively few bones. 

Using fish fillets is a good way as well, it doesn’t make this dish any less authentic, but it is certainly much easier.  I used tilapia fillets, but flounder and catfish fillets are also ideal. Just remember that the fish must be very fresh, and it’s always better if it was never frozen.   

this is how this dishe looks like, you can also make it at home. Now i will teach everyone how to cook this dishes.

Initially, I thought the cooking method for this dish would be similar to Sichuan Boiled Beef, or Shui Zhu Niu. But it’s actually much simpler. You boil everything, and then hot oil sizzles over the dish in a heatproof bowl. The real key is in the marinade. Once you’ve seasoned the fish correctly, you’re home free. Just know that this recipe is pretty heavy on the chili and Sichuan peppercorns (麻椒), so reduce accordingly if your taste buds are less tolerant. Also, to clarify, we’re using the green Sichuan which are different from the red Sichuan peppercorns, or hua jiao (花椒), in color, taste, and smell. They are much more numbing and a bit more floral/herbal than their red counterparts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuizhu