Sweet and spicy fish and tofu
Sweet and sour dishes are common. But sweet and spicy? Nothing irritatingly sweet, don’t worry. It all starts with the basic sweet and sour sauce but there’s less vinegar and more sugar.
Why not just fish? Why add tofu? Well, you can interpret the inclusion of tofu in three ways: as an extender, as a way to turn a dish into something closer to the no-meat category or simply to add variety in texture. Me? I just love tofu.
Serves 4.
Ingredients:
500 g. of fish fillet (cream dory or tilapia are recommended)
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of ground pepper
300-g. cake of firm tofu
2-3 c. of cooking oil for deep frying
1/2 c. of flour + 2 tbsps. of cornstarch
3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
half a thumb-sized piece of ginger, cut into matchsticks
1 onion, finely sliced
a bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into fine slivers
2 finger chilis, trimmed and cut into fine slivers
For the sauce:
1 c. of annatto water1
2 tbsps. of vinegar
6-8 tbsps. of sugar
1 tsp. of salt
1 bird’s eye chili, finely chopped
2 tbsps. of cornstarch dispersed in 1/2 c. of water2
To garnish:
4 onion leaves, cut diagonally into thin strips
a handful of cilantro
drizzle of sesame seed oil
Cut the fish fillets into bite-size pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
Cut the tofu into 2-inch squares.
Heat the cooking oil to smoking point and fry the tofu until golden golden (see tips for frying tofu). Drain well.
Dredge the fish in the flour and cornstarch mixture and fry in batches in the hot oil. Drain well.
Take 2 tbsps. of the hot oil and pour into another frying pan or wok. Saute the garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the onion, bell pepper and finger chilis. Cook, stirring, for another 30 seconds.
To make the sauce, boil together the annatto water, vinegar, sugar, chili and salt. Pour in the cornstarch solution. Stir until the mixture thickens and and is no longer cloudy.
Place the fried fish and tofu on a platter. Arrange the sauteed vegetables on top. Pour in the sweet and spicy sauce. Drizzle with sesame seed oil and garnish with onion leaves and cilantro.
Serve at once.
Notes:
1Soak 1 tbsp. of annatto seeds in 1 c. of hot water and allow to steep until the seeds render color. If annatto seeds are unavailable, use commercial annatto powder. If likewise unavailable, use red food coloring.
2The quality of cornstarch varies. Use more or less than 2 tbsps. Just remember to disperse the cornstarch in water first before adding to the hot mixture; otherwise, lumps will form.
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This is one of my favourite dishes, and fast becoming a favourite for my partner too. My version of the sauce is a lot closer to a classic sweet and sour sauce – tomato sauce (ketchup), a little bit of oyster sauce and chilli sauce. I omit the sugar and add some pineapples for a sweet-tart taste.
I use prepackaged deep fried tofu just to make the recipe a lot lazier too! I do wish I have the patience to deep fry fish though…
Reading through the recipe made my mind eat it already
The other day I had Tokwa’t Fried Tawilis. I can just have deep friend Tokwa in that chili soy sauce.
what’s a bird’s eye chili?
Labuyo.
You are such a good cook, I can tell, just by the way you make your recipes. Thank you. I keep coming back to your site to try new recipes. Keep it up!