In Chinese, the Mandarin word for ‘fish’ (yu) is a homonym for ‘surplus’. Hence, fish symbolises abundance. Therefore, fish must be served during a family reunion dinner especially on the eve of Chinese New Year.
When serving a fish dish, the fish should be served whole with the head and tail intact as the head signifies a beginning while the tail represents completeness.
I’m going to share two easy fish recipes that are widely popular during Chinese New Year. First is Sweet & Sour fish, a dish easily accepted by the young and old. The second dish is a classic yet super simple Steamed Fish.
I use golden pomfret for these two dishes because we like everything gold for Chinese New Year but you can actually use any other fish of your preference.
Tips on frying fish:
To avoid fish sticking to the wok while frying, heat the wok first before pouring oil into it. Make sure the oil is hot enough before frying the fish. Fry the fish until the skin is crispy before flipping it otherwise you risk breaking the fish.
Sweet and Sour Fish
Equipment
- Wok
Ingredients
- 1 whole golden pomfret cleaned
- 10 cherry tomatoes washed whole
- 1 slice pineapple cut into cubes or thin slices
- 1 big onion sliced
- 1/5 red capsicum cut into cubes
- 1/5 green capsicum cut into cubes
- 1/5 yellow capsicum cut into cubes
- 1 inch ginger sliced
- 2 clove garlic chopped
- 8 tbsp tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp chili sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cornstarch (mixed with 1 tbsp water to make cornstarch slurry)
- 100 ml water
- 1 sprig spring onion for garnishing
Instructions
- Mix tomato and chili sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt and water in a bowl. Set aside.
- Rub fish with salt. Cut slits on each side of fish.
- Heat oil in a wok. To avoid fish sticking to the wok while frying, heat the wok first before pouring oil into it.
- Then, make sure the oil is hot enough before frying the fish.
- Fry the fish until the skin is crispy before flipping it otherwise you risk breaking the fish.
- Remove fish from wok. Keep aside some oil, leaving about 2 tablespoons of oil in the wok.
- Fry garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add onion.
- Add capsicum.
- Add tomatoes.
- Add pineapple. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
- Add sauce mixture and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.
- Add wolfberries and stir.
- Add cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce mixture.
- Pour sauce over fried fish. Serve immediately.
Steamed Golden Pomfret
Steamed Fish
Equipment
- Steamer
- Pan
Ingredients
- 1 whole fish
- 1 inch ginger skin scrapped off and julienne
- 2 stalk green onion
- parsley
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oil
Instructions
- Mix water, salt, sugar and light soy sauce. Set aside.
- Bring a steamer to a boil. Steam fish for 9 minutes. Do not rub fish with salt or seasoning prior to steaming.
- The fish is done when the meat is opaque and does not stick to the bones. Carefully pour away the liquid accumulated on the plate from steaming.
- Spread half of the julienne ginger, green part of the green onion (sliced) and parsley over fish.
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Sizzle the remaining julienne ginger.
- Once sizzled and fragrant, add the sauce mixture and let it simmer.
- Once simmering, add the white portion of the green onion and let it simmer for a little while more.
- Pour the sauce over the steamed fish. Serve hot.
Now that you have your abundance fishes ready, do try out these 2 Heavenly Chicken Recipes and 2 Prosperity Vege Recipes for Chinese New Year.
We can’t forget about our yee sang either when it comes to CNY—Roar in the Year of the Tiger with these Three Creative Yee Sang Recipes! And for dessert, let’s welcome the Year of the Tiger with these adorable Tiger Shaped Pineapple Tarts!
Motherhood wishes you and yours an auspicious Year of the Tiger blessed with an abundance of prosperity and good health! Gong Xi Fa Cai!
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