Fried fish with vegetables Szechuan style

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g fish, firm-fleshed of your choice
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion(s), red
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 handful of mu-err mushrooms
• Oil (peanut oil)
• Oil (sesame oil from roasted sesame seeds)
• 2 tbsp ginger, finely diced
• 2 tbsp garlic, finely diced
• 1 tsp pepper (Szechuan pepper), freshly ground
• 3 tbsp rice wine (Shao Xing)
• 3 tbsp soy sauce, dark
• 3 tbsp soy sauce, light
• 1 tsp chili sauce, hot
• 200 ml chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 200 ml water
• 1 tsp sauce, sweet
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp starch flour (tapioca starch) for binding
• 1 cup flour (tempura batter mix)
• 1 cup water
• Oil for frying (peanut oil)

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 45 minutes

For the sauce: Heat sesame and peanut oil in a 50:50 ratio in a pot. Sauté the ginger and garlic, add the Szechuan peppercorns, and stir briefly. Deglaze with rice wine and add the light and dark soy sauces, as well as the chili sauce. Add the chicken stock, sweet sauce, and sugar, and pour in water (you may need more water depending on your taste). Strain the sauce through a sieve and return it to the pot. Mix the tapioca starch with a little water, bring the sauce back to a boil, and thicken with the starch. The sauce is very easy to prepare and can also be refrigerated. Soak the mu err mushrooms. Cut the carrots, onions, and bell peppers into the desired shape and toss them in a wok in a mixture of peanut and sesame oil, cooking the carrots first, as they take the longest to cook, followed by the onions and bell peppers. The vegetables should be cooked but still firm to the bite. Stir in the mushrooms briefly. Add 1-2 small ladles of sauce, but don’t overwhelm the vegetables. Ladle the remaining sauce into small bowls and serve separately. To deep-fry the fish, heat the peanut oil in a pan. Cut the fish into 2 x 2 cm cubes. Mix the tempura batter mix with the water and dip the fish cubes in the batter. Deep-fry in the peanut oil, drain on a kitchen towel, and serve immediately with the vegetables, sauce, and rice as a side dish.