Sweet and Sour Fish is a good option of cooking for the family besides just deep frying it and sprinkling it with sauteed garlic, ginger, chili and soy sauce. The sweet, sour and salty tastes can whet one's appetite and add more rice during a meal. I usually cook this dish with the garoupa or the grouper. But the dish is equally delicious with the red snapper. I usually use the whole fish. However, this dish can be cooked using fish fillet. As for the accompanying toppings, I usually use the capsicum (red, yellow and green), onion, tomato and cucumber.
Ingredients:
- 1 whole grouper (about 1.5 feet long)
- 1/3 of 1 green capsicum
- 1/3 of 1 yellow capsicum
- 1/3 of 1 red capsicum
- 1 small onion
- 1 small tomato
- 3-inch cucumber
- Cooking oil for deep frying
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 5 tbsp tomato sauce (May be varied)
- 5 tbsp chili sauce (May be varied)
- 5 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
Method:
- Wash fish and make 2 diagonal slashes on the body on both sides.
- Dry the fish with kitchen towel and set aside.
- Wash and cut the three colours of capsicum into 1 cm x 1 cm squares.
- Peel, wash and cut the onion into 1 cm x 1 cm squares.
- Wash and cut the tomato into 1 cm x 1 cm squares.
- Peel, de-seed, wash and cut the cucumber into 1 cm x 1 cm squares.
- Heat up cooking oil in a kuali.
- When the oil is hot, gently place the fish in it.
- Deep fry the fish till it is brown on both sides. Remove and set aside.
- Remove most of the oil from the kuali leaving about 2 tbsp behind.
- Add the chopped garlic to the oil. Saute till they are fragrant.
- Add the tomato sauce, chili sauce and water to the kuali to make the sauce.
- Add sugar and salt and let them dissolve.
- Once the sauce is boiling, add the capsicum, onion, tomato and cucumber. (If the sauce is too thick, you may add more water.)
- Let the sauce boil once again and then turn off the fire. (If you wish to have softer onions, then add them first. Let the sauce boil for a while before adding the others.)
- Dish out and serve.