FISH: You may have come across this dish in restaurants serving Beijing and Shanghai style of cuisine. It is easy to reproduce it at home.

SWEET & SOUR FISH 松子甜 酸 魚:

1 fresh whole fish, about 2-3 lbs in weight                 

1 each of onion and celery stalk, diced

½ medium carrot, diced                                              

3 tbsp. pine nuts                                                         

cornstarch for dusting

salt and pepper                                                           

cooking oil

1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 3 tbsp. cold water

sauce:

    4 tbsp. ketchup                                           

    ¾ cup dark vinegar

    2 bricks cane sugar                                     

    1 cup water                                     

Have fish monger clean and de-scale fish. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry with paper towers. Score both side of fish in a diamond-shaped pattern. Refrigerate until needed.

Toast pine nuts until golden in a dry frying pan place over low-medium heat. Remove pine-nut from pan and increase heat to high. Add 1 tbsp. oil and heat until hot. Cook onion, carrots and celery for 3-4 minutes until softened. Remove and reserve.

Add sauce ingredients, except sugar, to pan and cook over medium-high heat until boiling. Reduce heat, break up cane sugar into smaller pieces and add into sauce. Cook over low heat, stirring, to dissolve sugar. Taste and adjust sweet/sourness according to taste. Add onion mixture and pine nuts and bring sauce back to a gentle boil. Add in just enough cornstarch solution to thicken sauce slightly. Keep hot.

In a large wok or non-stick saucepan, heat enough oil for deep frying over high heat until very hot. Rub fish all over with salt and pepper to taste and dredge with corn starch, shaking off excess. Deep fry fish in hot oil for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Test for doneness and do not overcook fish. Drain on rack or on paper towers. Transfer fish to serving platter and pour hot sauce over fish to serve immediately.