braised mackerel
ingredients
- spanish mackerel filets, skin on
- garlic, chopped
- ginger, chopped
- red chili, sliced
- scallions, chopped
- sugar 2 tbsp
- sichuan peppercorns
- star anise, 1 star
- shaoxing cooking wine
- light and dark soy sauce (just one will be okay if you don't have both)
- rice vinegar
directions
if your mackerel still has bones, you can choose to debone it first or you can wait until the end and remove the spine after cooking. I like to do it first just to get it out of the way and for personal comfort when cooking it, but the fish will be very tender by the end and it shouldn't be too hard to remove then.
slice your mackerel into large pieces, 2-3 per filet. over medium high heat, cook them with the skin side up first for 5-6 minutes on either side. (if you do skin side down first, it'll curl up in a way that makes cooking uneven. don't move the fish while it's cooking except to flip it.)
add garlic, ginger, scallions, and a sliced chili. after 30 seconds, add star anise and Sichuan peppercorns. add shaoxing wine. add vinegar, light soy sauce, and a little dark soy sauce. add enough water to cover the fish and add salt and 2 tbsp of sugar. the fish will now braise for a while, allow the liquid to cook off and reduce.
about this recipe
originally, I found this recipe on xiachufang by author 食肆巷子. because I'd like a more compact verion that's easier for me to reference, and because most of my friends can't read chinese, I rewrote the recipe to suit my needs. however, credit for the original recipe goes to her. that being said, this is a pretty common formula you can follow with other kinds of fish, or other proteins more broadly.