Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish
A classic Jiangsu dish, this mandarin fish is deep-fried to resemble a squirrel and topped with a sweet and sour sauce. Crispy outside, tender inside, and bursting with flavor.
Ingredients
13 items- Mandarin fish (or bass) 1 (about 600g)
- Shrimp 50g
- Winter bamboo shoots 25g
- Cornstarch 100g
- Tomato ketchup 3 tablespoons
- White vinegar 2 tablespoons
- Sugar 3 tablespoons
- Cooking wine 1 tablespoon
- Salt to taste
- Light soy sauce 1 teaspoon
- Ginger, garlic, scallion some
- Cooking oil as needed
- Pine nuts a few
Nutrition
Steps （5 steps）
Clean the fish: remove scales, gills, and internal organs. Rinse well. Cut off the head and keep the body. Starting from the back, slice the flesh off the backbone but keep the tail attached to get two connected fillets. Score the flesh in a crosshatch pattern at 0.5 cm intervals, cutting to but not through the skin. Marinate the fish with cooking wine, salt, and ginger-scallion mixture for 15 minutes.
Drain the fish and coat evenly with cornstarch, making sure to get into every cut. Shake off excess. Also coat the head with starch.
Heat oil in a deep pan to 180°C (350°F). Hold the tail and lower the fish flesh-side down into the oil. Fry for about 1 minute until the cuts open up. Then submerge the whole fish and fry until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes. Also fry the head. Drain and arrange on a plate in a squirrel shape.
In another pan, heat a little oil and add tomato ketchup, white vinegar, sugar, salt, and a little water. Stir on low heat until sugar dissolves. Add diced shrimp and bamboo shoots. Bring to a boil and thicken with cornstarch slurry. Drizzle with a little hot oil for shine.
Pour the hot sauce over the fried fish. Garnish with pine nuts and chopped scallions. Serve immediately—the sizzling sound resembles a squirrel's call.
Tips
1. Keep the tail attached when deboning the fish. 2. The crisscross cuts should be deep enough to open during frying but not through the skin. 3. Fry first face-down to set the shape, then whole. 4. Adjust the sweet-sour ratio to taste.
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