Boiled Fish Slices in Fiery Chiles and Sichuan Pepper Sauce 水煮魚

Another dish inspired over dinner with Yaqian the other night (she's a really good cook), I tried to find good/doable recipes for this dish but only found a 'Boiled Beef Slices in a Fiery Sauce' and 'Fish with Chiles and Sichuan Pepper' in my book of 'Land of Plenty' from Fuchsia Dunlop and decided to combine them to make this 'Boiled Fish Slices in Fiery Chiles and Sichuan Pepper Sauce'. It didn't turn out to be as spicy as I wanted it so for the next version, a few more chiles will be added ;)

Ingredients

4-500g white-fleshed fish fillets

Marinade

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, unpeeled

1 spring onion

1/2 teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine

4 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons cold water

Base flavouring

6 dried Sichuan chili

a 1 inch piece fresh ginger

3 cloves of garlic

5 spring onions

3 tablespoons peanut or corn oil

1 tablespoon Sichuanese chili bean paste

1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns

Sauce

8-10 dried chiles

1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

1/3 cup peanut or corn oil

2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns

3 tablespoons chili bean paste

3 cups stock

2 teaspoons dark soy sauce

4 tablespoons potato flour mixed with 4 tablespoons cold water or 6 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 6 tablespoons cold water

Spicy oil optional/(will try next time)
3/4 cup peanut or corn oil
1.5 tablespoons chili bean paste
30-60g dried red chiles
2 teaspoons whole Szechuan peppercorn (Heat the oil until it begins to smoke and add in the spices until all are crisp and fragrant without burning them. To be poured over the fish)

Steps

1. Crush the ginger and spring onion for the marinade and cut the spring onion into 3/4 cm sections. Slice the fish at a shallow angle into 1/4 to 1/2 inch and place in a bowl with the rest of the marinade (except the cornstarch solution) while preparing other ingredients.
2. For the base flavoring, peel the ginger and garlic and crush the spring onions with a cleaver blade. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil over a high flame and turn down the heat when it is beginning to smoke and add the chili bean paste and stir fry until fragrant. Add in the ginger, garlic, spring onions, dried chili and Sichuan peppercorns and continue to stir fry until it all smells delicious. Transfer to a deep serving bowl/tray and lined it with lettuce leaves and beansprouts.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. For the sauce, clean the wok and heat 3 tablespoons of oil in the wok until hot and add the dried chiles and Sichuan pepper corns and stir fry until they are fragrant and beginning to brown. Remove the spices out into a bowl leaving the oil in the wok.
   Chop the spices when they have cooled down to be sprinkled over the dish later.
   
   
   
4. With the oil still in the wok, add in the chili bean paste and stir fry until the oil is red and fragrant about 20-30 seconds. Add in the stock, dark soy sauce and season with salt to taste and bring to a boil.
5. Discard the ginger and spring onion from the fish and add in the cornstarch mixture stirring it well to coat the fish slices.
   
   
   
6. When the sauce is boiling, drop in the fish slices and wait for the sauce to return to a boil and use a pair of chopsticks to gently separate the slices. Simmer for a minute or so until the fish is just cook and pour it over the deep serving bowl lined with vegetables.
   
   
   
7. Heat another 3-4 tablespoons of oil in the wok until smoking. Sprinkle the chopped spices over the fish dish and pour over the smoking oil and serve while it's still fizzing away :)