Swordfish belly fillets are thinly sliced, seasoned, coated with batter, deep fried then tossed with a syrupy sauce made with fresh lemon juice, sugar, chili flakes, grated ginger, turmeric and kaffir lime leaves.
Cook’s notes
How to make lunch for three people with only 300 grams of fish fillets? Slice them, batter them, deep fry them then serve them with a sticky, syrupy and citrusy sweet sour sauce.
In an old newsletter, I mentioned Stephen Yan (no, not Martin Yan) and his cooking show called Wok with Yan that I enjoyed decades ago.
One of the best lessons from the show is how to stretch a small amount of meat to feed more people than usual. I applied the technique with fish. I had thawed 300 grams of swordfish belly fillets, there were three of us for lunch and I had to make sure that there would be more than enough for everyone.
Swordfish belly fillets are used here but feel free to substitute any firm and fleshy fish.
Chinese-style fish fillet with lemon sauce
Ingredients
- 300 grams fish fillets (about 10.5 oz) cut into ¼-inch slices
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning store bought
Lemon sauce
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon grated ginger
- 2 pinches salt
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 pair kaffir lime leaves thinly sliced (ribs discarded)
To fry the fish
- cooking oil for deep frying
- 1 egg white
- ¼ cup cornstarch
To serve
- sliced scallions
- mint leaves torn into small pieces
- lemon slices
Instructions
Season the fish
- Press the fish slices between stacks of kitchen paper to remove excess water.
- Place the fish in a bowl, add the lemon pepper seasoning and toss well.
Cook the lemon sauce
- In a small sauce pan, melt the sugar with the lemon juice and a quarter cup of water.
- Add the lemon zest, ginger, salt, turmeric, chili flakes and kaffir lime leaves.
- Boil over medium heat for about five minutes until reduced by half.
- Taste, add more lemon juice or salt, or both, then set aside to cool.
Fry the fish
- In a wok or frying pan, heat enough cooking to reach a depth of at least three inches.
- Pour the egg white over the seasoned fish, add the cornstarch, toss until a light batter forms and coats each slice of fish.
- Drop the battered fish fillets one by one into the hot oil.
- Cook until a crisp crust forms on the surface of the fish slices (see notes).
- Scoop out with a kitchen spider, tap gently over the pan to allow excess oil to drip off and transfer the fish to a shallow bowl or deep plate.
Assemble the dish
- Drizzle the lemon sauce over the dish.
- Sprinkle in the scallions and mint leaves.
- Arrange lemon slices on the side.
- Serve with rice.
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