Chilli garlic Manchurian Style Fish

How much do you trust Wikipedia? Do you blindly take whatever is on Wikipedia to be truth and nothing but the truth?

I do learn a lot of stuff from Wikipedia but I do not use to it quote any facts. I always try to get confirmation from a couple of others sources.

In Middle School DD was explicitly told not to use Wikipedia as a the source for any of her research articles or projects. I try to follow the same rule on this blog. I do not deny that if you are in fact you are getting your information from the Wiki it is good to quote them than not.

I was listening to this program on NPR. It is informative to learn the process of how information is gathered/edited/kept out of Wikipedia. If you are interested the link to the article is here.

Moving on to the recipe,

When we were in college oh about couple of decades ago the only foreign cuisine available in most places back then in India was Chinese. This is were most of us got our first introduction to noodles, soups, stir fried chicken, fried rice etc., No one can forget the American Chopsuey which no American has ever heard of. Chinese food was of course very popular among most people going out to eat. This was also a time when most people did not go to restaurants for just simply eating out other than the college going crowd.

Little did we know that the Chinese food we were eating had nothing to do China the country, the cooks were mostly from Nepal/Tibet and Indian spices had greatly influenced the recipes. No wonder it was so popular. It is commonly known in the rest of the World as Indo Chinese food. You can imagine my shock when I first tasted Chinese food after I came to the US.

The recipe today is influenced from the Manchurian dishes that are very common in Indo Chinese cuisine. Usually the vegetable/chicken/fish is coated with corn starch, deep fried and then dropped into a sauce and eaten as an appetizer or side dish for fried rice.

Here is my take on fish manchurian,

Chili - Chilli garlic Manchurian Style Fish

Ingredients

1. 4-5 filets of firm white fish ( I used Mahi Mahi) washed and sliced into 2 inch pieces
2. 1/2 tbsp corn starch
3. 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
4. 1 1/2 cups of sliced onions (reduce as per taste)
5. 8 cloves of garlic minced
6. 1 tbsp grated ginger
7. 1 tsp chili paste (optional, I added for color)
8. 6 Thai green chilies chopped
9. 1 tsp pepper powder
10. 1/2 tsp red chili powder
11. 1 tsp soy sauce (optional, I did not add it)
12. 2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
13. 3 tbsp of lemon juice
14. salt to taste
15. 1 tbsp + 2 tsp of oil

Method

1. Add corn starch, turmeric powder, chili powder and a tiny bit of salt to the fish pieces, mix it well so all the fish pieces are all well coated.Set aside.
2. In a flat bottomed pan heat oil (1 tbsp) and when hot place the fish pieces, do not crowd or place pieces on top of each other. Cook on one side, flip and cook on the other side.Set aside. The fish should be fully cooked.
3. In a saute pan or wok heat the 2 tsp of oil and when hot add the green chilies and let it cook for 2 minutes, add the onions and saute till the onions start to turn brown.
4. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Now add the chili sauce, pepper, soy sauce if using, tomato ketchup and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
6. Add lemon juice, salt if required and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Also add tiny bits of the lemon juice if at any stage the spices start sticking to the bottom of the pan.
7. Add the fish pieces and gently toss so they are all well coated. Let heat through for another 2 minutes.
8. Let sit for 10 minutes or so before serving. Goes well with steamed rice.

Note:
1. The fish can be deep fried instead of shallow frying.
2. Also take care not to break the fish while shallow frying.