Chilli Fish Indo-Asian Restaurant Style | Basa Stir Fry Recipe
Author: Priyanka
Recipe type: Starter
Cuisine: Chinese
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 Servings
Ingredients
For Fish:
Basa fish filet – 500 gms (you can use any boneless & skinless fish fillet)
Garlic – 4 cloves, miced
Salt – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
White vinegar – 1 tsp
All-purpose flour/maida – 2 tbsp
Cornflour/cornstarch – 4 tbsp
Egg – 1, separated, we’ll use only the egg white
For Sauce:
Soy sauce – 2 tsp
Tomato ketchup – 2 tsp
Red chilli sauce – 4 tbsp
White vinegar – 1 tsp
Other Ingredients:
Garlic – 6 cloves, minced
Green chilli – 4, sliced
Onion – 2, medium, cut into large chunks and then each layer separated to get the onion petals
Red/yellow/green bell pepper/capsicum – 1, large, cut into 1-inch long chunks (you may use mix of 2 types)
Spring/green onions – 6 stalks, only green parts finely chopped
Instructions
Wash, pat dry and cut the fish filet into bite-sized pieces. Take them in a bowl and add salt, red chilli powder, white vinegar and minced garlic. Give a good mix to evenly coat each fish cube. Set it aside for 30 minutes.
In a bowl, whisk together soy sauce, tomato ketchup, red chilli sauce and white vinegar to make the stir-fry sauce for our chilli fish. Set it aside.
After the fish cubes have been marinated for 30 minutes, add all-purpose flour/maida, corn flour/cornstarch and egg white to the marinated fish. Mix everything thoroughly so that each fish cube is uniformly coated with the batter.
Heat enough oil in a wok/kadai for deep frying. Fry the fish cubes on medium high heat until they turn golden on both sides. Fish cooks really fast, so do keep an eye constantly. This should not take more than 2 minutes per side. Take them out and set aside.
Once all the fish cubes are fried, retain just 2 tablespoons of oil in the wok and take out the excess. Add minced garlic, sliced green chillies and onion petals. Stir-fry on high for 2 minutes or until the onion turns slightly translucent.
Then add the capsicum cubes and continue stir-frying on high for 5 minutes. If you like the bell peppers crunchy then don’t fry them for more than 5 minutes; if you like them softer, continue to sauté them for 3 to 4 minutes more.
Next add the fried fish cubes and give a quick stir. Now drizzle the prepared stir-fry sauce and continue stirring on medium high heat until each fish cube and the veggies are evenly coated with the sauce on all sides.
Finally sprinkle the greens of chopped spring onion. You may not need to add extra salt as all the sauces used here are quite salty; but feel free to taste and adjust the salt at this stage if needed.
Your restaurant style Indo-Asian chilli fish is ready to devour! Serve it with rice and lemon wedges! Enjoy!
Notes
* I have kept my chilli fish on the drier side; you may make a chilli fish gravy recipe by adding a cup of water and once the water starts to boil, add cornflour slurry which is nothing but a tablespoon of cornflour evenly mixed with a few tablespoons of water. The cornflour slurry will thicken the gravy as well as add the restaurant-like gloss to your homemade chilli fish.
** This chilli fish recipe of mine was first published in my Indian food blog www.everydayindianrecipes.com a few years back. But due to technical issues, we had to close down that blog and hence I am republishing it here (with additional tips) as it was well-loved by my readers!
Recipe by Flavor Quotient at https://www.flavorquotient.com/2023/05/chilli-fish-indo-chinese-restaurant-style/