Name: Crispy Hot Whitebait
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 2.5 ml/½ tsp caster/superfine sugar; 2.5 ml/½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns; 90 g/3½ oz plain/all-purpose flour; 15 ml/1 tbsp fresh root ginger, grated and ground to a paste; vegetable oil, for deep-frying; 600 g/1 lb 5 oz whitebait; 2.5 ml/½ tsp salt; finely chopped spring onions/ scallions, to garnish; 5 ml/1 tsp sesame oil; 15 ml/1 tbsp potato starch; 5 ml/1 tsp coarsely ground dried chillies

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

China

By Terry Tan

Published 2020

About

Sichuan provincial towns and villages are criss-crossed with rivers, and the people who live there can often be seen with small nets catching whatever happens to be swimming by. Not surprisingly, then, freshwater fish of all kinds, usually small fish and shrimps, are commonly deep-fried and sold as snacks. Here, the fried fish are given a spicy seasoning using Sichuan peppercorns, chillies and ginger.