Wok's Happening! Jimmy's Kitchen Hong Kong Style Curried Fish

French Tart's Note:

I LOVE Jimmy's Kitchen in Hong Kong - not the modern restaurant that is operating now, but the old one from the 1960's that was situated in Hong Kong Central. (The original Jimmy's Kitchen first opened in 1928 in Hong Kong.) This is my take on a favourite dish I used to have there many moons ago - curried fish; a whole fish cooked in the pan and lightly curried. You can make this as hot as you want - I always had it HOT when I ate it there! Use any firm white fish fillets, I use panga in France, but snapper, tilapia, sea bream or even plaice would be good. You can cut the fish into smaller pieces for ease of pan frying if you wish - I just like the "whole" fish effect on my plate when I serve this! No need to serve this with anything else other than piles of steamed or boiled white rice and maybe some radish pickle, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce on the side. Adjust the heat to suit your guests or yourselves - and don't forget the ice cold San Miguel beer!

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 4.0 Curried ...

FISH

• 4 fish fillets (panga, sea bream, plaice, tilapia or snapper, about 100g each)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 50 g cornflour (cornstarch)
• peanut oil (for frying)

CURRY SAUCE

• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic , peeled and finely diced
• 2 tablespoons spring onions , finely chopped (green onions or scallions)
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry or 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 1 tablespoon naturally fermented soy sauce
• 1 -2 teaspoon sambal oelek , depending on heat required
• 1 tablespoon mild yellow chinese style curry powder
• 4 tablespoons coconut milk
• fresh coriander leaves (to garnish, cilantro)

Directions:

1. Take the fish fillets and sprinkle them with the salt on both sides, allow them to sit for about 15 minutes.
2. Whilst the fish is being salted, prepare the curry sauce. Heat the sesame oil in a wok or frying pan until hot and then fry the spring onions and garlic for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the remaining curry sauce ingredients and turn the heat down, allow the sauce to simmer for about 2 to 4 minutes - then check the heat and seasoning and adjust to taste. If the sauce is too thick, add more coconut milk or some water.
3. When you are ready to fry the fish, beat the egg in a large bowl, then dip the fish fillets in the cornflour and then into the beaten egg, making sure they are well coated on both sides.
4. Heat up the groundnut oil in a large wok or frying pan until it is hot, and then shallow fry the fish fillets, in batches, until they are golden brown; this takes about 4 to 8 minutes on each side, depending on the type of fish you use and the thickness of the fillets. Drain the cooked fish fillets on kitchen paper.
5. To serve, place the freshly fried fish fillets on to a large serving platter or individual plates and pour the hot curry sauce over the top. Garnish with fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves.
6. Serve with steamed or boiled white rice and radish pickle, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce.

Reviews

[The Flying Chef]

I made this about a week ago, but I could not review as I had to add so many other ingredients just to make it edible. Before anyone starts to think this a bad recipe, Pllleeaassse don't!!! Everything was tasting great, untill I added the curry powder and it altered the taste completely. Completely my own fault, I used my regualr curry powder and yuk, so I went to my asian store to buy some chinese style curry powder and I made it again last night, what a diference. I do not know whether chinese style is so different to regular or whether my brand was just aweful for this recipe, but just in case I would recommend trying to get a Chinese brand. Ok now I have cleared that up,to my review, this is a wonderful recipe with all the flavours coming together really well. I will say I do feel it needs more liquid for 4, I think the amount stated would be perfect for 2 but I added more coconut milk. We do like things saucy so this could just be our personal preference. I also added some king prawns on top they are on special at the moment so I thought why not. A nice light tastey recipe, that with the right curry powder is a real hit:) Thanks for sharing FT