West lake fish

Yield: 2 Servings

Ingredients:

1 Fresh-water bass *
1 tb Dry sherry or rice wine
4 Ginger slices Lots of water boiling -in a kettle
4 tb Sugar
6 tb Chekiang vinegar **
1 tb Soy sauce
1/4 oz Knob ginger Juice of 1 garlic mashed
2 tb Cornstarch

Instructions:

(sweet-sour Hangchow dish adapted from Joyce Chen's restaurant) * other fresh-water fish may be substituted; a small striper may be substituted in a pinch; look for 15-18" (1 1/2 to 2 lb) fish preferably one you caught yourself. You could also probably use 2 or 3 bluegills ** substitute cider vinegar white wine vinegar or possibly balsamic Clean gut scale and rinse fish. Cut through skin three diagonal cuts on each side like so /// . Put fish sherry and ginger slices into kettle of boiling water. Water should cover the fish. Cover tightly and immediately turn off heat. Let stand 15 min. Meanwhile mix all the rest of the ingredients and cook over medium-high heat until sauce thickens. Remove garlic if used. Keep very hot. Remove fish carefully from water. Drain and gently pat dry. Pour boiling sauce over and serve immediately. Variation: cut sugar to 1 T; cut vinegar to 2 T. Increase soy sauce to 3 T; add 2 T dry sherry to sauce ingredients; add 2 T chicken broth to sauce ingredients. This obviously is no longer West Lake fish but a more standard soy sauce fish. From: Michael Loo