Recipe: fried cod in sweet and sour sauce

Maureen Tan grew up with her parents’ Javanese cuisine. This cuisine can be divided into West, Central and East, each with its own characteristic dishes. In her cookbook Java, Maureen delves even deeper into the cuisine she loves so much, resulting in the most delicious recipes, including this fried cod in sweet and sour sauce.

Maureen: “My mother used to make this Chinese-Indonesian fish dish on holidays. The fried fish with the subtly sweet and sour kecap sauce and thinly sliced vegetables always looked beautiful. We think my mother learned this and all the other Chinese dishes in her recipe notebook from my Chinese grandmother, my father’s mother, or at the cooking school she attended before they left for the Netherlands. Ang Sio Hie is a much-loved dish in Java. Ang Sio refers to the cooking technique used to prepare fish or meat in kecap. Hie means fish.”

How to make fried cod in sweet and sour sauce (Ang Sio Hie)

• Make slightly diagonal cuts in the fish from the tail to the head with a sharp knife. This helps the fish cook more quickly. Beat the eggs with the pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt, and marinate the fish in the mixture.
• Place the flour on a flat plate and coat the fish in it. Then dip the fish through the egg mixture once more and coat it in flour again.
• Heat 1 litre of oil in a wok over medium heat. Make sure the fish fits in the pan. Fry the fish in the oil once it has reached temperature. Do not turn the fish too quickly; leave it on one side for 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to spoon some oil over the fish from time to time. Turn the fish over and fry for another 5 minutes in the hot oil. Carefully remove the fish from the wok with a slotted spoon and place it on some kitchen paper to drain.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and sauté the thinly sliced garlic and ginger root in it.
• Add 500 millilitres of water and the lombok and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the carrots and leek along with the ketjap manis, tomato ketchup, 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt, rice vinegar and palm sugar. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat.
• Put the cornflour in a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of water. Stir to combine and pour into the warm sauce. Stir well until the sauce has thickened. Pour the warm sauce over the fish just before serving.

Title: Java
Author: Maureen Tan
Price: €35,-
Publisher: Carrera Culinair

Read also:

• Oops! Almost no fish shop provides the right information about fish
• An ode to the fish stick
• Do you know how much plastic you ingest when you eat fish?