Dry-Braised Sea Bass
Sea bass has very few bones and a nice texture. It’s very common in the north. I used to mostly steam it, but today I tried dry-braising instead. It turned out delicious and goes great with rice.
Ingredients
Steps
Clean the sea bass thoroughly and drain off excess water.
Place a slice of ginger in the fish belly and sprinkle a little salt on both sides. Marinate for about 10 minutes. While marinating, mix the ingredients for the dry-braising sauce with about 50 g of water. I forgot to take a photo, so there’s no picture for this step.
Lightly score the fish on both sides. Don’t cut too deep or the fish may fall apart.
Prepare minced garlic, minced ginger, chopped fermented black beans, chopped shiitake mushrooms, and a bit of red bell pepper for color.
Add a generous amount of oil to the pan.
Before putting the fish in the pan, dust it with dry flour and shake off the excess. Make sure the pan is hot before adding the fish.
Pan-fry the fish until both sides are golden and about half-cooked, then remove from the pan.
Use the remaining oil in the pan to sauté the prepared minced aromatics and other chopped ingredients until fragrant.
Pour in the pre-mixed dry-braising sauce.
When one side of the fish is braised, flip it to cook the other side. Try not to flip it too many times to avoid breaking the fish apart.
Use a spatula to spoon the sauce in the pan over the side of the fish that is facing up. Flip and braise the other side until fully cooked.
Garnish with chopped scallions if you like. Other herbs such as cilantro can also be used according to your preference.