500gms Bhetki or any boneless white fish fillet, the one here I have done with Basa, cut into 1 inch cube
1 Table spoon Oil (any white oil) for cooking,
200ml Oil for deep frying
2-3 green chillies, deseeded and chopped in to fine strips
1 red Chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 Spring Onions, chopped
2 medium onion cut into large squares
4 to 5 cloves of Garlic, coarsely chopped
1 piece fresh and tender ginger, cut into thin strips or juliennes(looks like toothpick)
1 Large Green Bell Pepper deseeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Tablespoon light Soya Sauce
1 Teaspoon Oyster Sauce (Optional)
½ Teaspoon Sugar
A pinch of MSG, commonly known as aji no moto
Sesame Oil 1 Tbsp
Marinade:
2 Tablespoon Lime Juice
½ Teaspoon Salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 cloves Crushed Garlic
Method:
Squeeze out the excess water from the fishes.
Add salt, lime juice, garlic and black pepper, mix well and leave it for 30 mins.
Now add about ½ cup Corn Flour and coat each fish pieces well with this. If required add more flour.
Heat 200ml Oil. Deep fry the fish chunks till light golden color, don’t over-do it till brown. Keep aside.
Note: Please don’t make an egg and cornstarch batter and give it a thick coat. This light dusting with corn flour is perfectly fine and one of the secret of this dish. Also it’s important to maintain the heat in the Oil, it shouldn't make the fishes dark but at the same time should cook the fishes perfectly, fishes will not be cooked further in the gravy.
Pour Light Soya sauce, Oyster Sauce, Sugar(I added Palm Sauce, but normal sugar will also do) in the same bowl where the fish was marinated and now has the residual marinade along with corn flower. Mix it will to a nice liquid.
Now heat a frying pan on high heat, pour 1 Tbsp of oil and add the large cut Onions, toss it for 30 sec by moving the pan in forward direction, now add the Green Bell Peppers, toss it again, add a pinch of MSG, toss it for about a minute. Don’t overcook the Bell Pepper and Onions. They should be firm, crunchy in bite. In fact I keep the cut Bell Pepper in ice-water for about 2 hours before cooking to get the extra crunch in it. Keep aside the stir fried Onions and Bell Peppers.
In the same pan retain the residue oil from the previous frying. Heat it to high temp. Add the Ginger and Garlic, be careful not to burn them, add the chopped spring onions and toss. Add half of the chopped chillies and toss again. Now pour in the Sauce mix in the pan. Since it has Corn flour mixed with it, soon it will start thickening. Now reduce the heat and add the deep fried fish pieces and the stir fried Veggies, fold well with the thick gravy. Cook for about a minute on high heat to reduce the gravy further to become dry and just give a nice coat to everything. Now remove the pan from heat and add rest of the chopped chillies and pour over the Sesame oil. Plate it for serving.
Note: This dish is the adaptation by the Chinese settlers in Kolkata from traditional Chinese Stir Fry, so the Veggies added should remain crisp, crunch and retain its color, they should be cooked on very High Heat for less time. Don’t make the Bell Pepper and Onions over cooked and gooey. Sesame Oil should be poured once it is out of heat, so the flavor of the oil could be retained.
Since this one is the Dry version and mostly served as a side to Drinks, I kept the heat quotient minimum with the chillies, if you need more heat, add more and may retain the some of the seeds as well.
