An original recipe of mine. I make no claims of Asian, or even Californian, authenticity, although I borrow heavily from both.
Ingrediants
- 1/3 pounds of Catfish, Shark, or Red Snapper.
- 1 handfull of snow peas
- 1 handfull of bean sprouts
- 1 handfull of mushrooms
- 2 fresh hot peppers (not bell peppers or jalepenos)
- Half of a bok choy, or one baby bok choy.
- 1.5 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/2 cup rice
- a pinch of saffron. Not the expensive stuff, I paid about 20 sheckels for my pint container.
- Cajun seasoning powder
- 1 tbsp Schezuan sauce
Equipment
- Wok and wooden spoon
- range (gas is best)
- cutting board and knife
- rice cooker
- colander
- grater
Preparation
Aside from the rice, wash all your vegetables in the colander, then cut them into small pieces and let them drain in the colander. Make sure you keep some of your pieces of pepper separate.
Put the rice and saffron into your rice cooker. You may want to add a bit of salt too (no more than half a teaspoon). Add as much water as you did rice. Plug it in and turn it on.
Pour the olive oil into your wok. Grate your ginger directly into the wok. Add some of the pepper chunks you kept separate from step 1.
Wash your fish, then cut it carefully into small strips. If you are using Red Snapper, then just cut out and remove the thin line of bony flesh that exists in the middle of the fillet.
Turn on the range under the wok to medium heat. Heat the oil, pepper chunks, and ginger until the oil starts to boil.
Add the fish and the Cajun powder, then stir in the wok until all parts of the flesh have just turned opaque.
Add the vegetables and Schezuan sauce and stir until the fish is cooked, but the veggies are crisp, about 2 to three minutes. Ideally, the rice should be finished by the time your cooking is done.
Serves two, or one if you've skipped lunch. Make sure you don't cut the fish before you work on the vegetables. Even though the fish gets cooked first, you don't want to cut the vegetables while you still have raw fish traces on your knife and cutting board.