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Fried Fish with Lime Orange Sauce

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
It's sweet sour fish with citrusy tones. Make the sauce with lime and orange juices and zests to really make your fried fish with lime orange sauce pop.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Servings 4 people
Fried Fish with Lime Orange Sauce

Ingredients
  

Sauce

  • ½ cup fresh lemon or lime juice
  • 1 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
  • 2 bird’s eye chilies finely chopped (or use chili flakes)
  • ¾ to 1 cup sugar depending on how sweet or tart the orange juice is
  • 1 pinch salt
  • ¼ teaspoon lime zest plus more to garnish
  • ¼ teaspoon orange zest plus more to garnish
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon tapioca starch or corn starch

Fish

  • 500 grams fish fillets sliced thinly into bite-size pieces
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped herbs (optional but recommended)
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 ½ cups tapioca starch or corn starch (you may need more)
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour (you may need more)
  • 8 ice cubes
  • 3 cups cooking oil

Instructions
 

Make the lime orange sauce

  • In a thick bottomed pan, pour in the juices.
  • Add the sugar, salt, ginger, chilies, lime zest and orange zest.
  • Bring to the boil, lower the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until reduced and slightly thickened, about ten minutes.
  • If the sauce is not thick enough for you, disperse a tablespoonful of starch in two tablespoonfuls of water, add to the sauce, stir and continue boiling until thickened.
  • Set aside.

Cook the fish

  • Heat the cooking oil in a wok or frying pan until wisps of smoke start to appear.
  • In a wide shallow bowl, place about half a cup of starch.
  • In a large mixing bowl, place half a cup of flour, a cup of starch and the ice cubes. Pour in about one-fourth cup of water. Add the chopped herbs. Mix lightly. The batter should not be too thick but thick enough to coat the fish pieces. Add more water if the batter is too thick.
  • Holding a piece of fish fillet
    by the edge, dredge in flour then dip in batter until well coated.
  • Carefully drop into the hot oil.
  • Repeat and cook the fish in batches of eight to twelve (see notes after the recipe).
  • If the batter thins out before all the fish have been fried (it will as the ice cubes melt), add more starch and flour, tablespoonful by tablespoonful, and keeping the 1:2 proportion.
  • As each piece of fish cooks, pick up with kitchen tongs and transfer to a strainer or a plate lines with kitchen paper.

Serve

  • To serve, place the fish fillets on a plate, drizzle some sauce over them, sprinkle with grated lemon or lime and orange zests.
  • Serve the rest of the sauce on the side.

Notes

This is a very short frying method. If the temperature of the oil is right, the coating should turn lightly golden and crisp in less than three minutes by which time the fish should be cooked through.
Fried Fish with Lime Orange Sauce Garnished with Lime and Orange Zests
Updated from a recipe originally published in December 31, 2010
Keyword Fish fillet