Sweet and Sour Carp

Ingredients

• Carp
• Ketchup
• White sugar
• White vinegar
• Starch
• Salt
• Scallion
• Ginger
• Cooking wine
• One sprig of cilantro
• Basins (two)
• One cleaver
• One wire skimmer, one spatula

Steps

1. Clean the fish thoroughly, making sure there are no scales or other debris.
2. Lay the fish head to the left, belly down, knife in your right hand. Cut straight down 1 cm, press the fish firmly and slice 3-4 cm to the left, then make a light cut in the middle of the flap.
3. Put the fish in a basin, then slice the ginger and cut the scallion into pieces (rough cuts are fine; they're mainly to remove fishiness).
4. Squeeze the juice from the scallion and ginger into the basin with all your might.
5. Add 20 g salt and 25 g cooking wine, then give the carp a rubdown so it's evenly coated.
6. (The longer the fish marinates, the less fishy it is; 30 minutes or more is recommended.)
7. In a clean basin, combine 100 g flour, 200 g starch, 180 g water and 5 g salt, mixing by hand until the batter is thick and stringy; then crack in an egg and mix again.
8. Wait 30 minutes.
9. Place the fish on the cutting board and pat it dry with a dry towel (so the batter sticks better).
10. Rinse the basin clean and dry it with a dry towel.
11. Heat the wok, add about 1 L of oil and heat it to 70% hot, about 200-240 degrees.
12. Hold the fish by the tail and lower the head to the bottom of the wok, ladling hot oil over the body. Once the batter sets, slowly lower the whole fish into the wok, gently lift the head with the spatula and slip the skimmer underneath to keep the bottom from burning.
13. Have a serving plate ready next to the wok.
14. Gently slide the spatula under the body and use both tools together to flip the fish. Fry two more minutes, then use the same method (skimmer under the head, spatula under the body) to transfer the fish to the plate.
15. Pour the oil from the wok into the dried basin, set it aside, and scrub the wok clean.
16. Mix 50 g water, 40 g ketchup, 20 g sugar and 10 g white vinegar in a small bowl.
17. In another small bowl, mix 10 g starch and 10 g water into a slurry.
18. Heat the wok over high heat, pour in the prepared sauce, bring to a boil over high heat, then turn to low.
19. Add the starch slurry while stirring, then turn off the heat after 20 seconds.
20. Ladle the sweet and sour sauce evenly over the fish and garnish with cilantro or chopped scallion—your sweet and sour carp is done.
21. The sauce here came out a little too thick...