Every place has its own representative cuisine, allowing people from all over the country to enjoy unique taste experiences. Taking Hunan as an example, one of the most representative dishes is the dry pot yellow mandarin fish, as this dish embodies the unique traditional diet culture of the middle reaches of Xiang. So how to make the dry pot yellow mandarin fish delicious? Let’s take a look at the explanation below.

Dry pot yellow mandarin fish is a local delicacy, belonging to the Hunan cuisine. The yellow mandarin fish is a wild fish in the Xiangjiang River of Hunan. The local name is also known as ‘Huang Ya Gu’ (often written as ‘Huang Ya Gu’ in Xiangren’s works). Some places also call it small yellow croaker, named because it makes a sound like a yellow duck when it is pulled out of the water.

Main ingredient: 1000 grams of yellow mandarin fish.

Ingredients: 30 grams of red chili.

Ingredients: 1000 grams of vegetable oil (actual consumption 100 grams), 2 grams of fine salt, 2 grams of MSG, 1 gram of chicken essence powder, 10 grams of Douban sauce, 5 grams of spicy sauce, 20 grams of cooking wine, 5 grams of white vinegar, 10 grams of chili oil, 1 gram of white pepper, 30 grams of dried chili, 30 grams of garlic seeds, 10 grams of ginger, 5 grams of perilla leaves, 500 grams of fresh soup.

Preparation method:

1. Remove the internal organs from the yellow mandarin fish by tearing it from the gills, wash off the blood, and set aside. Cut the red chili into 1 cm long tubes, trim the garlic seeds, cut the dried chili into pieces, and slice the ginger.

2. Place the pot on a high heat, add vegetable oil, and when it reaches 160°C, fry the yellow mandarin fish and garlic seeds for a while, then pour them into a colander to drain the oil.

3. Leave some oil in the pot, add ginger slices, dried chili, Douban sauce, and spicy sauce, and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add the yellow mandarin fish and garlic seeds, pour in white vinegar and cooking wine, add fresh soup, bring to a boil and skim off the foam. Add salt, MSG, and chicken essence powder. When the yellow mandarin fish is well-flavored, turn up the heat to thicken the sauce. Add perilla leaves and red bell pepper tubes, pour in chili oil, pour into a dry pot, and drizzle with sesame oil before serving.