Red Braised Fish Head (Hong Shao Yu Tou)

Ingredients

• Note: Ideally, prepare a separate kitchen knife. Supermarkets or markets offer cheap knives with thicker blades, preferably between 5-7mm in thickness.
• Green onions (scallions), ginger, garlic, coriander, hot chili peppers (Chinese peppers)
• Oil, salt, chicken essence, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, aged vinegar, black pepper, cooking wine
• Star anise, dried red chili peppers
• One fish head
• Note: Fish heads sold in markets are generally divided into two types: White Silver Carp and Bighead Carp (Grass Carp). The former is cheaper, while the latter is slightly more expensive but tastes better!

Steps

1. ### Preparation of Ingredients
2. Wash green onions, ginger, garlic, coriander, and hot chili peppers separately.
3. Rinse the dried red chili peppers and star anise briefly.
4. Cut the green onions in half. Cut the back half (the white stem part) into segments, each about 4cm long. Cut the front half (the green leaf part) into segments first, then split each segment into four peels.
5. Slice the ginger, about 3mm thick per slice.
6. Crush the garlic.
7. Take two stalks of coriander, remove the roots, and chop into 1.5cm pieces.
8. Cut the hot chili peppers into rounds 3mm thick.
9. Cut the dried red chili peppers into four pieces.
10. ### Marinating the Fish Head
11. Note: The fish meat mentioned below refers to the meat attached to the fish head when purchased.
12. Remove scales from the fish head and clean any remaining internal organs.
13. Chop off the fins and clean the gills.
14. Chop open the connection between the lower jaw of the fish head and the body, chop the body into chunks, and chop the fish head into 4 or 6 pieces.
15. Note: Fish processing is hard to describe fully in text; you can search for videos on fish head processing.
16. Wash the chopped fish pieces thoroughly, removing any remaining blood and brine.
17. Place the washed fish pieces in a basin. Add 5g of salt, 10g of light soy sauce, and 10g of cooking wine. Add the green onion (the chopped green part) and 1/3 of the ginger slices. Mix well and let it rest for 1-2 hours.
18. ### Final Steps
19. Add 30ml of oil and wait for the pan to heat up...
20. Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to low.
21. If you don't understand why, please check the stir-frying auxiliary section in [Learn Stir-Frying and Sautéing](../../tips/learn/学习炒与煎.md).
22. Add the ginger slices and stir-fry slowly until most of the juice is released and the ginger turns golden yellow.
23. Add the green onion segments and stir-fry until they turn slightly whitish.
24. Add the crushed garlic, star anise, and dried red chili peppers; stir-fry for 5 seconds.
25. Pour the marinated fish head into the pan and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
26. Pour in 500ml of water. Add 2g of salt, 3g of chicken essence, 5g of light soy sauce, 3g of dark soy sauce, 5g of cooking wine, 2g of black pepper, and 3g of aged vinegar.
27. Add the two stalks of coriander to the pot and cover with a lid.
28. Turn to high heat and bring the water to a boil.
29. Turn to medium heat and simmer to infuse flavor.
30. When the sauce has reduced by half, uncover the pot.
31. Turn to high heat to reduce the sauce; when the sauce is left with about 1/3 remaining, turn off the heat and transfer to a small basin.
32. Note: Pour the sauce from the pot evenly over the fish head. When serving, you can place the cooked coriander at the bottom of the basin for better presentation and taste.
33. Place the coriander on the already served fish head, and arrange the sliced hot chili peppers on top of the coriander.
34. The delicious Red Braised Fish Head is ready!