Yangshuo Beer Fish
Yangshuo Beer Fish is a home-style seafood dish at difficulty 3/5 (Intermediate), about 1092 kcal. Yangshuo Beer Fish is a famous local dish from Yangshuo, Guangxi. Ingredients and step-by-step instructions are below, with notes for home cooking.
3 / 5
★★★☆☆
1092 kcal
Ingredients
- Crucian carp or hairtail (about 1.5 jin, ask the vendor to remove the guts but **do not scale the fish**)
- Liquan Beer (1 bottle, approx 330ml, Guilin local beer, most authentic)
- Tomato (2)
- Green pepper (2)
- Red pepper (1)
- Garlic (5-6 cloves)
- Ginger (1 piece)
- Scallion (2 stalks)
- Guilin Chili Sauce
- Cooking wine
- Light soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce
- White sugar
- Salt
- Cooking oil
Steps
- Clean and gut the fish but keep the scales. Wash it clean and cut it open from the belly into two halves (connected at the back). Marinate with 15ml cooking wine, ginger slices, and 3g salt for 15 minutes.
- Cut the tomato into chunks, cut the green and red peppers into chunks, crush the garlic, slice the ginger, and cut the scallion into sections (separate the white parts from the green parts).
- Wipe the pot bottom with ginger slices. Heat the pan, pour in 30ml cooking oil. Once oil is hot, place the fish in (skin side down). Pan-fry until golden brown on both sides and the scales are crispy. Remove and set aside.
- Leave 1 tablespoon of oil in the pot. Sauté the scallion whites, ginger slices, and garlic cloves until fragrant.
- Add 15g Guilin Chili Sauce and stir-fry until red oil is released.
- Add the tomato chunks and stir-fry until the tomato is soft and releases its juice.
- Pour the whole bottle of beer in. Add 15ml light soy sauce, 5ml dark soy sauce, 5g white sugar, and 5g salt. Stir well.
- Place the fried fish into the pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and cover with a lid to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove the lid, add the green and red pepper chunks, and continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes.
- Turn the heat up to high to reduce the sauce until it thickens. Sprinkle with the scallion greens, serve and plate.
Notes
Yangshuo Beer Fish is a famous local dish from Yangshuo, Guangxi. It uses fresh fish from the Li River, pan-fried with scales and braised with beer instead of water. The crispy scales, tender meat, and the unique blend of beer aroma with a slight tang from the tomatoes create a rich and distinctive taste. The fish is rich in high-quality protein and minerals. Paired with tomatoes and chili, it is rich in vitamins and appetizing. Cooking difficulty is medium; slightly challenging for beginners, but following the steps closely will ensure success. Ready in about 30 minutes.
Estimated Difficulty: ★★★
Estimated Calories: 1092 kcal
Category: Yangshuo Beer Fish
Calculations per portion:
- Crucian carp or hairtail 1 whole (approx. 750g, leave scales on)
- Cooking wine 15ml
- Liquan Beer 330ml (1 bottle)
- Tomato 2 (approx. 300g)
- Green pepper 2 (approx. 150g)
- Red pepper 1 (approx. 80g)
- Garlic 6 cloves (approx. 30g)
- Ginger 1 piece (approx. 20g)
- Scallion 2 (approx. 40g)
- Guilin Chili Sauce 15g
- Light soy sauce 15ml
- Dark soy sauce 5ml
- White sugar 5g
- Salt 5g
- Cooking oil 30ml
- The fish scales are the key characteristic of this dish and must be kept; they will become crispy and delicious after frying.
- Cutting the fish in half makes it easier to fry through and absorb flavor than just scoring the whole fish.
- The authentic recipe uses Guilin Chili Sauce (not Pixian Doubanjiang). If you don't have Guilin Chili Sauce, you can use garlic chili sauce as a substitute.
- The tomato must be stir-fried until soft and juicy for a richer sauce.
- Don't reduce the sauce to complete dryness; leaving some is delicious for mixing with rice or noodles.
- Reference: [How to make Yangshuo Beer Fish](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1rt4y1976z)
If you find issues or areas for improvement while following this guide's workflow, please open an Issue or Pull Request.