Sweet and Sour Fish with Bok Choy and Vegetables

This is a straight up recipe I did tonight. I had about three kinds of bok choy that needed using up. When I purchased them I wanted to make a load of sweet and sour bok choy as sides, and tonight with a separately prepared chicken dish; but I had already baked all the chicken in the infamous orange-honey-mustard dish from my misbegotten yute. Having nothing other than raw frozen fish pieces (tilapia, roughy, sea bass), I put them together "ah so":

For Sweet and Sour Sauce:

• ½ cup diced tomatoes with 1 tablespoon tomato paste mixed well
• 4 Tbl soy sauce
• 2 level Tb brown sugar
• 2 Tbl red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• 1 Tbl ground ginger – or 2 TB fresh grated ginger
• 1-2 TB brown sesame oil
• ½ tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin

For the wok:

a.

• 1 tsp olive oil· 1/4 cup minced scallions
• 2-3 diced shallots
• 1 diced jalapeno pepper
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup grated fresh ginger

b.

• 1 more TB cornstarch preferablt Kudzu Root as thickener at end
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup coconut milk

For Fish:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 to ½ pound fresh white fish fillets, cut into 1-2 inch strips
• 1 large TB cornstarch

For Vegetables:

(Note: you do not need all the veggies just a sweet one e.g., carrots to balance the bok choy. earth mushroom would complete the trio of tastes.)

• 2 -3 cups baby carrots diced small
• 1 lb baby bok choy, cut into 2-inch pieces (about 5 -6 cups)
• ¼ to ½ pound fresh shiitake or any other fresh mushroom, thinly sliced
• ¼ - ½ cup diced celery or water chestnuts
• ¼ - ½ cup frozen corn defrosted or canned corn

Method:

1. Stir together all sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a prep bowl, and set aside.
2. In large nonstick wok, warm vegetable oil over high heat.
3. In a second skillet with its 1 TB olive oil, stir fry scallions, shallots, jalapeno, garlic, and ginger, and cook until scallions about 2 – 3 minutes.
4. Coat pieces of sea bass with 1 Tbl of cornstarch. Add fish to skillet and cook until golden, about 4 - 5minutes. Transfer fish to a plate using a slotted turner or spoon and cover with a bowl to keep warm.
5. To the wok, add carrots, bok choy, mushrooms, celery, corn and ½ cup of water. Cook until vegetables are crisp but tender, about 2 – 3 minutes
6. Stir in sweet and sour sauce mixture and ½ cup of water. Simmer until vegetables are almost crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.
7. Return fish to skillet and simmer until cooked through, about 2 minutes.
8. In the sweet and sour sauce prep bowl, mix kudzu root powder (or cornstarch) and water.
9. Stir into skillet and cook until sauce is lightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes.
10. Serve hot over rice. Basmati rice prep takes 15 mins for soaking and 12 mins for boiling, the same time as this dish.

Preparation Time: 25 minutes