The beauty of this delicious recipe is that it uses timid pantry ingredients and frozen fish which makes it available in 30 minutes if you are properly organised with your shopping. Any white fish fillet will work but I particularly like using frozen perch. It is actually one of the two fish I buy frozen and still enjoy it.
The other basic ingredients are sweet potato, very handy to keep in the pantry since nothing bad actually happens to eat before you get around to eating it, and canned red beans, same story here. I will walk you through the thought process and indicate amounts for a 22 cm pan.
Over medium to high heat, in a deep non stick pan with a good surface coverage of olive oil add:
Leeks, 2 pcs, in thin slices - or onions, or both
Chilli, 1 pc, in thin slices
Let them sweat for a few minutes and when they start to soften add:
Garlic, 2 cloves, cut as thinly as possible
and after one more minute:
Shaoxing Wine, 2 tbsp
Let the alcohol evaporate then add:
Tomato Paste, 1/4 cup
Sriracha, to taste
Mix well and add:
Sweet Potatoes, 1 medium pc, cut in 2 cm slices and then each slice in quarters - basically you want enough to completely fill the pan
Salt, sprinkle on top of the sweet potatoes to taste
Fish Stock (or just plain water), about 1 cup- or just plain water
You want enough liquid to completely cover the sweet potatoes. Place in top of them:
Perch fillets, unfrozen (submerge in warm water for faster unfreezing) and previously covered in tomato paste, ideally using a brush, 2 - 3 fillets, enough to sit comfortably
Lower heat cover the pan with a well fitting lid or aluminum foil and simmer for about 20 minutes. The sweet potatoes will cook in the liquid and the fish will basically steam. Check with the tip of a knife the potatoes are soft and the fish cooked. Remove lid and place the fillets in a tray. Then add:
Red beans, from a can, 1 cup or more
and stir everything together. Taste and adjust salt, and spiciness either with more Sriracha or Chilli flakes. Turn heat off and mix in:
Spring Onion, white and green parts, 2 pcs in thin slices
Serve the fish on top of the vegetables, or mix everything together for a more curry style approach, and garnish with:
Coriander leaves