Sweet and Sour Fish (Deep Fried Pomfret with Tomato Ketchup) | BIG Bites MY

Sweet and Sour Fish (Deep Fried Pomfret with Tomato Ketchup)

This is another dish that reminds me of childhood. Anything with tomato ketchup always meant us kids will clean up our bowls quickly. 

Preparing this dish SO EASY LAH! Only frying the fish is a bit time consuming. The recipe shown here feeds one to two depending on how big your fish is, just double up accordingly if you are cooking for more.

Just love to drown my rice with the gravy! Yums!

Watch video for step-by-step method of preparation

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes Serving: 1 - 2 (increase portions accordingly if you are cooking for more)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 2 pineapple rings
• 3 tablespoons (45ml) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 1 medium-sized golden pomfret (or fish of your choice)
• 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Gut and clean the fish:
• I like to snip off the wispy parts of the fish tail and fins
• Slit open the fish belly and remove the gut
• Rinse the fish thoroughly and clean the fish's belly area
• Score the fish and rub salt all over it, including in the belly area. Set aside.
2. Cut half an onion into wedges
3. Cut cherry tomatoes into quarters
4. Cut each pineapple rings into 8 sections
5. Pat fish dry with paper towels and coat with tapioca flour
6. Heat oil over MEDIUM HIGH heat. Test with a pair of wooden chopsticks. Oil is hot enough when bubbles appear at the end of the wooden chopsticks. 
7. Gently drop fish into hot oil and deep fry until lightly browned
8. Remove fish from pan and wait for the oil to heat up again. Return fish into the hot oil for a second fry and this time deep fry fish until golden brown.
9. Remove fish, drain excess oil on a kitchen towel and set aside
10. To make the gravy, heat 1 tablespoon (15ml) of oil over MEDIUM LOW heat. I used the oil used for frying the fish earlier to give the gravy a light fish flavor
11. I added a few pieces of onions to flavor the oil. Saute until onions are aromatic.
12. Add tomato ketchup
13. Add 2 tablespoons (30ml) of water
14. Add cherry tomatoes, pineapple and sugar. Simmer for a while.
15. Add the remaining onion wedges
16. Add 1 more tablespoon (15ml) of water if it's a bit dry and simmer for a minute or two
17. Taste and flavor to your liking
18. If the gravy is too thin for you, add 1 tablespoon of water to 1 teaspoon of corn flour to make a cornstarch slurry. Add in cornstarch slurry bit by bit to thicken until you get the consistency you like. I skipped this step because my gravy was just nice. 
19. Spoon gravy over fish and serve immediately

Notes:

• The first fry is to cook the fish. Then reheat oil to fry the fish again so that it's golden brown and crispy.
• I prefer to use canned pineapple because generally the canned ones are sweeter
• Instead of using water, you can use the pineapple syrup in replacement. It will add more pineapple flavor to the gravy but do adjust the sugar quantity accordingly if you do that because the syrup is sweeter than plain water