Sōngshǔ yú [松鼠鱼] or Squirrel Fish is an extremely popular dish all across China, and especially loved by foreigners given the lack of bones.

The dish, which is also called Sōngshǔ guì yú [松鼠桂鱼] or Squirrel Mandarin Fish, belongs to Huaiyang cuisine and can be traced back to the times of Emperor Qianlong in the mid 1700s.

Huaiyang cuisine, also referred to as Jiangsu or Su cuisine for short, originates from the native cooking styles of East China’s Jiangsu Province. Huaiyang cuisine, is popular throughout history as one of the four traditional Chinese cuisines, together with Lu [Shandong], Yue [Guangdong] and Chuan [Sichuan] cuisines.

Huaiyang cuisine was once the second largest cuisine among ancient China’s royal cuisines, and it remains a major part of the state banquet in China. Indeed, Sōngshǔ yú is one of the most famous dishes from Jiangsu Province.

The dish is named Squirrel Fish because of the way the dish is presented and resembles the fluffy tail of a squirrel.

To prepare, the fish is cut along either side of the spine, which is then removed. Cuts are then made at an angle into the flesh. Then a few cuts are made along the length of the fish in order to create ‘fingers’. The head is cleaved and slightly flattened.

Meanwhile a bunch of rice noodles are deep fried and the resulting crispy noodles are placed on a dish. 

The fish is then coated in cornflour and the body is folded so that the skin is placed together and the tail pokes through. This is then carefully placed into the hot oil and deep fried along with the head.

The fried fish is then placed on the bed of fried noodles.

Next the sauce is prepared. A finely chopped clove of garlic is fried and tomato ketchup is added. Then some stock or water mixed with cornflour is added and the sauce is stirred.

Red rice vinegar, traditionally coloured with red yeast rice, is added along with a dash of dark soy. Next a diced tomato is added. Finally some clear rice vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt is added. The sauce is then brought to the boil to thicken before being poured over the fish.

And that’s Squirrel Fish, a Jiangsu dish which can be traced back hundreds of years.

Many thanks to Ms Jiang for allowing us to film at her restaurant, the Zhuliguan [竹里馆] in Kunming, Yunnan, China.

Yunnan is home to some twenty five ethnic groups. Amongst them is the Dai ethnic people which mainly live in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefectures in southern Yunnan.

The Dai people have had a strong influence on Yunnan cuisine with their use of lemon grass, lime juice, chilli and other spices. Indeed when the Dai ethnic minority is mentioned, many people immediately think of the sour or acid dishes that highlight Dai cuisine. In fact the Dai ethnic minority is sometimes referred to as "Suān dǎizú" [酸傣族] or Acid Dai.

One dish that is particularly popular is Xiāngmáocǎo kǎo yú [香茅草烤鱼] or fish grilled with lemon grass. It evokes tastes less of China but of Vietnam and the Laos, both countries with which Yunnan borders.

The gutted fish is stuffed with a variety of herbs and spices and grilled over a charcoal fire. This method of cooking isn’t practical in Western kitchens. However one can get satisfactory results from grilling in a conventional oven.

Ingredients

To start you will need to assemble a number of ingredients. In Yunnan river fish such as carp is often used. However, once again one can improvise and use a large sea bream, tilapia or even sea bass.

Other ingredients include spring onions, ginger, garlic, green chilli, fresh coriander, limes and salt. 

Preparation

Finely chop one or two spring onions and a good handful of fresh coriander. Mix this with one or more finely chopped green chillies, a little grated ginger and a finely chopped clove of garlic. Add a squeeze of lime juice and a small pinch of salt and then stuff the mixture into the cleaned fish. Sometimes the fish is cleaved along the spine - such that the fish is almost cut in two - to make the cavity that much larger.

The fish is then wrapped and tied with lemon grass before being placed in a dish, sprinkled with a little Chinese wine, soy and lime juice and allowed to marinate. The short rather dry stems of lemon grass available in the UK are not satisfactory to tie the fish thus oven proof string will be needed. The lemon grass can meanwhile be place under the fish.

The fish can be left overnight in a refrigerator if desired, but an hour is sufficient. 

Cooking

When ready preheat the oven to around 200°C. Oil the fish, sesame is best, and a dash of soy and place it into a dish before putting it in the oven. After 15-20 minutes, turn on the grill and cook both sides of the fish to crisp the skin.

Finally turn the fish out onto a decorative serving dish and garnish with a little fresh coriander.

Yunnan cuisine [Yúnnán cài 云南菜 or Diān cài 滇菜] is perhaps one of the least talked about Chinese cuisines, except for people who have visited this culturally diverse province. Yet Yunnan is home to some of the most interesting and tasty Chinese dishes.

There are few recipe books focused on Yunnan cuisine, partly due to the fact that some of the ingredients would be difficult to obtain outside China, and even Yunnan itself.

Unusual ingredients

One popular dish is made from banana flowers [芭蕉花 bājiāo huā] which are often barbecued in banana leaves or simply stir fried. However banana flowers, and even their leaves are impossible to obtain in the West.

Rǔbǐng [乳饼] is another speciality served up in many Yunnan restaurants. Rǔbǐng is a firm goat’s milk cheese which is often sliced, fried and served with granulated sugar in which to dip the cheese before consuming. The nearest one will find in the West is haloumi, or halumi, a Cypriot cheese made from goat's, ewe's, or cow's milk. While haloumi can also be fried in the same way it is very salty compared to rǔbǐng.

Insects and grubs are also eaten, and are commonly seen on restaurant menus. Fried bees, grasshoppers and bamboo worms are particularly popular, though not to everyone’s taste.

Oodles of noodles

Not all ingredients are so exotic. However some of the sauces are difficult to replicate. One sauce used in Yunnan cuisine is zhāotōng jiàng or zhāotōng sauce [昭通酱]. It consists of finely ground fried soy beans, salt, dried chili and spices including star anise, galangal, black cardamom, fennel and orange peel. One dish using this is Yúnnán zhá jiàng miàn [云南炸酱面] and consists of some noodles over which minced beef fried with zhāotōng sauce, ginger, soy sauce, sugar, salt & MSG is added.

Less difficult to make is Yúnnán lěng bǎn tiáo [云南冷板条] , a cold noodle dish consisting of flat rice noodles mixed with shredded cucumber, ground peanuts, chopped coriander and a simple soup consisting of water, ground pepper, chili powder, dark Chinese vinegar, peanut oil, soy sauce, and sugar.

However, one of the most famous of Yunnan noodle dishes is Mǐ Xiàn [米线] or rice noodles. The dish consists of fresh rice noodles served in a rich broth, often made with chicken, and topped with various condiments including chopped chilli, spring onion and soy sauce.

A famous variation is guòqiáo mǐxiàn [过桥米线] or “Crossing the Bridge Noodles”. Again the dish comprises of a rich soup to which fresh rice noodles are added. In addition a plate of other ingredients is served which may include raw vegetables, thin slices of ham, pickles, quails egg and tofu skin chives.

The name of the dish is said to have originated from many years ago when a housewife allegedly took a bowl of noodles to her husband on a long journey which is said to have involved the crossing of a bridge. However she found the long trek resulted in the noodles becoming too soft and the soup getting cold. Thus she devised the idea of creating a fatty soup whereby the fat on the top insulated the soup and prevented heat loss. Meanwhile she would carry the other ingredients including the noodles in another receptacle.

Pickles

Pickles feature much in Yunnan cuisine and may be eaten by themselves or added to dishes. Old Grandmother’s Potato or lǎonǎi yángyù [老奶洋芋] is a simple and easy to prepare dish using just such an ingredient. The name is said to have been born out of the fact that the dish could even be eaten by toothless grandmothers!

It is in some ways the Chinese equivalent to bubble and squeak. Finely chopped pickled mustard greens are fried along with finely chopped spring onion and a few dried chilies before mashed potato is added.

Fish & meat

Being a landlocked province Yunnan is not known for its fish dishes, though there are a few that stand out. Whilst prawns, crayfish and eels may be spotted at markets, it is river fish that is in abundance.

A very popular dish is served up by the Dai ethnic minority. Xiāngmáocǎo kǎo yú [香茅草烤鱼] or fish grilled with lemon grass evokes tastes less of China but of Vietnam and the Laos, both countries with which Yunnan borders.

The gutted fish may stuffed with a mixture of chopped spring onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli, fresh coriander and salt.The fish is then wrapped and tied with lemongrass before being grilled over a charcoal fire.

While pork is popular in Yunnan, as in the rest of China, chicken is one of the most widely consumed meats. Perhaps the best known dish is "steam pot chicken" or qìguōjī [气锅鸡]. It consists of chicken steamed in a special earthenware pot with or without other herbs and spices.

Diverse

Of course one cannot hope to cover every dish that Yunnan has to offer in a single article but we hope this has wetted your appetite. We’ll be back soon with a few recipes.

Sweet & Sour is probably one of the mainstays and most popular of dishes in Chinese restaurants in the West. However, the sweet & sour that most people are used to is more a Hong Kong or Cantonese style flavour, often revolving around ingredients such as tomato ketchup, soy sauce, Chinese wine, white vinegar and sugar.

But in mainland China sweet and sour recipes are somewhat different and may use stronger flavours such as garlic, ginger and dark vinegar.

In this recipe from Sichuan province the flavours come together in a wonderful harmony that will likely make you reject the sweet and sour dishes often served up at your local Chinese restaurant.

Táng cù cuì pí yú [糖醋脆皮鱼] or sweet and sour crispy skin fish is quick and simple to prepare and you may well impress any Chinese friends you might have.

To start you will need a large whole fish. In China most fishes available are river fish and can be a considerable size. However the largest whole fish you might be able to purchase will be a sea bream or sea bass, but these are perfectly adequate.

Ingredients & preparation

Gut, clean and de-scale the fish and then make deep diagonal cuts into the fish on both sides. Place a few slices of fresh ginger into the cuts along with a few pieces of spring onion and marinate the fish in a little Chinese wine or sherry.

Meanwhile prepare your other ingredients. Put about a tablespoon each of finely chopped ginger and garlic in a bowl. Finely slice a spring onion and put in another bowl. For a garnish cut 4-5 cm lengths of spring onion and slice thinly lengthwise and put in a bowl of cold water. This will make the thin strands curl up.

Next prepare the sauce. Measure out about one tablespoon of light soy sauce and a few drops of dark soy, one tablespoon of Chinese wine or sherry and three or four tablespoons of white sugar plus half a tablespoon of sesame oil and three tablespoons of dark Chinese vinegar [such as Chinkiang vinegar - 镇江香醋]. In a separate bowl mix a teaspoon of cornflour or potato flour with a little water.

Cooking

Having prepared the sauce and other ingredients take the fish and remove the ginger and spring onions and coat well in cornflour. Heat some oil in a wok and fry the fish on a moderate heat until crispy and well cooked. Then transfer the fish to a serving plate.

In a clean wok heat a little sunflower oil plus a few drops of sesame oil. Add the chopped ginger and garlic and stir well to ensure they don’t burn. Then pour in the prepared sauce and a little fish stock or water and bring to the boil. Finally add the cornflour or potato flour mixture and the chopped spring onions.

Once the sauce has become translucent and thickened carefully pour it over the fish. Finally top the fish with curls of spring onion, sprigs of fresh coriander or thin slices of chili to garnish.

Enjoy with a bowl of steamed rice.