Manchurian/Asian Chili Fish

Historically, this seems to be a dish of Manchurian Chinese origin, but which was taken by Chinese immigrants to India, where it is pretty well known in some regions. It is also known in other parts of southern Asia. You can certainly make this with more sauce, if you'd like. This is an easy dish to make. I used tilapia fish, but the second time I made it, I had tilapia, but I also had a small piece of salmon, so I used both, although recipes call for white fish. It was great!

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 pound boneless fish, cut into bite size pieces
1 medium onion (red or white), chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce (preferably dark soy sauce, but use what you have)
2 tablespoons Asian chili sauce*
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground red pepper (like cayenne)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 inch piece of peeled ginger, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch (also called cornflour in some regions of the world)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup vegetable oil for frying
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 green onions (also called scallions or spring onions), chopped with the green)
2 to 3 green chilies, chopped (serranos or jalapeños are good for this)
(optional) 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water to thicken the sauce
chopped green part from green onions (scallions) for garnish

Marinate the fish pieces for 20 minutes in salt, minced garlic, lemon juice and ground red pepper. Then add cornstarch, flour and ground black pepper. Mix to coat fish pieces. Heat vegetable oil in skillet over medium heat. Add coated fish, piece by piece, to the hot oil. Fry fish until golden (approximately 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes). Remove fish to a plate covered with a paper towel or two to drain excess oil, set the fish aside briefly. In a small bowl or cup mix together the soy sauce, chili sauce and ketchup, set aside. Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons oil from the skillet (you can keep the rest of the oil for some other dish). Over medium heat, add the chopped green onions and the chopped garlic, saute for about a minute or two, then add the chopped green chilies and saute another 30 seconds before adding the chopped green and red bell peppers (or other mild green or red peppers) and the chopped red or white onion, turn heat to high, cook for 2 minutes, then add the fish pieces and the soy sauce, chili sauce and ketchup mixture to the skillet. Mix together well. If the sauce is too thin, thicken it with 1 part cornstarch mixed with 2 parts water. Sprinkle some chopped green from some scallions on top of each serving.

* In the United States we have a product marketed as "chili sauce," which is more of a tomato-based sauce flavored with sweet peppers and/or mild chili powder, along with some spices. Generally speaking, this "American" chili sauce is not hot, although there could well be brands that have some mild heat. In other parts of the world the "chili" part of "chili sauce" means just that, that chilies from mild to hot are the main ingredient. These sauces vary from somewhat thick to more of a free flowing liquid, with the latter often being called "hot sauces" in the United States. Asian chili sauce is often something of a sweet and sour, or sweet and hot sauce of moderate thickness made of chilies, spices and sugar, but Asian chili sauce typically does not contain tomatoes.

WORD HISTORY:

Bait-This word is closely related to "bite," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Bait" is something of a tough word, because it is so tied to "bite," and "bait's" Germanic ancestor simply meant "to cause to bite," which also gives it ties to "bit," meaning "a small portion of food," and also, "the part of a bridle for the horse's mouth." In other words, it's not easy to separate out these forms and meanings. "Bait" generally has two meanings, and while seemingly divergent, the meanings share "biting" in common, with the noun meaning, "food of some type put out to lure in an animal for trapping or hunting, or food put on a hook to lure a fish to bite it, thus snagging itself on the hook."^ The meaning, of course, broadened over time into "anything used to lure something or someone into a trap." The verb form follows that same meaning as, "to put food out as a lure for animals, or to put food onto a hook to lure fish," with another meaning being, "to let dogs loose to bite at and harass an animal for hunting purposes" (originally too it seems the word was used for "hunt, chase"). This meaning too expanded into "to harass something or someone to lure them into a fight or to get them to react," also further expanded to "to persecute."a "Bait" goes back to Indo European "bheid," which had the notion "to split." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "bitanan," meaning "to bite," and the derived "baitjanan," which meant, "to make or cause to bite;" thus also, "to feed, to graze." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bætan," meaning, "to hunt by using dogs;" thus also, "to harass," but also, "to use a bridle on a horse." The Old Germanic form also gave Old Norse, a Germanic language from the North German branch of Germanic, the verb "beita," also meaning, "to make or cause to bite;" thus also, "to feed or graze on pastureland" (the related Norse noun "beit" actually meant "pasture")," and further, "to use dogs for hunting," and also, "to use a bridle on horses." The Old Norse word is cited in references as the source of the modern English word (dating from the 1200s), but what about our own word? Did the Old Norse word simply reinforce the existing English word (its cousin)? German, a close cousin to English, has modern "beizen," the ancestor of which meant much the same as the English word, now has the main meaning "to etch, treat or cauterize with acid;" that is, "to use acid to 'bite' into a hard surface." It can also still mean "to hunt using a falcon." 

^ It "seems" the idea of "food," "that which is bitten and eaten," is what truly lies behind "bait," with the idea of using it as a lure being added to the meaning, and in more modern times being the more prominent idea associated with the word.