General Tso's Lake Trout

Sauce

• 1 ½ cups of either sweet and sour sauce, sweet chili sauce, or plum sauce.
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil.
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce.
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes.
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce.
• 2 tablespoons of honey.
• 2 large cloves of garlic finely grated.
• 1 tablespoon of ginger finely grated.

Optional: Add 3 drops of natural red food colouring to the sauce.

Mix all ingredients together and set aside.

Batter

• 2 eggs, beaten.
• 1 cup of each, flour and cornstarch.
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• 1 can of carbonated water or beer.

Blend all ingredients to form a batter, which you want to be a bit thinner than regular pancake batter, adding more flour or liquid as necessary to ensure the proper consistency.

Fish and Vegetables

• 2-5lbs of fresh boneless filets cut into 1”x 2” pieces.
• Oil for deep frying.
• 1-2 large bell pepper cut into ½ "x 1" rectangle pieces.
• 1 head of broccoli chopped in small florets.
• 1 large onion thick sliced (white preferred)
• 3 celery stalks sliced 1/4" thick.
• 3 tbsp butter or margarine.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish

• 2/3 green onions sliced thin on the diagonal.
• ¼ cup of toasted sesame seeds

Cooking Instructions

Dip the fish in the batter and fry until extra crispy (double frying* works best) and then set aside. If not double frying, sprinkle a bit of salt on the fish after frying them to prevent moisture from building up, thereby ensuring that the fish will retain its crispiness.

Place butter or margarine into pan and sauté the vegetables until tender crisp.

Add premixed sauce to the pan and stir/toss to coat all veggies, then let cook for a minute or less.

Add fish and stir/toss to coat.

Serve immediately over rice or noodles, garnishing with green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

Cook’s Notes

The sauce, vegetables and garnish can be prepared the evening before or the morning of the day you will be having lunch. You can also prepare the rice or noodles beforehand. Just before serving, warm them up in a frying pan to which you have added a couple of tablespoons of soya or oyster sauce.

*Double frying helps with the moisture evaporation process. By letting the fish rest and cool between the dips in the oil, additional water evaporates. When you put it back in to finish frying, the rest of the water evaporates, which allows the fish to brown and crisp quickly before it overcooks.