Rock Cod with Wood Ear Fungus (Muk6 Ji5 Sek6 Baan1, 木耳石斑)

This is actually a very fast dish to cook, but it does take a little over an hour of preparation time. Any firm fleshed fish will work for this dish, and you can either buy fillets or fillet the fish yourself. In this case a rock cod (sek⁶ baan¹, 石斑) tail was available at the Asian market and I filleted the fish myself. Add some wood ear fungus (muk⁶ ji⁵, 木耳) and you have your complete dish.

Enjoy!

Fish Marinade Ingredients

½ -¾ lbs. Rock Cod (sek⁶ baan¹, 石斑) fillet or any firm fleshed fish

½ inch knob of Ginger , (goeng¹, 薑),  crushed

1 tsp. (or to taste) White Pepper (baak⁶ wu⁴ ziu¹, 白胡椒)

½ Tbs. Corn Starch (suk¹ fan², 粟粉)

½ Tbs. Shaoxing Rice Wine (siu⁶ hing¹ zau², 紹興酒) or Dry Sherry

1 tsp. Sesame Oil (maa⁴ jau⁴, 麻油)

Sauce Ingredients

½ tsp. Salt

1 Tbs. Corn Starch

2 Tbs. Shaoxing Rice Wine or Dry Sherry

1 tsp. Sesame Oil

Other Ingredients

8 oz. Black Fungus (also known as cloud ear fungus; wan⁴ ji⁵, 雲耳) or Wood Ear Fungus (muk⁶ ji⁵, 木耳) (see notes)

Oil for cooking

Fish Preparation Instructions

1. Marinate the fish for 1 hour using the crushed ginger, white pepper, corn starch, Shaoxing Rice Wine, and sesame oil.
2. If using dried black or wood ear fungus, put the fungus into a heat proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to hydrate for at least 1 hour. A little goes a long way, so don’t be deceived by the seemingly small amount. After hydration, the volume expands.

Sauce Preparation Instructions

1. Put the salt, corn starch, Shaoxing Rice Wine, and sesame oil into a small bowl and mix together.

Other Preparation Instructions       

1. Discard any remaining liquid used to hydrate the dried black or wood ear fungus. If using fresh black or wood ear fungus, wash and separate the fungus, removing any stem pieces (which are hard and inedible). Set the fungus aside.

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat the wok or pan over high heat before adding oil.
2. Stir fry the fish very quickly.
3. Add the wood ear fungus to the wok, and stir fry the ingredients together.
4. Add the sauce to the wok and combine the ingredients together.
5. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish.
6. Serve with steamed rice.

Notes

1. Black or wood ear fungus are available either fresh or dried, and either whole or sliced. The dried version needs to be rehydrated with hot water and the volume expands greatly, so don’t be deceived by the seemingly small amount of the dried version. The fresh version needs to be washed and any hard inedible stems removed. Whole or sliced black or wood ear fungus works well in this dish. If you can’t find black or wood ear fungus at your local Asian market, there’s really no substitute for this ingredient.