Shui Zhu Yu

Written by on in Chinese cooking, Sichuan food

In my search for the tastiest Chinese food, one dish stands alone. The flavors and textures make for the perfect umami of málà dishes. I have eaten this in restaurants at least weekly since around 2007, and now that I know how to make it, I am armed with power and simple joy that defies explanation.

Shui Zhu Yu (Water Boiled Fish 水煮鱼) is an obsession, an addiction, disguised as a simple fish soup. People that I introduce it to report cravings a few days later that they can’t explain. I’m not exaggerating. This, my friends, is the shit, and this shit is delicious.

Shui Zhu Yu is a Sichuan dish, believed to have originated in Chongqing in the 1980s. Its creator won a local cooking contest with his recipe in 1983, and this launched shui zhu yu across the world.

Málà is a Chinese word that describes the combination of hot spice, ma, and tongue-numbing spice, la. The heat comes from the chilies, and the numbing effect comes from the peppercorns. When you combine the two with intense flavors, it’s no wonder that people call it addicting.

If you want to order this in a restaurant, you may find that it comes under any of several names. Spicy peppercorn fish, spicy fish, fish in chili sauce, are all possible, and others I have forgotten. I always try to order it in Chinese, and when I get strange looks, I know I mispronounced it again. For this reason, I have a Google Keep card with the name in Chinese characters that I show to the server to avoid confusion and end up with crunchy frog.

Throughout the years I have wanted to make this dish but felt unprepared for what I assumed was the difficulty of it. It differed greatly from anything that I had cooked before, and I couldn’t imagine how to prepare it. Even Chinese friends of mine use package mix to make this, so it must be hard to make from scratch, right?

I sought to find out. I searched out recipes online and found them quite varied. I watched every YouTube video I could find in both English and Chinese (usually without subtitles), and after many hours began to see the thread that tied them all together. I was ready for my first attempt.

One of the largest differentiators in recipes for this dish, and the source of many arguments, are the vegetables you use. Some say that you should only use bean sprouts. Others advocate cabbage: bok choi, or nappa. Others favor “Chinese vegetable” (choi sum) or celery. Some restaurants use American-style cabbage because it’s cheap. You should decide which vegetable you want to add based on what is in your refrigerator, or the texture you like. Personally, I like a combination of nappa and bean sprouts with some choi sum when I have it.

I know this introduction is quite long, but at least you didn’t have to suffer through ads while reading it. Trust me when I say that I’m holding back. I could talk about it for pages. Let’s get around to making it.

Shui Zhu Yu

Brian Gardner
Spicy Peppercorn Fish
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese, Sichuan
Servings 2

Equipment

  • wok

Ingredients
  

  • 8 oz fish fillet skinless, boneless

Vegetables

  • 1 cup nappa cabbage chopped coarsely
  • 1 cup bean sprouts, or choi sum

Aromatics

  • 3-4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 inch ginger minced
  • 1 stalk scallion diced

Marinade

  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 pinch white pepper
  • 1 tsp corn starch
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Grilling spices

  • 10 dried chili chopped
  • 2 tbsp Sichaun peppercorn red or green, or both

Broth

  • 2 cups hot water
  • 2 tbsp doubanjiang (fermented broad bean paste with chili) chopped
  • 1 tsp chili powder

Garnish

  • cilantro

Instructions
 

  • Prep all the vegetables and grilling spices and set aside. Chop up the cabbage into soup sized portions. Mince the garlic and ginger, dice the scallions smaller in the white part and wider in the green part.
  • Cut the fillet on a diagonal to get even sized pieces
  • Put the fish bits in a bowl, and add salt, white pepper, and rice wine. Stir it up. Add the corn starch and fully integrate. Set aside for 15 minutes or so.
  • In a wok (or a deep frying pan), fry dried chilli and Sichuan peppercorns in oil over a low heat until fragrant. Set aside.
  • In the same wok, heat up oil over a medium heat, stir in nappa and vegetables. Cook for 1-2 minutes or so. Transfer to a serving bowl.
  • Heat up oil in the wok, fry the garlic, ginger and scallion. Add the doubanjiang and chilli powder. Pour in water and bring it to a full boil.
  • Place the fish slices into the wok one at a time so that they don't stick together. When cooked (about 5 minutes), pour the fish and the soup onto the vegetables in the serving bowl. You can tell when the fish is cooked when it floats.
  • Top the serving bowl with the fried spices and cilantro. Heat up oil (or prepared chilli oil) then pour over to sizzle the spices.
  • Serve immediately with white rice

Notes

The fish I use is swai, but traditionally it is grass carp, which isn’t that easy to find in the USA. You can use tilapia or catfish if that’s easier to find. Swai is what many restaurants use.
Make sure that your serving bowl is large enough to hold the entire recipe. My first attempt was a close call.
You could prep the fish before the vegetables, but I have limited cutting space in my kitchen and would have to wash the cutting board after I cut the fish.
The chopped up chilies I used are called Tianjin (or Tian Tsin) in Asian grocery stores. If you can get them, use er jing tiao chilis. They’re milder and you can use more and get a richer (and more authentic) flavor. 
The Sichuan peppercorns (huajiao) come in both red (honghuajiao) and green (qinghuajiao). Sichuan chefs prefer green peppercorns for more intensity of the numbing effect, but they are less commonly found in the US.
Doubanjiang goes by many (English) names on the shelves of Asian grocery stores. Fermented broad bean paste with chili is what you are looking for. I use QiVeda Pixian doubanjiang, which is exceptional, and worth the extra money if you can afford it.
Keyword Chinese, fish, Sichuan, spicy

If you make this, please send me a comment.