Chinese Szechuan Spicy Fish Soup gets its spicy rich flavor from hot bean sauce, dried chilies, Szechuan peppercorns, garlic and ginger.
A number of years ago, my husband treated me to dinner at a Szechuan (also known as Sichuan or Szechwan) restaurant in New York City called Wu Liang Ye, that serves authentic Szechuan cuisine. Since then, we’ve been fortunate to have a number of authentic Szechuan restaurants open in Connecticut, including Shu Restaurant in Fairfield.
The most memorable dish from Wu Liang Ye was a spicy Szechuan fish soup. The entire top of the casserole dish was covered with hot dried chili peppers, and the soup was aromatic with Szechuan peppercorns. I tried recreating this at home five years ago, and recently made it again after ordering it from Shu Restaurant.
What Is Szechuan Food?
Szechuan food originates from Szechuan province in southwestern China, and is known for its bold, spicy flavors. Szechuan dishes often leave your mouth tingling with the after effects of Szechuan peppercorns lingering on your tongue. Some people say it leaves a numbing feeling in your mouth. Szechuan cuisine uses a lot of garlic, chili peppers and Szechuan peppercorns.
Szechuan hot bean sauce is another ingredient often seen in Szechuan cooking.
Szechuan food is often prepared using steaming, tea-smoking, braising or stir-frying as cooking techniques.Although known for its spicy bold flavors, Szechuan food isn’t always spicy. Szechuan cuisine also includes dishes made with sweet and sour sauces, “fish flavored” garlic sauce (yushiang), and light “white” stir-fry sauces using garlic and ginger as the main flavor components .
How To Make Chinese Szechuan Spicy Fish Soup
Cut fish into 2″ pieces. Mix Fish Marinade ingredients and toss well with fish fillet. Set aside to marinade for 20 minutes. Place celery and napa cabbage in bottom of a heatproof casserole or saucepan. Lay fish pieces on top.
Heat oil in a large pot. Add hot bean sauce and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ginger, garlic, half of scallions, Szechuan peppercorns, and dried chili peppers. Cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes, being careful not to burn the peppercorns or chili peppers. Add rice wine and soy sauce and stir another minute. Add stock and bring to a boil.
Pour soup on top of fish. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes until fish is cooked through.
Here’s the original picture of when I made this five years ago.
Chinese Szechuan Spicy Fish Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound white firm flesh fish fillet
Fish Marinade
- 1 egg white
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons rice wine
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Soup
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 tablespoon Szechuan hot bean sauce
- One 1" piece of ginger peeled and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 scallion cut into 1/2" pieces
- 1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
- 1/4 cup Szechuan dried red chili peppers
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 cups fish or chicken stock
- 2 celery stalks sliced
- 1 cup napa cabbage cut up
Instructions
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Cut fish into 2" pieces. Mix Fish Marinade ingredients and toss well with fish fillet. Set aside to marinade for 20 minutes.
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Heat oil in a large pot. Add hot bean sauce and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ginger, garlic, half of scallions, Szechuan peppercorns, and dried chili peppers. Cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes, being careful not to burn the peppercorns or chili peppers. Add rice wine and soy sauce and stir another minute. Add stock and bring to a boil.
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Place celery and napa cabbage in a clay casserole. Lay marinated fish on top.
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Pour soup on top of fish. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes until fish is cooked through.
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Serve over steamed brown rice.
Recipe Notes
This is spicy! Reduce the amount of hot chili peppers and Szechwan peppercorns if you like, but for the full effect, I highly recommend using as much as the recipe states.
I have also made this using fish on the bone, which is usually cheaper than fish filet. If you don't mind working through the bones, this is definitely a budget-friendly option; otherwise, I suggest using fish filet.
If you want to try more Szechuan style recipes, take a look at these:
Szechuan Hot Chili Oil Wonton Sauce
More Szechuan Spicy Fish Soup recipes:
Angie’s Recipe
When I was pregnant this would have been something I would have loved to have. The spicier the better. Now my taste buds are more tame. I would have to reduce the amount of spice. Although, I might be up for a kick in the mouth! It looks really yummy!
This sounds like it would be bursting with flavor. I'm a wimp for hot foods though, so I'd have to cut down on the spiciness.
Thanks Rochelle and Kalyn,
This is definitely not for the light of heart in the spiciness department. However, the heat can be tamed by using less of the hot bean sauce and Szechuan peppercorns. I love trying to recreate dishes that I have really enjoyed while eating out, so I just had to try this!
Wow, I bet this has some kick to it. I like it!
Yes this definitely perks up those tastebuds!
Jeanette, how's it goin? Just dropping in to see what you've been cooking up and this one really caught my eye! Gotta try it.
So sorry to hear about your father in law. He sounded like a very good man.
Hope you all are well aside from your loss.
Let's catch up soon.
xoLexie
Hi Lexie, so good to hear from you. Thanks for all your kind thoughts. Looking forward to catching up with you.
If possible, I'd like a little more info on the amount of ginger. You call for a 1" piece, but given that it's a 3D item, what are the other dimensions of the piece of ginger? Or how much by weight, if you prefer. Too much can ruin, too little can understate. Thanks, Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth, generally the ginger I use is about 1 inch in diameter. Hope that helps.
Hi, this is one of my favorite Chinese dishes. I just tried your recipe and it was incredible. I couldn’t tell the difference from the restaurant version. Do you have other recipes for Chinese dishes? Will be using this recipe for the rest of my life! Thanks so much 🙂
Hi Adam – so glad you enjoyed this recipe. It was such a memorable dish so I was so excited to be able to recreate it at home. I do make a lot of Chinese food, and will work on posting more of these recipes.
This is right up my ally! Looks amazing. Question about the Szechuan hot bean sauce – I have never used that product before – do you know if there are any additives in it like MSG? Or if there is a natural version to look for? Thanks so much!
The ingredients in the Szechuan hot bean sauce I used are soy bean, wheat flour, fresh chili, salt, sugar, water and citric acid.
Perfect!!! Thanks so much – I am putting this on my menu for New Years Day. I can’t wait! Happy Holidays 🙂
…. meant “alley” duh!
looks like the real deal – i like to try new recipes. i just moved from brooklyn from houston and there is a place called 888 in houston that makes the best spicy fish out of a clay pot
this reminds/looks kind of like it so i am going to head to the chinese food market tomorrow get the ingredients and go at it
Well, this makes me hungry!
Spicy and hot chilis make you health, good work!
Nice recipe, I also add a few cups of water to get boiling with the mixture before putting the fish in, and use about a cup of red peppers with a few tablespoons of the Szechuan peppercorns ( I think my lips are tingling just thinking about it). Then scoop out the red peppers afterwards. Also, any reason for brown rice instead of regular white rice?
Hi Matt – your comment is making my mouth tingle too! I used brown rice for health reasons as it is higher in fiber and protein than white rice.
I would definately reduce the szhechuan peppercorns, chilli peppers, and ginger by half next time.
Haven’t fully recovered yet half a day later…
Matt – this is a very spicy dish – Szechuan food is one of the spiciest Chinese food. Sorry this was too spicy for you. I would go along with your recommendation for first timers.
Thanks for posting this recipe! It’s my favorite Szechuan dish! Do you have any advice for those of us who don’t have a clay pot? Would it be absolutely terrible if I used a metal stove top pot instead? Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Hi Ann, a regular stove top pot should work just fine, just watch the bottom so it doesn’t burn. This is very spicy – so adjust the amount of Szechuan peppercorns and chilies according to your taste.
Made this recipe almost exactly to the letter. The change I made was took a block of silken tofu, sliced it into same size pieces as the fish and layered it in between the cabbage and the fish. Can I just say that this came out AMAZING!!! I had this dish at Gourmet Dumpling House in Boston, and that dish has nothing on this. Two hours later and my lips are still burning, in a a great way.
Love your addition of silken tofu – great idea! So glad you tried this and liked it. It’s spicy but so good. Thanks so much for letting us know how it turned out.
I too am a hot food addict, and especially when it comes to food from different cultures. I do have a peanut allergy though, so I was wondering if any of these ingredients contain peanuts.
Thanks!
Andrew, None of these ingredients should contain peanuts, but to be safe, you should check all the ingredient labels to make sure none of the ingredients you use are made in a facility that uses peanuts to be perfectly safe.
Can you tell me how many servings the specified ingredients in this recipe supports ?
(I need to scale up to 30 people)
Bruce, I would say this recipe makes enough for 2-4 depending on what else you’re serving. There’s 1 pound of fish, but it shrinks a bit during cooking. The sauce/soup is very spicy, so it goes a long way with lots of rice.
First time (’bout four months ago), I did it exactly your way (except for using cod), and it rocked. Now, it’s *my* recipe, and I’ve played with it in a number of ways, since I keep a raft of Sichuan and other related seasonings. Yes, you should infer that I make the dish often for me ‘n’ the missus.
Thanks very much.
Richard – so glad you tried this recipe and have made it your own!
Thought of you, since I’m doing this dish for dinner tonight (hearts of milk choy and snow peas in place of the Napa cabbage).
Thanks for the tip on Penzey’s. I’d been buying my Szechuan “peppercorns” at Super-H Mart. Having read a number of articles that suggest there is wide variance in the quality of Szechuan peppercorns in the US, I gave Penzey’s product a try. Yikes! The ones from Penzey’s are more aromatic (even before toasting) and much more numbing. Better still, almost all of the flowers are open – very few seeds.
Richard – I’ve never tried milk choy – is that a variety of bok choy? So glad you tried Penzey’s – they have very high quality spices and they’re always fresh.
Sorry about the obscurity. “Milk choy” is what Great Wall calls the Shanghai variety of baby bok choy. Looks like the image at:
http://sybaritica.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/shanghai-bai-cai-1a.jpg
The ones I used were about 5-6 inches tall.
Thank you for the recipe as I was craving for this dish since the last time I had it at a restaurant. As we gave the recipe a try, it would have been nice as disclaimer to remove the peppercorn before serving. The peppercorn made it difficult to eat and we ended up fishing the peppercorn out one by one.
Thanks for your feedback. The dish I was served in the restaurant actually had the peppercorns in the dish, but they can certainly be removed before eating if you prefer
This is my husband’s favorite recipe, and he requests it each week. I’ve tried similar recipes, and Jeanette’s is simply the best. We even think it’s better than the version at one of our better Chinatown restaurants. I make it exactly as written, although I usually add more fish (and add to the marinade accordingly). We have found that tilapia holds up very well, over other white fish. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Hi Alex – I’m so happy to hear you and your husband have been enjoying this recipe – thanks so much for letting me know!