Dishes
five-willow sweet and sour fish
五柳枝
Also called: 五柳居 · 五柳魚 · five willow fish
Crisp fried fish under a sweet and sour sauce with shreds of five colourful vegetables.
What it is
A banquet fish dish from old-style Taiwanese cooking. The fish is fried crisp and covered with a sweet and sour sauce full of shredded vegetables. In Tainan A-Hsia, A-Mei and Hsin Hsin all serve it, under the name 五柳居.
Where it comes from
Hsin Hsin's chef says the five colours of vegetable stand for five generations living together at New Year. The News Lens suggests the oldest, most traditional form may now be found only at Hsin Hsin.
How it is made
The fish, whatever is good at market that day, is cut into pieces and fried so it is crisp outside and soft inside. The sauce is seasoned with sugar and vinegar rather than ketchup, and carries carrot, wood ear fungus, onion, bamboo shoot and spring onion.
How to eat it
Share it as the fish course of a Taiwanese meal, with rice.
Where to eat it in Tainan
Sources