Ingredients

• 450g/1lb boneless
• firm white fish fillets
• such as cod
• sea bass or halibut
• skinned and divided into 4 equal pieces
• salt
• freshly ground pepper
• plain flour
• for dusting
• 450g/1lb tinned whole tomatoes
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp coarsely chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp finely chopped shallots
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp chilli bean sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• handful fresh basil leaves for garnish

Directions

• Pat the fish dry with kitchen paper. Sprinkle evenly with the salt and pepper and dust with flour
• shaking off any excess.
• Drain the tomatoes
• reserving the juice
• and chop the flesh into small chunks. Measure the amount of juice
• keep half and set aside. Discard the rest.
• Heat a wok over high heat until it is hot. Add the olive oil
• and when it is moderately hot
• add the fish fillets and pan-fry them for 3-5 minutes
• depending on the thickness of the fillets. Then turn them over and brown the other side (this will also take about 3-5 minutes). When cooked
• remove and drain on kitchen paper. Turn onto a warm platter.
• Pour off all but one tablespoon of oil from the wok
• add the garlic and shallots
• and stir-fry for one minute.
• Add the tomatoes
• the reserved tomato juice
• rice wine or sherry
• soy sauce
• chilli bean sauce and sugar
• and simmer for five minutes.
• Pour the sauce over the fish
• garnish with the basil and serve at once.