This is a relatively new Si Chuan Cuisine Dish. It only has a history of about twenty years. It was first popular in Si Chuan, where it was invented. About 10 years ago, it was introduced to Bei Jing and then its popularity was like a rocket. Very soon almost all Si Chuan cuisine restaurants in China have had this dish.
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The dish is usually served in a large vessel. The first thing in sight is usually a whole layer of red chilies. Waiters will usually take away those red chilies and then the sliced fish that looks tender, juicy and almost shining will finally be revealed. The cooking of the fish is stir-frying a little bit and then stewing it with a lot of oil, water and chili for a little while. The dish features extremely tender fish so the time of frying and stewing is really important and shows the skills of the cook. If well cooked, the fish will taste heavenly delicious, and also incredibly hot. Don't think that everything is free to chew after the red chilies are moved. There are many tiny round chilies that are even hotter at the bottom of the vessel!
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Unlike most other Chinese fish dishes that use fresh water fish, this dish uses fish meat that has very few fish bones. You only have to worry about those tiny chilies!
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Chuan Guo Yan Yi (川国演义)
Ba Guo Bu Yi (巴国布衣)

	Chinese	Pin Yin
Fish Filets in Hot Chili Oil	水煮鱼	Shui Zhu Yu
Chili	辣椒	La Jiao
Si Chuan Cuisine	川菜	Chuan Cai