ShǔiZhǔYú 水煮魚

ShuiZhuyu 水煮魚 is a SiChuan traditional dish. It's made by quick-blanching fresh fish fillets, put it in a big bowl mixed together beansprouts, dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorn, minced garlic, and some other magic spices. On other pan, heat cooking oil and pour it directly to the bowl. It will give the perfect tenderness of the fish fillets. Superb!!! 

From all chinese cuisine that I have tried before, Sichuan's ShuiZhuYu has never failed to make me satisfied. I  was first introduced to this dish by my bro when we were in Beijing; He warned me, "if you wanna try to chew on the spices, do it when you are about to finish the meal." It won't be me if I am not curious, rite? So I bite off the strange spice - 花椒 (SiChuan Peppercorn). WHAAAAAAA!!! It tastes a little citrus-y, slight hot, very very fragrant, and the most important attribute is: tingling and numbing. Ever since my first encounter, I have been captivated by this unique dish.

To my delight, I went to Sichuan again on early April 2011 - obviously I am salivating when we were served ShuiZhuYu. Here's a picture of it. Look at the amount of oil, dried chilies, and other spices. It seems like I am fishing the fish fillets in chili oil pond.

I also bought a little SiChuan Peppercorns home with me. I bought 2 types. The vendor said the red type is not as strong as the black one. The cook will always mix these 2 peppercorns as red ones gives nice colour to the dish, and the black one will give strong flavour and taste.

Note:
Sichuan Peppercorn is also known used in toothache as it will numb your mouth cavity. Out of curiosity, I guinea-pigged myself to try the numbness effect of the black peppercorn :) The result is I felt electrifying sensation soon after I chewed it, soon the numbness appeared - of course. The "severe" sensation will last for 10 minutes, and you'll be completely free from effect in 15-20 mins.
It's fun to lose your sense sometimes :)