Sweet and sour tilapia at Uncle Zhou's - Neighborhood Eats

Friday, June 07, 2013

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recipe, neighborhood eats, lauren glassberg

Lauren Glassberg
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Eyewitness News

ELMHURST (WABC) -- Three years ago Steven Zhou was out of work. That's when he decided to open a restaurant in Elmhurst.

The name is approachable - Uncle Zhou - meant to appeal to people unfamiliar with this kind of food.

The style of cooking is from the Henan province, not to be confused with the Hunan province. Henan is known for noodles.

Uncle Zhou is an expert noodle puller, and watching him makes me want to give it a go.

It is art as Uncle Zhou suddenly creates delicate strands. The noodles are great for soupy stews, part of the reason customers come several times a week.

Uncle Zhou's is located at 83-29 Broadway in New York.
Phone:(718) 393-0888

Sweet & Sour Tilapia

The recipe for the hand-pulled noodles is a very difficult one, but you can certainly make the main ingredient - The tilapia with sweet and sour sauce and serve with lo mein noodles or rice.

For sauce

Ingredients:

3 TBLS cup white or rice vinegar

4 TBLS sugar

2 TSP honey

1/3 cup ketchup

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. When serving with fish or favorite protein - heat in pan or wok, with a little oil and you can add a pinch of cornstarch and a couple teaspoons of water... great poured over a filet or whole fish.

For fish

Ingredients:

Whole tilapia (1-2 pounds, cleaned off, but you should keep the head and tail on)

2 Eggs

2 tbls Flour

Salt and pepper

1-2 cups peanut oil

1 wok

In a bowl mix flour and eggs to create a paste. Lightly salt and pepper both sides of the fish. Then make 4 slice marks on each side of the fish to the bone, but not deep enough to cut through the fish. Lightly coat the fish with the batter, getting it into the sliced areas.

Heat the peanut oil in the wok. Once sizzling hot, put the fish in head first, and fry for about 2 minutes. Remove and drain.

Serve with the sweet and sour sauce that's been heated poured on top.