Ma Yau, or threadfin fish, is one of the commonly available sea fish this part of the world, coupled with it’s reasonable price, it is one of the more popular fish in the kitchen and tai chau places alike.

The most common way of handling Ma Yau is usually oil-soaked Ma Yau 油浸马友鱼, which can be a bit dull, so when I had one to work with a couple weeks ago, I decided to come up with something slightly different.

Fried Ma Yau fish with special sauce
Ma Yau Fish with dark soya sauce and onion

I call this the Mau Yau fish with dark soya sauce and onion, though there’s a little bit more than onion that goes into this dish.

Ingredients:

  • Ma Yau fish – obviously
  • one onion, cut into half, and slices
  • a few slices of ginger, cut into sticks
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic, cut into slices
  • one lemongrass, chopped
  • a few chili padi (optional)
  • 1 table spoon of oyster sauce
  • 2 table spoons of dark soya sauce
  • vegetable oil

ingredients for friedd ma yau fish
ingredients for friedd ma yau fish

This dish requires a two part preparations. First, the fish, which is fairly simple.

  • clean the fish and rub both sides with some salt
  • heat up enough oil to cover half the fish with medium fire
  • fry both sides of fish for 7-8 minutes for each side
  • remove fish and place on serving plate

Then the sauce:

  • heat up 2 table spoon of oil
  • add garlic, ginger, onion, chili, and lemon grass prepared earlier
  • fry till fragrant (about 2 minutes with fairly high heat)
  • add dark soya sauce and oyster sauce
  • continue stirring for a minute or so
  • pour on fish to serve

fried ma yau - threadfin fish

The result is a Ma Yau fish with some kick. The lemon grass gives it a bit of Southern Thailand taste while chili padi added some kick to the sauce. Give it a try, I hope you like it.

p/s: a bit of coriander or basil on top would provide a nicer presentation, but I ran out of those herbs.

KY cooks – Ma Yau Fish with dark soya sauce and onion
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16 thoughts on “KY cooks – Ma Yau Fish with dark soya sauce and onion

  • March 15, 2011 at 11:44 pm
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    I probably would have added some light soya sauce for a salty kick, and from your bottle that looks like caramel sauce not dark soya sauce 😡

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    • March 16, 2011 at 8:36 am
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      ShaolinTiger: didn’t add soya sauce cos I rubbed the fish with salt already, I use caramel sauce & dark soya sauce interchangeably hehehe

      Reply
  • March 16, 2011 at 3:20 am
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    My mom usually prepares a black bean based sauce

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  • March 16, 2011 at 6:16 am
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    Hey it looks pretty good…my mom does it this way too, but with more chilli and onions. 🙂

    Reply
  • March 16, 2011 at 12:48 pm
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    Nice stuff, almost like Kung Po style!

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    • March 16, 2011 at 1:55 pm
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      JD: haha slightly similar, true 😀

      Reply
    • March 16, 2011 at 5:43 pm
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      Tey Cindy: healthy life style, learn from you wann 😛

      Reply
  • March 16, 2011 at 6:35 pm
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    wah suddenly had the passion to cook so often one!

    Reply
    • March 16, 2011 at 9:07 pm
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      eiling: make full use of the kithen maa 😀

      Reply
  • September 17, 2011 at 8:33 am
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    try to avoid eating because fishing method is trawling

    Reply

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