Fish Paste Stuffed Peppers

Jalapeño peppers (you can use any type of pepper) are halved and stuffed with fresh fish paste. Pan fried till golden and juicy, Fish Paste Stuffed Peppers is a popular Chinese dish that is surprisingly straightforward to make at home.

We love fish paste! We love it simply boiled as fish balls, pan fried into fish paste patties. It's wonderful stuffed into tofu and steamed.

And we really love fish paste stuffed into sweet peppers and pan fried ^_^

You can make fish paste at home (recipe coming soon), or you can buy fresh fish paste from the market which is much more easy.

We buy fish paste from a vendor at Kekaulike Market in Honolulu's Chinatown. I heard that you can also buy frozen fish paste from larger Chinese supermarkets, but I haven't looked into this yet.

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need:

Fish paste - You can use store bought or homemade fish paste. We buy like to buy fresh fish paste from a vendor in Honolulu's Chinatown.

Neutral oil - Use any neutral oil like vegetable oil or avocado oil. We buy this avocado oil from Costco Hawaii (you can also get it online).

White pepper - My grandma often made this dish and I recall her using black pepper. Now that my mom and I are in change of making it, we think it tastes better with white pepper. You can use whichever one you prefer.

Jalapeño peppers - I like to use jalapeño peppers for this recipe. You can use any type of pepper but short and wide peppers are preferred over long and skinny peppers. This is mainly a convenience thing. The wider the pepper, the easier it is to stuff. You can also use bell peppers, but try to look for smaller bell peppers.

Instructions

Let's get cooking!

Place the fish paste in a large bowl.

Add the oil and white pepper.

Mix the the fish paste with the oil and white pepper until everything is evenly combined. I like to use a pair of chopsticks to mix - keep the chopsticks together and use your hand to grip and stir in one direction till everything is well blended.

Set aside.

Next, prepare the peppers.

Cut off the pepper stems. The cut the pepper in half lengthwise. Carefully remove the seeds and the white pith (use a small knife to do this) from the peppers. Pat dry and set aside.

Arrange all the prepared peppers with the inside facing up. Then using a small spoon, fill each pepper with the fish paste.

I use a spoon to do the initial filling. Then I follow with a small knife to smooth and even everything out.

Try to really fill the peppers so that there are no air gaps between the pepper and fish paste. It's a little extra work, but worth the effort. If you're going to make the dish, do it right, you know?

Repeat until you fill all the peppers. 1 pound of fish paste usually fills 10 jalapeño peppers (20 halves).

Now, we cook the filled peppers!

Make sure to oil the pan well. There's not much fat in fish paste so it tends to stick to the pan easily.

Note: If we make something similar but more forgiving like fish paste patties, you can use a spatula to help nudge/push the patty if it sticks to the pan. But with the stuffed peppers, you risk the fish paste separating from the pepper if the fish paste sticks to the pan.

We try to use minimal oil in general, but you can't skimp on the oil when it comes to pan frying anything with fish paste.

Once the pan is hot, place the filled peppers with the fish paste side facing down. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the fish paste is golden in color and lifts easily from the pan (it should lift easily if you oiled it enough).

Use a pair of tongs or chopsticks to flip the pepper so that the outside of the pepper is facing down. Cook 2-3 minutes until the bottom of the pepper is nice and browned.

Then add a cup of water to the pan. Place a lid on the pan and let steam for 2-3 minutes. Remove the lid and let the rest of the water cook off.

Steaming helps soften the pepper so that it's more tender. It also helps to ensure the fish paste is cooked through.

Then remove from heat and place on a plate. Eat hot and enjoy ^_^

Top Tip: Gloves!

Wear gloves when removing the seeds and pith.

I used jalapeño peppers for this recipe. And they're generally not that spicy, but once in a while you come across a spicy one. You just never know.

I didn't wear gloves when removing the seeds and pith (the white inside part of the pepper) and my hands felt like they were slowly burning for hours after. Lesson learned!

FAQ

Fish Paste Stuffed Peppers Recipe