Basa is a type of catfish from South East Asia, and bought frozen, usually as a pair of white fillets (deboned as well). It’s actually a bit sturdy (compared to other fish), so it’s great for a stir-fry! I recently mentioned to someone that I was going to make a stir-fry using fish, and was met with a confused response. I think she was used to having fish steamed, or pan-fried, but not in a stir-fry!

Also this fish is quite inexpensive, as I paid around $3 CAD for the two fillets at a local Chinese grocery store! (I thought I took a photo of the packaging, but I must have forgotten! I will update this post shortly and post a photo to show you what the packaging looks like).

**EDIT**
So I went to my local Chinese grocery store and snapped a photo of what the frozen basa fillet would look like:


As you can see, it is quite a large fillet!

For this recipe, feel free to use any vegetables of your choice. As you can see from the photo, I used green peppers and celery.

Basa fillet is a popular fish my parents like to cook with. Stay tuned for more recipes using basa, as I will be learning from them!

This recipe may take about 20 minutes from start to finish. The preparation work may take up to 10 minutes, while the stir-frying should take up at most 8-10 minutes.

• 2 basa fillets, cut into medium bite-sized pieces
• 2 stalks of celery cut into small pieces
• 1 green pepper cut into small pieces
• 3-4 chopped garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon of chicken broth mix powder
• 1 teaspoon of cooking wine (rice wine)
• 2 teaspoon of corn starch
• 2 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 3 tablespoons of water
• a pinch of salt

• Clean the basa with cold water, and pat dry. When dry, marinate the basa with the chicken broth mix, cooking wine, 1 teaspoon of the corn starch, sesame oil, and black pepper.
  
  Here is a photo of what the basa looks like after marinating:
  
  

1. In a preheated wok or pan, heat the cooking oil, then add half of the chopped garlic. Once the garlic starts to turn a little brown, saute the basa. Even though I mentioned at the beginning that the basa is quite sturdy (compared to other fish), be careful not to violently stir-fry, or you will end up with tiny basa fragments. Once the basa is cooked (which may take up to 5 minutes), remove from the wok (or pan) and set aside.
2. Using the same wok (or pan), re-heat and add the remaining garlic, and saute the vegetables (in my case, the celery and green pepper). Mix in the water, salt, 1 teaspoon of the corn starch, fish sauce, and sugar.
3. Allow the sauce to come to a boil while the vegetables are cooked to your liking.
4. Place the basa back into the wok (or pan), and stir-fry for another 30 seconds.
5. This is an optional step, but I like the scent of the sesame, so I tend to finish off by adding about 1 more teaspoon of sesame oil. Ready to serve!