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This stir fry lettuce with dace fish dish is a regular on our dinner table when I was young. Both my parents work very hard to raise us and as foreigners working in Singapore, they were very thrifty but yet want the best for their family. Many of our meals are made quick and fuss-free, like this lettuce with dace fish that can be ready to serve in less than 15 minutes, or Tomato Egg 15-Minute Stir-Fry Recipe (番茄炒蛋) or Ginger Pork Stir Fry 姜丝炒肉.
This is also a relatively cheap dish to make. The funny thing is that my mum told me this type of lettuce called ‘You Mai Cai’ (油麦菜) in Chinese is a very cheap type of vegetables, so cheap that when she’s young in the countryside of Batu Pahat, they used to feed the ducks with these vegetables. But today it’s a very popular vegetable that’s fairly priced.
Watch how to cook Stir Fry Lettuce with Black Bean Dace Fish on YouTube
Dace fish is the star ingredient
A can of black bean dace fish was just part of the dinner rotation, sometimes stir fried with vegetables, sometimes over tofu, or even without any fanfare — cracked open, spooned over rice, dinner done. It was the kind of thing you took completely for granted.
Which is why it’s genuinely strange — and quietly delightful — to see canned black bean dace fish having a moment on social media. Food creators are rediscovering it, younger generations are cooking with it for the first time, and restaurants started serving this.
The canned black bean dace fish is literally dace fish (鲮鱼) braised in aromatic oil infused with fermented salted black bean. Salty, savoury, deeply umami, and zero prep required.
Ingredients to cook Lettuce with Black Bean Dace Fish
Recently I saw a comeback of the canned dace fish in some restaurants’ menus. I actually really enjoyed eating it as it brought back many of my childhood memories. And it’s really not difficult to cook. Just 4 basic ingredients:
- Lettuce – There are many types of lettuce and so many different names. And this one type of lettuce called ‘You Mai Cai’ (油麦菜) in Chinese or ‘Yau Mak Chye’, but there isn’t any official English name to this type of vegetable. This lettuce looks very much likf the Romaine lettuce. In Asia, sometimes it’s referred to as Indian lettuce, or celtuce, stem lettuce. The texture of this vegetable stays pleasantly crisp even under high wok heat. And it has a subtly bitter, refreshing flavour, matching the salty fishy dace fish.
- Canned dace fish – The rather-dry and chewy fish dipped in oil infused with the fermented salty black beans. I realised that there is only 1 brand in the supermarket selling this type of fish — the Mili brand.
- Cooking oil & garlic – The basic aromatics for Asian stir fry dishes.
Tips for getting it right
- Skip the salt entirely – The fermented black beans are already quite salty and do all the seasoning work. Trust the tin — it’s got the flavour covered.
- Under 2 minutes in the wok – I used medium heat under the wok, and the whole cooking process took me 15 seconds short of 2 minutes.
- Get the wok properly heated first – I usually heat it up then grease it, when there is a little smoke coming up, it’s an indication it’s hot enough to cook.
- Cut the fish into smaller pieces before cooking – The fish is rather dry and hard, so cut into small bite-sized pieces will make it more enjoyable.
Pin now, cook later
Stir Fry Lettuce with Black Bean Dace Fish 豆豉鲮鱼炒油麦菜 (Ready in 15 minutes)
Detailed Step-by-Step Video
Ingredients
- 1 can canned dace fish
- 2 cloves garlic
- 200 g lettuce
- 1.5 tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
- Peel and crush 2 cloves garlic.
- Soak and rinse 200 g lettuce. Cut off the root and cut the lettuce into 5cm lengths.
- Remove the fish from 1 can canned dace fish, cut into smaller bite-sized pieces.
- Warm and grease the wok. Add 1.5 tbsp cooking oil and once the oil is heated up, add the garlic and sauté until slightly browned.
- Add the lettuce, then the dace fish. Stir fry for about 30 sec.
- Add the black beans from the can, stir fry for about 30 sec until the lettuce turns slightly wilted. Note: depending on the level of wok heat, the stir fry process should take about 1.5 to 2 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and transfer onto a plate.
- Best served immediately with steamed rice.
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