This guy has it right for the most part. The celery, and cabbage do need to be cooked, along with the garlic and ginger. With the bean paste at direction #3 in oil, before you add the water, or stock. I love the Sichuan region for the layers of flavors you can create in a short time. With the bean paste you can play with many more flavors. Dark soy, Black vinegar, sugar, sesame oil(use sparingly), and I would add some toasted white sesame seeds, and scallions cut on a bias as garnish, instead of cilantro. even though the chilis were brought to Sichuan from there, thats where it should stop.

It's not that I thought the dish was inedible, but I've had many szechuan fish dishes...and this is not reminiscent of any of them. First, there's no way that the napa and celery would cook thoroughly by soaking in hot broth and having hot oil poored over it. The fish did not take on much flavor either. I will not be repeating this one.

We thought the recipe would be spicy as it is, so we decided to use less chili peppers, and it was perfectly spicy. Yum.

love it!