I filmed this video in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, a small fishing village in the state of Guerrero. The fish there is so fresh and delicious that I couldn’t resist trying out this simple, tasty, traditional Korean recipe, domi-yangnyeom-gui. It’s fried fish, but what really makes it stand out is the seasoning sauce, where the a mix of savory soy sauce, nutty sesame oil and seeds, and fresh green onion nicely compliments the fish.
This is a very traditional way of enjoying fish in Korean cuisine. Like many Korean side dishes, it’s a little salty, so you always need to pair it with rice.
You can make this with red snapper, yellow corvina, pogy – not just black snapper like I do here. You can also broil, roast, or BBQ the fish, if you don’t want to fry it.
Next time you get some good fish, try this recipe, and let me know how it goes.
Ingredients
(Serves 3-4)
- 1½ pound black snapper (or red snapper), cleaned and salted
- ⅓ cup cooking oil
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Seasoning sauce (Yangnyeomjang):
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 green chili pepper, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon roasted toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
Directions
- Take the fish from the fridge and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Sprinkle the flour on both sides of the fish.
- Heat up a nonstick pan and add the cooking oil.
- Cook the fish until the bottom turns golden brown. It’ll take about 20 minutes over medium heat. Turn it over with a spatula and cook the other side for another 15-20 minutes until that side turns golden brown, too.
- Combine the seasoning sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- Transfer the fish to a plate and place the seasoning sauce over top of the fish.
- Serve with rice, kimchi, a soup or stew, and more side dishes if desired.
Sukjunamul (mungbean sprouts side dish)
How to clean and salt a snapper:
You can use this method to clean and salt your fish in preparation for making domiyangnyeomgui, or you can simply panfry or BBQ the fish without any seasoning sauce. When I buy a lot of fish I’ll clean and salt them like this, put them all in the freezer, and then thaw them out as I need them.
- Scale the snapper with your knife.
- Cut along the underside of the fish, from the bottom of the head almost all the way to the tail.
- Remove the guts.
- Score the side of the fish diagonally 3-4 times.
- Wash and pat dry with paper towel.
- Sprinkle kosher salt on both sides of the fish evenly.
- Put it in a plastic bag and keep in the fridge at least 1 hour. You can keep it in the freezer if you don’t use it soon.
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Made this using salmon fillet (unfortunately, I don’t have a nice whole fish on hand) and it came out really nice! The sauce is super simple but does wonders to accompany the fish itself as well as the rice I served it on.
Of course, I’ve made a lot of other recipes you’ve shared, and I’ve really been getting into Korean cooking as a result! My brother really loves kimchijeon and I’m looking into getting what I need for bindaettok soon! Thanks for posting all these recipes!
Yesterday, the peddling fishmonger came by and I bought a couple of pounds of Tilapia from him (the only fish he sells). Fried one for supper and had it with Yangnyeomjang. The best Tilapia I´ve ever had!
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Hi Maanghi,
Can a lingcod be used for this recipe? Any advice would be great, thank you.
Or how about rock cod? Can I use that type of fish for this recipe?
Korean Style Fried Red Snapper with Seasoning Sauce (Yangnyeomjang) & Seafood “Paprik”-Malaysian’s dish. My family dinner tonight. Thanks Maangchi.. This fish very tasty.
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Hi Maangchi
I would like to use Mackerel for this recipe. Do you think that is ok?
Yes, mackerel will work well, too. Good luck!
My fish was ready at 15 minutes (both sides). Me, my dog, and two cats enjoyed the spicy, moist, flaky fish. We saved a taste for my Mom and Dad.
Hi Maangchi,
I like your video and how it was presented…so natural I can tell its all coming from the heart and no wonder your doing a great job.Thank you for sharing & will definitely try and will post a picture. All the best…
Great! I’m looking forward to your feedback!
Dear Maangchi,
Do you think saury will taste good prepared this way? :)
I want to try this recipe but the only fish I have is saury in my freezer
Yes, saury will work well, too.
Hi Maangchi!
I was able to download your kindle recipes on my android. Thank you for sharing this to us. I was hoping that I would have a copy of your recipes. Thanks again and God bless….
great! Happy cooking!
Dear Maangchi,
I am a Turkish people. My name is Aslıhan. I found your web site when I was searching Korean rice cake recipe. After that, I started reading your site. Because I like Korean people, Korean movies, Korean music, Korean food… I like all things about Korea =)
I’m reading your web site and watching your youtube videos. Today, I made your fish recipe whit little differences. If you give permission, I want to publish this recipe on my own blog site, of course with your link. And after that, I would like to publish your recipes which I try. If you give permission, I will be glad you. Best wishes.
“I want to publish this recipe on my own blog site, of course with your link..” Thank you, yes you can.
Hi Maangchi, I made this with boneless snapper fillets. It was much faster to cook and easy to eat, and my husband loved it!! The sauce is sooooo good. Thank you for the recipe! I made broccoli salad too!
Boneless snapper fillets sound awesome!
Hi Maangchi. Your video just reminded me that I need a vacation soooo bad!! It looks so relaxing, listening to the ocean and birds. I can just imagine how good the food tasted in that type of serenity.
The snapper looks so fresh and delicious.
wow i love that recipe but i have to healthify that no no to deep fry or pan fry i dont like frying… i will just bake it but is it ok i will use salmon fillet but baked…
and i will also put the sauce in advance before baking it and add additional gochujang and instead of sugar i will use honey! :D is it ok?