Yú xiāng (鱼香) literally translates to fish-fragrant. It refers to Sichuan dishes that's dressed with this fragrant, garlicky, spicy, sweet, and sour sauce. There's two possibilities of how this name came about. One, yu xiang sauce started as a sauce used for a fish dish, which later is applied to other dishes, like this eggplant with garlic sauce. Two, the Chinese pickled peppers that's traditionally used in the sauce was pickled with a fish, giving a funky, fishy flavor.