Hi everyone;
Ready to start another week? I am not to tell you the truth… Monday is my least favourite day of the week – you probably know it already as I already outlined it here – but tomorrow will probably be one of the hardest for me. My daughter will leave for camp for the first time. I know she will have a fantastic week, my friends all reassured me. BUT I just can’t help. You didn’t expect me to reason myself, did you?
Do you know what I do when I feel stressed? I hide in the kitchen and I cook and bake. Yes, the kitchen is my safe place. Do you want to know what I cooked? A Thai steamed sea bass that I decided to share with you. It is a fresh and very fragrant dish, and despite appearances very easy to make.
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| Click here for the printable recipe |
Ingredients:
- 1 whole sea bass – scaled and gutted
- 4 spring onions
- 1 piece of fresh galangal (~2 inches) – optional
- 1 piece of fresh ginger
- ½ bunch of fresh cilantro, with roots if possible
- 1 stalk of lemongrass
- 1 shallot or ¼ of a red onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 3 tbsp. of lime juice
- 2.5 tbsp. of fish sauce
- 1 tbsp. of pure cane sugar
- 1 tbsp. of coconut sugar
Super fresh and yummy dipping sauce
Directions:
- Prepare the sauce: thinly mince the garlic cloves, the shallot (I use red onion as it suits better to young children’s palate), few cilantro stems, and the bottom part of the lemongrass. Transfer into a bowl, add the sugars, lime juice, and fish sauce. Combine well and let it sit
- Cut the ginger into strips. Score the whole fish on both sides making 4 parallel deep cuts and insert the ginger in the cuts and the cavity of the fish
- Punch few small holes in a parchment paper and lay it in the steamer (I used a roaster with a rack that I installed on the stove as my fish was quite big – 800 g!)
- Add the lower part of the spring onions, the cilantro stems, the leftover lemongrass, and the sliced galangal on the parchment paper and transfer the fish onto it
- Cover (I had to use aluminum foil) and turn on the heat.
- From the moment the water is boiling, count 10 to 15 minutes to cook the whole fish
- Lift up the flesh, if it removes easily from the backbone, it’s done
- Transfer the fish onto a dish; serve it with some jasmine rice
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| Cliquer ici pour imprimer la recette en français |
Example of how to serve the fish by garnishing the fish flesh with some toasted peanut, fresh spring onion and cilantro, drizzle some sauce and sprinkle some toasted peanut
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| Use the leftover to make fragrant fish broth for a tasty soup |
I hope you will give this recipe a try. Don’t forget to let me know by tagging me @cook_with_lu on Instagram.
Have a great week ahead!
NB:
1. Use the leftover to make a fragrant fish broth by just adding the juice of a small lime. It will help to release the goodness out of the bones. You will end up with a collagen-rich broth to use for a yummy tom yum soup for example
2. You will most probably end up with some dipping sauce left, keep it in the fridge and use it as a salad dressing
3. I created this dish to suit all members of a family so I skipped the chili. But I like it with a special kick so I drizzle some homemade chili oil on my serving
