Thai Sea Bass Recipes

WHOLE BAKED THAI SEA BASS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to fan 180°C / conventional 200°C / 400°F / gas mark 6.
• Wash the sea bass inside and out, and pat dry with kitchen paper.
• Score across the fish and through the skin 4-5 times on each side, then lay the fish on a large piece of oiled foil, big enough to wrap it up loosely. Do this for all four of them.
• Place the lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chillies, coriander stems, lime juice, honey, fish sauce and oil in a blender and give it a quick whizz until the mixture is roughly chopped.
• Season the fish inside and out.
• Use half of the mixture over the fish, making sure you push some into the cuts.
• Use the remainder of the mixture to fill the cavities of the fish.
• Pull the sides of the foil up to create a loose parcel. Crimp the edges to seal, making sure there is some space around the fish.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until the fish is cooked and flakes easily.
• Let it rest for about 5 minutes before opening the parcel. Serve immediately.
• Before eating, be sure to drain the juices in a bowl to serve with the fish. Remove the mixture because it's not edible because the woodiness of the lemongrass.

STEAMED THAI-STYLE SEA BASS AND RICE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. In a food processor or liquidizer, whiz up the coriander stalks, half of the coriander leaves, the ginger, garlic, halved chillies, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice and zest and the coconut milk. This will give you a lovely fragrant Thai-style paste.
• Cook your rice in salted, boiling water until it's just undercooked, then drain it in a colander. Scoop it into a high-sided roasting tray. Pour your Thai paste over the rice and mix it in well, then shake it out flat. Lay the sea bass fillets on top, scatter over the sugar snap peas or mangetouts, then cover the dish tightly with tinfoil and put it in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle over the spring onions, the sliced chilli and the other half of the coriander leaves. Divide between your plates with a wedge of lime.

SEA BASS THAI STYLE

Steps:

• Apart from the sea bass, mix all the other ingredients together.
• Arrange the sea bass fillets on a sheet of tin foil so that the shiny side is on the outside.
• Score the fillets, and pull up the corners of the foil. Spoon over the Thai dressing and crimp the corners together to create a sealed bag.
• Dip the base of the bag in some oil and place on a chargrill or hot dry pan and cook for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the pan, tear open bag and serve.

THAI-STYLE CRISPY SEA BASS

Steps:

• Trim and halve the spring onions, finely shred lengthways and place in a bowl of ice-cold water to crisp up. Pick in the coriander leaves, reserving the stalks.
• Place a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat.
• With a sharp knife, score the sea bass skin at 2cm intervals, then rub all over with the curry paste, inside and out, getting into all the cracks and crannies.
• Pack the coriander stalks into the cavities, season with sea salt and black pepper, then place in the hot pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
• Cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until dark golden and cooked through (depending on the thickness of your fish).
• Drain and shake off the spring onions and coriander and pile on to your plates.
• Sit the sea bass on top, spooning over any spicy oil from the pan. Finely grate over the lime zest, and serve with lime halves, for squeezing over.

SEA BASS WITH SIZZLED GINGER, CHILLI & SPRING ONIONS

Steps:

• Season 6 sea bass fillets with salt and pepper, then slash the skin 3 times.
• Heat a heavy-based frying pan and add 1 tbsp sunflower oil.
• Once hot, fry the sea bass fillets, skin-side down, for 5 mins or until the skin is very crisp and golden. The fish will be almost cooked through.
• Turn over, cook for another 30 seconds - 1 minute, then transfer to a serving plate and keep warm. You'll need to fry the sea bass fillets in 2 batches.
• Heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil, then fry the large knob of peeled ginger, cut into matchsticks, 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves and 3 thinly shredded red chillies for about 2 mins until golden.
• Take off the heat and toss in the bunch of shredded spring onions. Splash the fish with 1 tbsp soy sauce and spoon over the contents of the pan.

THAI GRILLED SEA BASS - PLA PAO

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients except Sea Bass to form marinade.
• Pour marinade over fish in a ziplock bag or shallow dish and allow to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Grill over medium-hot coals until cooked through (about 4-8 minutes per inch of thickness, until fish flakes easily), turning once, and basting frequently with marinade.
• Serve with steamed jasmine rice, sauteed bok choy, and/or grilled zucchini medallions on kebabs (basted with marinade), if desired.
• Good table condiments include lime wedges and chile sauce (sambal oelek).