If you’ve ever eaten fish at a mamak in Malaysia, you know there are different styles of cooking and different dressings on the fish. I recommend Thai steamed fish but if you ask my husband, he prefers the Malay style- grilled or deep fried. I don’t like it because they use dry anchovies in their blend of chilies.
thai steamed fish with garlic fried rice
Ingredients
Fish
1 seabass
10 slices of ginger
6 garlic cloves
1/2 lime, sliced
Salt
Thai dressing
10cm long ginger, peeled and chopped
6 big garlic cloves
2 red chilies, sliced
1 bird’s eye chili, sliced
1 big bunch of fresh coriander leaves
250ml water, mixed with 1 tbsp of Vegeta or Knorr vegetable seasoning
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 limes, juice only
To serve: plain Jasmine rice or garlic fried rice
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 Celsius.
Make the dressing: put all dressing ingredients in a blender and pulse a few times.
In the meantime, prepare the fish. Cut 3 slits on each side (do not cut too deep), salt the fish and stuff the cavity with the rest of the ingredients.
Place the fish in the center of an aluminum foil square and fold up the edges to seal the fish, then put it on a roasting tin on the middle rack for 30 min.
Remove the fish from the oven, open the foil and pour 6-8 tbsp of the dressing on top. Seal the parcel again and leave to rest for a minute.
Serve with plain rice or, my favorite, garlic fried rice (see recipe here). Pour more dressing on the fish as you eat, if you like it.
Store any remaining dressing in a jar in the fridge.
Tips & cheats
If you don't like spicy food, remove the chili seeds before making the dressing.
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