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.

THAI-STYLE SEA BASS

Steps:

• Thaw fish, if frozen. Rinse fish; pat dry. Measure thickness of fish; sprinkle with salt. Place fish in a resealable plastic bag set in a shallow dish.
• For marinade, in a small bowl combine next seven ingredients (through crushed red pepper). Pour half of the marinade over fish. Seal bag; turn to coat fish. Marinate in the refrigerator 1 hour, turning bag occasionally. Cover and chill remaining marinade until ready to serve.
• Drain fish, discarding marinade. Grease grill rack. Grill fish, uncovered, over medium heat 4 to 6 minutes per 1/2-inch thickness or just until fish flakes, turning once.
• To serve, drizzle remaining marinade over fish and rice noodles and, if desired, sprinkle with cilantro.

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.

GRILLED SEA BASS WITH THAI CHILI SAUCE

Steps:

• In medium bowl mix lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, chiles, ginger, sesame oil and sugar. Pour half of the sauce over the fish and let sit for 1 hour refrigerated. Discard the marinade used for the fish. Grill fish over high heat, about 5 to 7 minutes, or until cooked through, and serve with the remaining half of the sauce.

PAN-SEARED STRIPED BASS WITH THAI RED CURRY SAUCE AND SPICY EGGPLANT

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• For the spicy eggplant: Add 2 tablespoons of the oil to a medium saute pan over high heat. Add the red onion and sweat, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, eggplant, garlic, ginger, bird's eye chile and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the eggplant is browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock, fish sauce and chili paste. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 15 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and Thai basil before serving.
• For the fish: Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a medium saute pan over high heat. Season the fish generously on both sides with salt and lay it skin-side down in the hot pan. Sear until the skin is crispy, about 2 minutes. Flip the fish and cook for about 1 minute. Adjust the heat as needed. Transfer the fish to a baking sheet skin-side up. Bake until done, about 5 minutes.
• For the red curry sauce: Pour out excess oil from the pan used to cook the fish. Over medium heat, add the scallion whites, garlic and ginger and sweat for about 1 minute. Stir in the coconut milk, chicken stock, palm sugar, fish sauce, red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves and lime zest and juice. Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. Before serving, stir in the scallion greens.
• For serving: Top the fish with the red curry sauce, peanuts, cilantro and Thai basil. Serve with the spicy eggplant.

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).

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.