Thai Style Whole Snapper Recipes

THAI SNAPPER WITH BLACK BEAN BASIL SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a shallow pan and brown garlic. Add all peppers and saute for 1 minute. Add rest of the ingredients. Heat until simmering and pour over the fish.
• Suggested Wines: - Veuve Royale Brut, French Sparkling Wine - Tablas Hills, Paso Robles Red Wine, Cuvee Rouge, 1995 (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre blend)

ROASTED RED SNAPPER WITH THAI BASIL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Season fish inside and out with salt and pepper. Place lime leaves inside the body cavity. Combine the peanut oil, garlic, ginger and basil leaves in a dish and marinate the fish for 1 to 2 hours, refrigerated, occasionally turning and basting.
• Preheat roasting pan in oven for 10 minutes before cooking snapper.
• Add the red pepper, cabbage and tofu to the pan and roast for 5 minutes.
• Place the marinated fish into the preheated roasting pan on one side on a bed of the vegetables and roast for 12 to 15 minutes before turning the fish to its other side.
• Roast for 5 minutes and pour the peanuts and coconut milk over the fish. Continue to roast for 10 minutes more before removing from the oven.
• Allow to rest for 5 minutes.
• Use two spoons to remove the fish from the bones.
• Serve on a bed of rice noodles tossed with sesame oil. Spoon the tofu, red pepper, cabbage and pan juices over the fish and noodles.

WHOLE SNAPPER WITH BALINESE SPICES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add shallot, and, stirring constantly, add ginger, garlic, lemon grass, lime leaves, Thai chile, curry leaves, and coconut. Continue stirring until the mixture is fragrant and coconut is beginning to dry out, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let stand until cool.
• Fill the belly of the fish with three-quarters of the stuffing. Use a long wooden skewer to hold the belly of the fish closed. Heat remaining 1/2 cup oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add snapper to pan, and cook until the skin is crisp and brown, about 3 minutes per side. Very carefully pour off oil from pan. Transfer fish to oven until cooked through, about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat remaining stuffing in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in coconut milk, and heat through.
• Transfer cooked fish to a serving platter. Strain sauce through a fine sieve directly over the fish. Season with lime juice, and garnish with scallion greens and cilantro.

STEAMED WHOLE RED SNAPPER WITH ASIAN FLAVORS

Steps:

• Sprinkle inside of each fish with salt. Using sharp cleaver or knife, make 4 diagonal slits on 1 side of each fish, spacing equally and cutting to the bone. Insert 1 slice of ginger, 1 slice of garlic and 1 cilantro leaf into each slit. Turn fish over. Make 4 diagonal slits on second side of each fish and insert remaining sliced ginger, sliced garlic and cilantro leaves. Arrange fish in 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover; refrigerate).
• Place a slice of ginger and garlic, then a whole cilantro leaf in each slit; they will add flavor to the fish during the steaming process. Hold back the flaps to insert the seasonings more easily.
• Pour enough water into wok or large pot to reach depth of 1 1/2 inches. Place bottom of 11- to 12-inch-diameter bamboo steamer over water in wok or open a steamer rack and place in pot. Place dish with fish in bamboo steamer (or on steamer rack). Curl tails if necessary to fit.
• The classic Chinese way to cook the fish is in a tiered bamboo steamer set over boiling water in a wok. Pour water to a depth of 1 1/2 inches into the wok.
• If you don't have a bamboo steamer or a wok, you can use a vegetable steamer rack set in a large pot. The pot should be large enough to allow steam to circulate around the glass pie dish that holds the fish.
• Sprinkle 1 tablespoon each of chopped cilantro, shallots, lemongrass and green onions into dish around fish. Combine broth and 1 tablespoon soy sauce in cup and pour into dish. Bring water to boil. Cover bamboo steamer (or pot). Steam fish until just opaque in center at bone, about 18 minutes.
• Before steaming, surround the fish with chopped shallots, lemongrass, green onions, and cilantro. Then pour a broth and soy sauce mixture into the dish to flavor the fish as it cooks.
• Meanwhile, combine sesame oil and vegetable oil in heavy medium skillet. Add chopped ginger and chopped garlic, then 2 tablespoons each of chopped cilantro, shallots, lemongrass and green onions. Stir over medium heat until oil is hot and seasonings are fragrant, about 3 minutes. Pour seasoned oil into small bowl; add remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce.
• Using oven mitts as aid, transfer dish with fish to work surface. Using large spatula, transfer fish to platter. Spoon juices from dish over fish. Spoon some of seasoned oil over fish. Serve fish with rice; pass remaining seasoned oil.
• You may have to special-order whole fish from the supermarket or fish market.
• ** Available at Southeast Asian markets and in the produce section of some supermarkets.

BAKED SNAPPER WITH CHILIES, GINGER AND BASIL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil.
• Stuff the cavity of the snapper with 1/2 cup basil leaves and set aside. Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat until it begins to smoke. Place the snapper in the skillet, and quickly brown on both sides, about 1 minute total. Place the fish into the roasting pan, and sprinkle with fish sauce. Reserve the peanut oil in the skillet.
• Bake fish in preheated oven until the flesh flakes easily with a fork, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining peanut oil over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, ginger, chile peppers, and yellow pepper and cook until the peppers have softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar, rice vinegar, water, and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat until thickened to desired consistency. Pour the sauce over the snapper, and garnish with the remaining basil leaves to serve.