Saturday, February 14, 2009

Thai 3 Flavoured Fish ~ Pla Lat

It has been a while since I cooked a fish dish. Fish not being Mr Redneck's idea of a good feed, I have to be particularly picky when trying out a new recipe . The dish has to be strong flavoured and with plenty of sauce to mask the fish smell.

I used Trevally for this recipe. Spicy, sweet and tartiness - that fits Mr Redneck's criteria of a good fish dish. The original recipe deep fries the fish but I prefer to do the healthier version of just frying with a little oil on the cast iron pan.

Pla Lat
Ingredients
800gm whole fish, clean

Grind together
1-2 Tbsp chilli paste
3 clove garlic
½ onion

Sauce
25gm tamarind paste + ½ cup hot water
25gm palm sugar, shaved
3 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp oil

Pla Lat

Method
1. Clean fish. Score both sides of the fish with diamond shape cuts and season with a little salt. Set aside.

2. Soak tamarind paste with the hot water to extract 4 Tbsp of tamarind juice.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a small saucepan. Add in the ground paste. Fry until fragrant.

4. Add tamarind juice, palm sugar, fish sauce, sugar and water. Simmer stirring occassionally for 3-4 minutes or until sauce becomes thick and syrupy.

5. Heat a thin layer of oil in a cast iron pan. Dust the fish with a light sprinkling of plain or corn flour.

6. Place fish into the hot oil. Fry on medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Flip the fish to cook the other side.

7. Place fish on serving plate. Pour sauce over it. Garnish and serve.

Thai 3 flavoured fish
Note :
The sauce might taste a bit strong but it will be just right when poured on and eaten with the fish.

Tip :
The fish will be crispy if dusted with a little flour before frying. This also stops the oil from splattering and spitting.

Plat Rat
Recipe : Blue Ginger by Les Huynh (adapted)

15 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh this is lovely,

this it'll be with great with Ikan Kembong.

Cheers,
Ryonn
http://chaokar.blogspot.com


p/s: i've been a silent reader for a while, First time commenting. Happy cooking,

Anonymous said...

Wow! I can just imagine the flavour! Spicy, sour, sweet and salty!!! Yummy! What a fantastic combo!

I have to keep this recipe in my to-do list bcos I have "orders" to clear up the fridge and freezer before I return to KL (for 3 months!)

Sinner said...

Ryonn - Thanks for dropping by. Your blog looks great.

Tricia - I am so envious. I am sure you will be shopping like mad. Go back with 1 suitcase, come back with 5 ! haha

jadepearl said...

Thanks for dropping by!
OMG...this is one of my favourite dishes!!! I love Thai food...drooling here!!!

Anonymous said...

wow... looks really good!! I like fish being cooked this way!

Anonymous said...

Actually go back with 2 suitcase comeback with 6 plus cabin baggages!!! LOL!!!

Kate said...

Hi,

Just found your blog as I was searching for a russian fudge recipe. Everything looks great, have added you to my RSS :)

Cheers,
Kate

Family First said...

A fantastic dish perfect with rice! I am salivating already.

Jennifer said...

Looking at your dish makes me hungry...slurp!

Jennifer

Sinner said...

jadepearl, mycookinghut, Family First, Jennifer - Thanks :)

Kate - Thanks for dropping by. Hope you like the russian fudge.

Anonymous said...

This is a wonderfully tantalizing blog. Thank you for sharing these wonderful recipes and beautiful photography. My only regret is that I live in the States and it's hard to convert everything from the metric system. :(
-Marcia

Kate said...

I could not get the fudge to work! I don't know what I did wrong, followed the recipe exactly but the sugar never dissolved - even after an hour of gentle heating. Any tips?

p.s. think I must live locally to you, well, relatively!

Sinner said...

Kate,

Your gentle heat must have been too 'gentle'. Turn your heat up a bit more. Shouldn't take an hour for the sugar to dissolve. The sugar dissolves with no problem. I cook the Russian fudge a few times a year as gifts.

Sinner said...

Hi Marcia,

Welcome to our blog. If I see a recipe in imperial measures, I usually use one of those conversions on google where you type in the quantity and it automatically converts for me. Easy Peasy :)

Kate said...

Thanks for the hints, I will definitely try again!

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