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.

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



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.


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.


Recipe : Blue Ginger by Les Huynh (adapted)