Deep-fried Snapper with 3 Flavour Sauce (Thai-style)

 
 
If you've been following my recent posts, you'll know that I've been coming up with "copycat" recipes for some of dishes served at Sailors Thai. This time, I attempted to prepare the deep-fried snapper with three flavour sauce that everyone at our table of ten was raving about. As we ordered only one of each item from the menu, by the time it was passed down to our end of the table, the fish was almost mangled beyond recognition. Okay, perhaps that's an overstatement. Fortunately though, the fish head appeared to be intact, and surprisingly, nobody took the best part - the cheek! If I was having fish with my family (or relatives), the cheek would definitely be the first thing to disappear.


This is actually quite simple and easy to prepare, given that there aren't many ingredients required. The sweet, sour and spicy sauce is briefly simmered in a pan and then poured over the deep-fried fish. I've used a whole snapper here, although you could always substitute with pan-fried fish fillets if preferred. If you're using fresh long red chillies, depending on how hot they are, you may want to consider throwing in a few bird's eye chillies for some extra kick.

Deep-fried Snapper with 3 Flavour Sauce
(Serves 2-3)

Ingredients

800g whole snapper (or other firm white fish)
Cornflour
100g (3oz) fresh long red chillies, seeded and finely ground *
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 sprig coriander leaves
1/2 cup Thai basil leaves

Sauce:
3 tbsp tamarind pulp concentrate (bottled kind or equivalent)
3 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp vinegar *
1/2 tsp chicken stock granules (optional)

Method

Heat up sufficient oil in a wok and deep fry the basil leaves for 10 seconds or until translucent and crispy. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Set aside.

Make two or three diagonal slashes across both sides of the fish. Season with salt and pepper. Coat with cornflour and shake off excess. Deep fry in hot oil until crispy and golden. Remove and drain off excess oil, and place the fish on a serving plate.

In a clean pan, heat up 1 tbsp vegetable oil and fry the garlic, followed by the ground chillies and sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer briefly (about half a minute). Pour the sauce over the fish, garnish with crispy basil and coriander leaves. Serve immediately with steamed jasmine rice.

* Note: Instead of using fresh chillies and vinegar for the sauce, you may choose to substitute with Thai sambal oelek instead, which are sold in jars. Sambal oelek can be rather hot though, which is perfect if you like it hot!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thai Roast Duck Salad

Image
  So, I googled " game meat " and according to Wikipedia, " Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport".  I never knew that duck was considered game until someone told me that it is not commonly served or eaten in the United States for that very reason. Well, it makes sense now that I recall seeing duck hunting on TV (specifically the old Looney Tunes cartoons featuring Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck - rings a bell?). Maybe because I've grown up eating a lot of Chinese roast duck (and Peking duck during special occasions), and so I can't say that it tastes gamey at all. Or maybe duck just tastes best when it's roasted until the fat has rendered and the skin's gone all thin and crispy. The only thing I don't like about duck is that it's really boney and fatty. If you buy half a roast duck, you'd end up with half of it being bones and fat. The meat and skin however is very tasty.
Read more

Best Ever Italian Almond Cookies

Image
These are the BEST EVER, absolutely moreish and delicious Sicilian almond cookies you'll ever taste. With a thin and crispy crust outside, and amazingly soft and chewy inside, it's quite impossible to stop at one. The secret is to use roasted almond meal, which gives it a rich nutty and almost caramel-like flavour. Continue reading for the recipe. Italian Almond Cookies Adapted from Good Food Ingredients 250g roasted almond meal 3 egg whites, beaten until stiff 150g white sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 1/2 tsp almond essence Icing sugar, to coat biscuits Flaked almonds Method Using your hands or a large spoon, mix all ingredients (except icing sugar) together in a bowl and rest for 1/2 an hour. Preheat oven to 180C. Make small balls of about 3 cm by rolling them between your palms, then lightly roll them in the icing sugar. If the mixture is too soft, that's okay. Just drop spoonfuls of the mixture in the icing sugar and gently roll them until covered all over with sugar.
Read more

Pad Thai with Prawn and Pork

Image
It's hard to find a good pad thai in Sydney with the exception of Thai La Ong  where I had the most delicious pad thai with sliced pork. I've only been there once quite a few years ago, but I vividly remember the pad thai which was moist, saucy, and bursting with flavours of tamarind and the charry smokiness from the wok. Nothing like those pale-looking, bland and boring pad thais some other restaurants serve. That was my benchmark for pad thai, and today, I've got the perfect recipe that I hope you will enjoy. The only thing was that I couldn't find thin pad thai rice sticks at the supermarket. So I had to make do with the broader version which was about 1 cm wide. When the craving hits, you just have to make do with what's available! Continue reading to find the recipe. Pad Thai Serves 1 | Prep time: 30 mins | Cook time: 10 mins Ingredients 60g thin pad thai rice sticks Vegetable oil 1/4 large red onion, sliced 1 eggs 2 tsp chopped preserved radish/turnip 5 prawns
Read more