Steamed Thai-Style Sea Bass and Rice
This is one of those dishes that’s really exciting to eat – the flavours are really fragrant and light. Steamed fish and rice is always a winner, especially with Thai flavours. If you’ve got a good fishmonger, using other fish like red mullet, prawns or squid to mix things up a bit is a great idea. It’s easy to put together and loads of fun to serve the tray at the table.
NotesMatt’s wine suggestion: German white – Riesling
Serves4
Cooking Methodsteaming
CostModerate
Total Timeunder 1 hour
OccasionCasual Dinner Party
Recipe Coursemain course
Dietary Considerationegg-free, gluten-free, halal, kosher, lactose-free, peanut free
Equipmentblender, food processor
Mealdinner
Moodtired
Taste and Texturecreamy, garlicky, herby, hot & spicy, light, savory, spiced, umami
Ingredients
- 2 large bunches of fresh coriander, leaves picked and stalks reserved
- 2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 2 fresh red chillies, halved and deseeded
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce
- Juice and zest of 2 limes
- 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
- 400g/14oz basmati rice
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 x 170g/6oz sea bass fillets, pinboned and skin scored
- A handful of sugar snap peas or mangetouts
- A bunch of spring onions, outer leaves discarded, trimmed and finely sliced
- 1–2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
- 1 lime, quartered
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/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.
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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.
2007 Jamie Trevor Oliver
