Crispy Whole Fish with Tamarind Sauce — Pla Rad Prik
A Bangkok whole deep-fried sea bass with crisp shatter-crackling skin, smothered in a rust-coloured tamarind-chilli-garlic sauce sweetened with palm sugar and finished with kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil over jasmine rice.
Thai
Categories
Nutrition per Serving
Ingredients
For 2 servings
Instructions
Prep
Pat both sea bass dry and score the skin on each. Dredge completely in cornflour. Soak 16 dried red chillies in 100ml warm water 5 minutes until softened. Pound softened chillies with 20 garlic cloves and 120g shallot halves into a coarse paste.
Bloom
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a medium pan over medium heat 30 seconds. Add chilli-garlic-shallot paste and fry 90 seconds until deeply fragrant and oil turns rust-red. Push aside and remove from heat.
Fry
Heat 1.2L oil in a deep wok over medium-high heat to 180C, about 7 minutes. Lower first dredged sea bass in carefully and fry 8 minutes until skin shatters crisp and deep golden and flesh flakes cleanly with a fork. Remove and repeat with second fish.
Rest
Lift both fish onto a wire rack over kitchen paper to drain off heat 3 minutes until the crust firms into a crackling shell while the interior stays juicy. Transfer to a warm platter.
Build
Pour 200ml water, 60ml tamarind paste, 60g palm sugar, and 60ml fish sauce into the bloomed paste pan over medium heat. Simmer 4 minutes until sauce reduces to glossy rust-red coating and chilli oil rises clearly.
Reduce
Slice 8 long red Thai chillies diagonally and drop into simmering sauce over low heat 60 seconds until just softened. Stir in 10 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced, then kill the heat to preserve their aroma.
Plate
Pour chilli-tamarind sauce over crispy fish until lacquered rust-red. Scatter 40g Thai basil leaves over top. Plate alongside 300g cooked jasmine rice with extra sauce in a small bowl.
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