THAILAND / VIETNAM
Steaming is one my favourite methods of cooking delicate fish. In Asia, fish is almost always steamed whole. Cooking timings are much more forgiving when you leave the fish on the bone; and unless your timing is really out of whack, you are pretty much guaranteed fine, flaky flesh every time. Fresh fish doesn’t need much more than a splash of soy sauce, but I love this combination of lime, chillies and fish sauce, which is common on Thai and Vietnamese tables.
- 1 rainbow trout
- a pinch of sea salt
- 2 bird’s-eye chillies
- 3 cloves of garlic
- a 2.5cm piece of ginger
- 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon unrefined light brown sugar
- a handful of fresh coriander
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- Rub the rainbow trout all over with a big pinch of salt, then set aside.
- Finely chop the chillies and garlic, and slice the ginger into thin shreds. Halve the lime, and mix the juice of half of it with the fish sauce and sugar. Slice the other half thinly.
- Rinse the fish and pat dry, then place it on a heatproof plate that’s large enough to hold most of the fish (it’s OK to have the head and tail sticking out slightly). Stuff the belly of the fish with the lime slices. Spoon the sauce over the fish, and sprinkle with the chillies, garlic and ginger.
- Prepare your steamer, or a little rack set over about 10cm of water in a wok. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then turn the heat down slightly so that the water is not at a rolling boil. Place the plate in the steamer basket or on top of the rack, cover, and steam until the fish is just cooked through, about 12–15 minutes depending on the size.
- Serve with a sprinkling of fresh coriander and plenty of plain steamed rice to mop up the sauce with.