Enjoy restaurant-quality crispy-skin fish in your very own home with my tips and tricks in this simple recipe. Seabass and snapper are personal favourites of mine, but feel free to choose what fish you prefer. The sweet and spicy sambal sauce pairs beautifully with this one. Delicious!
6 x 200g sea bass or snapper fillets, skin on (or any other fish fillets you fancy)
¼ cup corn flour (cornstarch)
1 tsp baking soda
vegetable oil for shallow frying
2 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced
sea salt
lime wedges to serve
Sweet chilli sambal:
2 long red chillies, roughly chopped
3 red Asian shallots, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
3 tbsp honey
For the sweet chilli sambal, place chillies, shallots and garlic in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped (you could also do this by hand).
Heat the 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and cook the chilli mixture for 5 minutes until soft. Add the tomatoes, fish sauce, tamarind concentrate and honey. Simmer for about 10 minutes until tomatoes become pulpy and the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to serve (can be served warm or at room temperature).
To cook the fish, pour in enough vegetable oil in a large non-stick pan to cover the base. Place over medium-high heat. Combine the corn flour with the baking soda on a large plate. Season fish fillets with salt, then lightly coat the skin side with the corn flour mixture. Pat off any excess flour and place skin side down into the oil. Cover with baking paper and then add another pan on top to weigh down the fillets slightly. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Then remove the pan and paper and turn the fillets over. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer to paper towels to drain off the excess oil.
To serve, spoon generous amounts of sweet chilli sambal onto serving plates. Top with a fillet of fish. Sprinkle with spring onion and place a lime wedge on the side.
