RED MULLET WITH SWEET CHILE SAUCE
What I love about the Asian style of food is that it has made my cooking so much lighter, and taken me away from using too much butter and cream. Red mullet is a sweet, robust fish that needs a lot of help with flavors (if you can’t find red mullet, striped mullet or sea bass are good substitutes), and the chiles, fish sauce, lime, and cilantro really give it a wake-up call. The peanuts are there to add crunch—don’t crush them too much or they will burn. Serve with fragrant rice and stir-fried broccoli.
Servings4
Ingredients
- 4ounces red mullet filletsabout 5each, scaled
- olive oil
- 1 lime
FOR THE CRUST
- 5ounces skinless peanuts
- 1tsp dried chile flakes
- Sea Salt
- leaves Small handful of cilantrochopped
- 2 eggsbeaten
- Dash of fish sauce
FOR THE SWEET CHILE SAUCE
- 2 red chilesseeded and finely chopped
- 2 garlic clovespeeled and sliced
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 Tbsp. sugarplus more if needed
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 scallionstrimmed and chopped
- leaves Handful of cilantrochopped
- Juice of 1 lime
Instructions
- First make the sweet chile sauce. Place the chiles in a mortar with the garlic, salt, and sugar. Pound until smooth. Add the fish sauce, rice vinegar, and olive oil, and mix with a spoon. Stir in the scallions, cilantro leaves, and lime juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more sugar if necessary. Pour into a serving bowl.
- To make a crust for the fish, place the peanuts, chile flakes, and a good pinch of salt in a mortar. Pound until they look finely chopped but not powdered, then mix in the cilantro leaves. Scatter onto a plate or into a shallow bowl, and place the beaten eggs on a separate plate or in a shallow bowl. Season the eggs with a dash of fish sauce and a pinch of salt.
- Dip the fish skin side down into the egg. Shake off any excess egg wash, then dip into the peanut mixture, coating the skin with a layer of peanuts. Repeat until all the fillets are coated on one side.
- Add a little oil to a hot frying pan and fry the seasoned fillets over medium heat, crust side down, for 2–3 minutes until the crust is golden and the fish is half cooked. Turn and cook for an additional 1–2 minutes, basting as you cook. Remove from the heat and finish with a fresh squeeze of lime juice over each fillet.
- Spoon the chile sauce over the fish to serve.
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