Thai Whole Grilled Fish With Sweet Sour Glaze Food

THAI GRILLED FISH RECIPE (PLA PAO ปลาเผา)

Steps:

• When you buy your whole fish, ask the vendor (or yourself) to do two things: One, try to remove the guts from the gills of the fish, without slicing the fish open on the belly, and two, leave the scales on the fish (if you have the choice).
• Probably the first thing you want to do (if you're using charcoal, which I would recommend), is to get the charcoal going first, so it's ready when the fish is prepared.
• Make sure you rinse your fish with water and then pat them dry with a paper towel.
• Take your lemongrass stalks and beat and bruise them with something hard, like a mortar, or a rolling pin or something like that. This is going to bring out the lovely flavor of the lemongrass. Also prepare a small handful of kaffir lime leaves.
• Fold the lemongrass in half and begin to stuff the fish with a stalk of lemongrass and about 10 kaffir lime leaves. Depending on how big your fish is will determine how many stalks of lemongrass you can fit. I put 2 - 3 lemongrass stalks in each fish in the video. Make sure it's tight, but also make sure not to push so hard that you break the flesh of the fish.
• In a large mixing bowl or pan add ½ kilo bag of salt, sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour, and add about 1 tablespoon of water. Mix it up thoroughly, massaging the mixture with your hand, until it's fully mixed. You want the salt to be a little moist so it sticks to the fish easily.
• Add the fish to the pan and start plastering it with the salt mixture. Pat and rub the fish with the salt, making sure to cover the entire fish, and all over the head and tail. Do the same to both fish.
• For grilling the fish, you want to have a steady, yet quite low heat. Make sure you have a bed of coals, and if they are too hot you can either tone them down with a scoop of ashes, or push the really hot coals to one side of the grill and put the fish on the other side (using a little indirect heat). You can also add more coals as you keep on cooking. You want to slow cook the fish without them burning on the outside. My fish took almost 1 hour to grill. So aim for low heat for slow cooking.
• Once your fish is on the grill, it's time to get started on the seafood sauce (below).
• Try to wait for about 15 minutes before you flip the fish. If you flip it too early, when the salt hasn't dried out completely yet, the fish skin might get stuck onto the griddle. Flip the fish as little as possible.
• Keep roasting until the fish feels firm and the white salted skin has turned crusty and golden. It should take about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Take the fish off the grill, and set it on a platter.
• To eat the fish, you can either use a knife or scissors, and from the top of the fish, cut through the skin. The skin should cleanly lift off the fish revealing moist and beautiful meat.
• Thai grille fish (pla pao) is delicious with both sticky rice and white rice, and lots of seafood sauce!
• Peel about 15 cloves of garlic and grab about 20 Thai bird chilies (prik kee noo suan พริกขี้หนูสวน). Normal Thai chilies will work too. Pound ½ teaspoon of salt, the garlic, and chilies using a mortar and pestle. Doesn't need to be super fine, but make sure there are no big chunks.
• In a bowl, add the pounded garlic and chilies, 6 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lime juice, 3 tablespoons of water, 2.5 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix everything together until the sugar is dissolved.
• Taste the seafood sauce. Really, it's up to you how it tastes, but you want it to be slightly salty, sour, and slightly sweet.
• If you need to add a little more of anything, go for it!

TAMARIND-GLAZED BLACK BASS WITH COCONUT-HERB SALAD

Steps:

• Toast coconut in a dry medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until golden brown, 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl.
• Wipe out saucepan. Combine oil and shallots in saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until shallots are golden brown and crisp, 8-10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer shallots to paper towels to drain; immediately season with salt.
• Reduce heat to medium and add ginger and garlic to saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned in spots, about 4 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until paste splits and color darkens slightly, about 2 minutes. Add tamarind concentrate, honey, and soy sauce and cook, stirring constantly, until glaze is smooth and just beginning to bubble, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; taste glaze and season with salt.
• Place a rack in upper third of oven; preheat to 425°F. Place 1 fish on a cutting board and thoroughly pat dry inside and out with paper towels. Using a sharp knife, make slashes crosswise on a diagonal about every 2" along length of body (make sure to cut all the way down to the bones as this will help the fish cook evenly). Turn fish over and repeat process on the other side. Transfer fish to a parchment-lined baking sheet, then repeat with remaining fish.
• Season both fish all over with salt. Brush both sides with about half of the glaze, leaving the garlic and ginger behind. Roast fish, brushing with remaining glaze halfway through, until glaze is sticky and flesh flakes easily with a fork, 16-20 minutes.
• Arrange fish on a large platter or 2 smaller platters and scatter toasted coconut, crispy shallots, chiles, and mint evenly on top. Serve with lime wedges alongside for squeezing over.

SUPERIOR SWEET AND SOUR WHOLE FISH

Steps:

• Wash the fish and pat dry with paper towels. Cut three diagonal slits into each side of the fish. Set aside.
• Dice the coloured peppers into 2-cm cubes. Peel and slice the onion into thin wedges. Slice the tomato into 8 wedges.
• Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

THAI WHOLE GRILLED FISH WITH SWEET & SOUR GLAZE

Steps:

• Score each side of the fish with 3-4 small shallow cuts.
• Combine all marinade ingredients and marinate the fish for at least an hour or up to overnight.
• Prepare the glaze: Place the oil and garlic in a small saucepan, place on medium heat.
• Simmer until garlic begins to turn golden.
• Strain and let cool.
• In another small pot, combine sugar and vinegar, bring to a boil, and simmer for one minute.
• Add fish sauce, ginger, bell pepper, chili paste, and 3 Tbsp of the garlic oil.
• Cook together for 3-5 minutes until sauce reduces slightly.
• Making sure your grill is clean and well-lubricated with plenty of vegetable oil (or using a specially designed fish grilling basket), grill fish over medium heat, approximately 7 minutes per side or until flesh is just opaque at the bone.
• Plate fish and spoon sauce over each fish.
• One small fish is a perfect entrée for one person, share larger fish between two people.
• Serves 4.

SWEET & SPICY GLAZED SALMON

Steps:

• Combine the brown sugar, mustard, soy sauce, paprika, ginger and oil in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir until brown sugar is dissolved., Place salmon skin side down on a greased broiler pan. Sprinkle with pepper and salt., Broil 6 in. from the heat for 10-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork, brushing glaze over salmon during the last 1-2 minutes of cooking.

SWEET AND SOUR GRILLED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Combine brown sugar, oil, vinegar, mustard, lime juice, lemon juice, garlic, seasoned salt, and pepper in a medium bowl and mix well.
• Place chicken in a glass or ceramic bowl and cover with sauce. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator, 8 hours or overnight.
• Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat and lightly oil the grate.
• Remove chicken from the marinade and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade.
• Cook chicken on the preheated grill until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, 8 to 10 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

SWEET AND SOUR STICKY THAI BONELESS OVEN BAKED CHICKEN WINGS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 475°F Line a baking sheet with foil and spray or brush it with the olive oil.
• Add the chicken to a large bowl and pour the buttermilk overtop. Mix well and set aside.
• In a shallow pie dish or large bowl add the panko, whole wheat flour and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well.
• Remove each piece of chicken from the buttermilk, and dredge through the crumbs, pressing gently to adhere. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat until all the chicken has been used. Make sure not to crowd your pan, if necessary use two baking sheets. Spray each chicken "wing" with non-stick spray or a mist of olive oil.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, then gently flip using kitchen tongs and spray the other side. Bake for 10-12 minutes more, then remove from oven. Reduce the oven to 400 degrees F.
• While the chicken is baking combine the sweet thai chili sauce, soy sauce, dark brown sugar, peanut butter, tomato paste, apple juice, rice vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper and pepper in a medium sauce pot. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes or until sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro.
• Gently toss each piece of chicken in the sauce, draining the excess sauce back in to the pot. Place the chicken back on the pan and repeat until all the chicken is coated in the sauce. When ready to serve place the pan of chicken back in the oven for 5 minutes to warm through and to help the sauce coat the chicken.
• Serve with fresh cilantro, chopped cashews and any extra sauce for dipping.
• The chicken "wings" can be made ahead and coated in the sauce. To reheat the "wings" preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until hot. Serve as directed.
• Good served with a side of rice.