Pla Neung Manao (Thai Steamed Sea Bass with Lime and Chilli)

Ingredients

• 1 sea bass, scaled and gutted
• 6 tbsp lime juice
• 8 garlic, peeled
• 6 fresh chilli, stemmed
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1½ dl fish stock
• 2 lemongrass, stalks bruised and cut into lengths
• 6 kaffir lime leaves, torn
• 2 celery stalk, sliced on the diagonal
• 4 tbsp fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. 1.

   Score and salt the sea bass — Slash the sea bass three times on each side, cutting down to the bone so the heat reaches the middle. Rub it inside and out with the salt and leave it for 10 minutes while you set up a steamer.

2. 2.

   Pound a coarse chilli paste — Pound the garlic and chillies with the sugar in a mortar to a coarse, wet paste. Stop while you can still see flecks of skin and seed — a smooth purée turns the dressing bitter and muddy.

3. 3.

   Mix the lime dressing — Warm the fish stock until it steams, then whisk in the pounded paste, the lime juice and the fish sauce. Leave it off the heat to settle. It should taste aggressively sour and salty in the bowl, because the fish will mute it on the plate.

4. 4.

   Bed the fish on aromatics — Line a heatproof plate that fits your steamer with half the lemongrass, half the lime leaves and half the celery, and lay the fish on this bed so steam circulates underneath it. Tuck the rest of the lemongrass into the belly cavity.

5. 5.

   Steam until just cooked — Steam over rapidly boiling water for 12 to 14 minutes, depending on thickness. It is done when the flesh at the thickest point lifts cleanly off the backbone and the eye has turned opaque white.

6. 6.

   Drain, dress and serve hot — Pour off the watery juices that have collected on the plate, then flood the hot fish with the dressing. Scatter over the remaining celery, lime leaves and the cilantro and carry it to the table at once, while the lime is still sharp.