Thai Style Steamed Fish Recipe | Easy Asian Cooking

This recipe remains quintessentially Thai at heart, with the subtle combinations of sourness from Tom Yam, fish sauce and lime juice, evocative aromas of lemongrass, kafir lime leaves and coriander leaves, a hint of sweet touch from sugar, tangy flavor from galangal and a spicy kick from bird's eye chillies.

After having a good experience with Nyonya-inspired dish - Nyonya Style Steamed Fish, it did pique my interest to reinvigorate the palate with Thai-inspired meal - Thai style steamed fish. Both Nyonya-inspired and Thai-inspired dishes bear a strong resemblance between them, you can observe both dishes harmoniously blend locally grown roots, grasses, aromatic herbs and spices to perk up the flavors and at the same time retain their distinctiveness.

I made a little tweaking to the recipe which is calling for fish head and used whole seabass instead. Opt for an addition of chopped bird's eye chillies and you get spare little pinpricks of heat as counterpoint to opulent fishy sweetness. I still can remember the twitch of my tongue the moment I placed a spoonful of fluffy rice caressed by thick, lumpy Thai sauce into my mouth, utter bliss! The savory gravy is good until last drop.

If you're hankering for a taste of Thai cuisine but too lazy to drive that far to reach a cozy Thai restaurant in town, you still can enliven your Thai palate with this home-cooked dish.

Here's Thai style steamed seabass recipe. 泰式蒸鱼食谱

Ingredients :
1 whole seabass, about 600-800g, cleaned (with scale, gills and intestines removed)
3 tbsp lime juice
some coriander leaves

Spices (chopped and blended together) :
6 shallots
2 stalks lemongrass
2 pieces kafir lime leaves
1cm galangal
6 bird's eye chillies

Seasoning :
1 tbsp Tom Yam paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
70ml water

Method :

1. Combine all the chopped spices and seasoning, mix well to form a gravy, then pour over seabass in a steaming plate.

2. Steam at high heat for 15 minutes or until the seabass cooked. Remove the steaming plate. Squeeze some lime juice and sprinkle a generous amount of coriander leaves on top of steamed fish. Serve hot with white rice.

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