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Laos-style fried bream with herbs, salad and rice noodles
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 4 large sea bream, descaled, gutted, fins removed
- 100ml rapeseed oil
For the paste
- 2 lemongrass sticks, chopped
- 2 long red chillies, deseeded and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4cm ginger, skin scraped, grated
- 6cm galangal, finely chopped
- 2tbsp fish sauce
- zest and juice 1 lime
- 6 sprigs coriander
To serve
- banana leaves
- fine vermicelli rice noodles, cooked according to packet
- 1⁄4 cucumber, deseeded, in batons
- 8 French breakfast radishes, trimmed and halved
- 2 chicory, leaves separated
- few sprigs coriander
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- few small red chillies
Method
Slash both sides of the fish almost to the bone to create 3 diagonal pockets. Put all the ingredients for the paste, except the coriander, into a small food processor and whizz to a rough paste, adding a little water if needed. Finely chop the coriander and stir in.
Rub 1tsp paste each into the pockets on both sides of each fish and put the rest into the cavity.
Put the oil and fish in a large frying pan on a low heat, cook for 1-2 minutes, then increase the heat a little and fry until the skin is golden, crisp and cooked – about 8 minutes on each side.
Arrange on a platter with the rest of the ingredients, as pictured.
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