Renowned for receiving the first ever Michelin-star for Thai cuisine, chef David Thompson of Nahm shows us how to create our own award-winning Thai temptations at home:
Serves: 10
Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins
Ingredients:
Sauce:
- 1 cup chopped coriander roots
- 3 cups long red or green chillies, de-seeded and coarsely chopped
- 2 cups garlic cloves
- 2 cups red shallots
- Oil, for shallow frying
- 3 cups palm sugar
- 2 cups tamarind water
- ½ cup fish sauce
Fish:
- 3-4 fillets sea bass
- Fish sauce, for marinating
- A pinch of white sugar
- Oil, for deep-frying
- A handful of deep-fried hot basil leaves
- A handful of deep-fried shallots
- A handful of deep-fried garlic
- Crushed chillies
Method:
- With a pestle and mortar or blender, coarsely grind the coriander roots with the chillies, garlic and shallots.
- Fry the paste in a little oil for several minutes until aromatic. Season with palm sugar, then add 2 or 3 tablespoons of water if necessary and simmer until thick. Add tamarind water and fish sauce and continue to simmer until reduced once more. Season so the sauce should be sweet, sour, spicy and salty.
- Clean the fish, then marinate in fish sauce and sugar for a few minutes. Drain and deep-fry until crisp. Coat the fish with the sauce and serve sprinkled with deep-fried basil, shallots, garlic and crushed chillies.
