Thai fried black bream with chu chee sauce

Cooking a showstopping fish supper need not take hours. This fried black bream with a fragrant, coconut-based sauce inspired by the lesser known chu chee pla of Southern Thailand is a sure-fire winner

Serves 4

Preparation time 20 minutes

Cooking time 10 minutes

Ask someone who works in food to narrow down their favourite restaurant, or worse, their favourite dish, and you may as well have asked them to pick their favourite child. It makes sense that the question induces panic because a) London is easily one of the best places to eat in the world and; b) most people who work in food really like to eat. That said, I know that with a gun held to my head, I would respond with the same dish a thousand times without faltering. My answer will always be the Speedboat Bar makrut lime mackerel.

If you’ve frequently sampled this culinary masterpiece, you’ll be able to picture the shatteringly crisp-skinned whole mackerel sunk into a pool of chu chee sauce – enriched with coconut, makrut lime, and shrimp paste. It’s guaranteed to be ravaged by hungry diners until all that’s left is a spindly fishbone and an oil-stained tablecloth.

This recipe is my take on the makrut lime mackerel, this time opting for black bream from online seafood market Rockfish instead. If you’re intimidated by fish cookery, black bream is a great gateway fish – with slightly oily flesh, a delicate flavour and skin that crisps perfectly when fried. It’s the ideal substitute for wild sea bass or stone bass if you’re also looking for a cheaper, more sustainable option. Like all fish from Rockfish, the black bream can be traced to the very boat it was caught on in Brixham and is part of a zero waste supply chain, meaning all surplus fish caught is flash-frozen and sold. Considering that around 35% of harvested seafood worldwide is chucked in the bin before ever reaching our plate, it’s food for thought.

At Speedboat Bar the mackerel is paired with chu chee sauce – a thick, coconut-rich concoction that hails from Southern Thailand often paired with fish (chu chee pla). I’ve made the paste from scratch here, adding fresh turmeric, ginger and coriander to the mix for aromatic fragrance. This makes the sauce a luminous yellow compared to its traditional deep orange and doubles as a natural Sudafed thanks to its sinus-clearing vigour. If you’re short on time, use pre-made Thai red curry paste and mix it with coconut cream, shrimp paste, and palm sugar to make the sauce.

Ingredients

  • 4 black bream fillets (I buy mine from Rockfish)
  • Fish sauce Salt Neutral oil (e.g. vegetable, sunflower, rapeseed)
  • Fresh coriander leaves, lime wedges and steamed rice, to serve

Chu Chee Sauce:

  • 2 tsp shrimp paste
  • 200ml coconut cream
  • 1tbsp palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)
  • Curry paste from scratch (see below) or 3 tbsp good quality red curry paste

Curry paste from scratch:

  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 bunch of coriander, leaves separated from stems
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 chilli, roughly chopped
  • 30g fresh turmeric, peeled
  • 30g fresh ginger, peeled
  • 30g fresh galangal, peeled (if you can’t find fresh, use 1tbsp of galangal paste)
  • 1 stick of lemongrass, bashed and cut into four
  • 14 lime leaves
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1 tsp salt

Method

  1. Wrap the shrimp paste in tinfoil and roast in a dry pan until fragrant.
  2. Grind the coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar or with a rolling pin in a bowl if you don’t have one.
  3. Add the shrimp paste, coriander seeds, fresh coriander stems and all the other chu chee sauce ingredients to a blender and process until smooth.
  4. Pour the sauce into a saucepan and cook on low/medium heat for 10 minutes.
  5. Rub both sides of the black bream generously with fish sauce. Season each fillet with salt on both sides, ensuring the skin is well covered.
  6. Heat 2 tbsp neutral oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add the black bream, skin side down, and cook for 3-4 minutes until the skin is dark and crispy. Flip over and cook the flesh side down for another minute.
  7. Pour the sauce onto a plate and place your fish on top. Serve with coriander leaves, lime wedges and steamed rice. 
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