Crisp Fried Whole Snapper with Chilli and Coriander Sauce

I have friends that can't bear to dine at the same table with me if a fish is served whole, with head-on. Some think it's cruel, some simply can't dig in with the fish eyes staring straight back at them.

In many Western cultures, fish is usually filleted and served boneless in individual portions. This is opposite to many Asian cultures, where serving a whole fish is a grand gesture to be shared by everyone sitting at the table. Whether it's at home or at a restaurant, fish is often served with head and tail on and it is meant to be shared by all the diners.

Mr J came across quite some interesting culinary observations during his 2.5 year stay in Malaysia. Once, during a holiday on Pangkor Island, we dined in a tiny outdoor seafood restaurant at a local fisherman village. While we ordered several seafood dishes to share, we were astonished to overhear that the four Western tourists seated at the table next to us ordered four portions of sweet and sour fish.

When their dishes arrived, there were four giant serving plates, each with a huge whole fish and each weighing at least 1.5kg. The tourists were absolutely stunned and the amount of fish could easily have fed a table of 20!

Now back to this dish...

The close proximity of Malaysia and Thailand has the result that the cuisines of the two countries do influence each other. This is particularly the case for the northern part of West Malaysia which is bordering the south of Thailand.

You can find a lot of Thai restaurants in most of the big cities in Malaysia, in particularly in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Some of the dishes in these Thai restaurants have been localised and modified to suit local taste buds. You can also come across Thai influenced dishes in some of the Chinese restaurants which is quite unique.

This Crisp Fried Whole Snapper with Chilli and Coriander Sauce is a dish I have created to celebrate the colourful flavours, textures, ingredients and spices from Malaysia & Thailand.

Crisp Fried Whole Snapper with Chilli and Coriander Sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 x whole red snapper (approx 1.2 kg) or 4 x red snapper fillets
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
2 fresh red chillis, finely chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1 tbsp rice wine
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/3 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1 small carrot, shredded
Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Pat dry the snapper with paper towels. Make a few slits on both sides and season the fish with sea salt.

   

2. Heat a wok full of oil to 180C. Deep-fried the fish until it's crisp, golden browned and cooked. Remove the fish and drain on paper towel.
3. Heat a small saucepan with 1 tbsp of oil, fry the ginger, garlic, spring onions and chilli until fragrant.

   

4. Add soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, rice wine and white pepper. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat.
5. Place the fish on the serving plate. Scatter half of the coriander leaves and shredded carrot over the fish.

   

6. Pour over the hot sauce and scatter the remaining half of the coriander and carrot.
7. Serve immediately with steamed rice.