Pan-fried mulloway fillets in lemongrass and chilli

Tender white mulloway fillets get a dousing of lemongrass-scented coconut cream sauce in this easy seafood number.

• serves

  6

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

You can use any firm white fish if mulloway is not available. 

Ingredients

For the marinade 

• 4 sticks of lemongrass, white part only, minced
• 6 bird's eye chilli, finely diced
• 100ml tbsp fish sauce
• 4 tsp pickled chilli
• 4 tsp sugar
• 6 x 150 gram fillets of mulloway with skin

Sauce

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil plus 1 tbsp for frying the fish fillets
• 2 sticks of lemongrass, minced
• 2 red Asian shallots finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 250 ml coconut milk
• 125 ml water
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• ½ tsp ground black pepper

Garnish 

• 6 cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 4 leaves sawtooth coriander finely sliced
• 1 shallot (green onion) finely sliced
• 1 bird’s eye chilli finely sliced
• 1 tsp chilli oil
• juice of ¼ lemon

Marinading time: 3 hours

Instructions

To make the marinade, place all the ingredients into a bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the fish fillets and marinate for 2-3 hours. 

Place a medium size saucepan over medium high heat.  Once hot, add the oil and remaining lemongrass. Cook until the lemongrass is slightly golden and fragrant, approximately 4 minutes. 

Add the Asian shallots, garlic and chilli flakes, cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Add the coconut milk, water, fish sauce, sugar and black pepper, bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer slowly for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and set aside.

Place a frying pan over medium to high heat.  

Add 1 tablespoon of oil, once hot add the fish skin side down and fry for 3 minutes or until the skin is crisp. Turn the fillet over and fry for approximately 2 minutes or until fish is cooked through.  Turn off the heat and leave the fish to rest in the frying pan. Meanwhile heat the sauce.  

Arrange the fillets on a serving platter and pour over the sauce. 

Garnish with cherry tomatoes, saw leaf coriander, shallots and fresh chilli.  Drizzle with chilli oil and a squeeze of lemon.  Serve with jasmine rice

Photography by Alan Benson. Styling by Lynsey Fryers. Food preparation by Tammi Kwok.

Luke Nguyen's Food Trail airs 8pm, Thursdays on SBS. Visit the program page for recipes, videos and more.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

You can use any firm white fish if mulloway is not available.