Thai Style Whole Baked Fish

Raise your hand if you want to feel like a Master Chef without actually having to spend hours slaving in the kitchen... Currently have both my hands raised! Although I love cooking with all my heart and soul sometimes I love cutting the corners, especially when I have a big night of entertaining ahead. I like to whip up simple yet delicious mains and this Thai style oven baked fish is just that. It’s ready in 40 minutes and has a Thai style sweet and sour sauce to accompany it.

Ingredients

For the fish:

One whole fish of your choice, cleaned (I used snapper)

Juice of one lemon

4-5 lemon wedges

2-3 tbsp oil

1-2 tbsp sesame seeds

Thinly sliced red capsicum

Thinly sliced spring onions

Thinly sliced red Asian chillies

For the sauce:

½ cup boiling water

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp chilli flakes

1 tsp salt

Method

Preheat oven to 200 C and place your cleaned fish on an oven tray. Coat fish generously with lemon juice followed by oil. Sprinkle sesame seeds on the side facing upwards and place lemon wedges around the fish (This helps to eliminate any unpleasant smell). Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until the fish is cooked through (The flesh will flake away easily when tested with a fork).

While the fish is in the oven, place all ingredients of the sauce in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix well and bring to a boil. You can taste the sauce and add more sugar for sweetness or add more lime juice for a tangy flavour. Remove from heat.

Once the fish is cooked, remove from oven and arrange red capsicum, spring onions and red chillies on top of the fish. Pour the sauce over the fish and reserve some to serve separately. Serve with cooked jasmin rice.