Deep-Fried Leatherjacket with Three-Flavoured Sauce

Name: Deep-Fried Leatherjacket with Three-Flavoured Sauce
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 3 red shallots, chopped; 4 cloves garlic; 3 long red or green chillies, deseeded and chopped; 3 long red or green chillies, deseeded and chopped; a pinch of sea salt; 4 coriander (cilantro) roots, scraped and chopped; 1 handful of Thai basil leaves, deep-fried until crisp; 2 long red chillies, deep-fried until black and crisp; 2 tablespoons tamarind water; 2 tablespoons fish sauce; 90 g (3¼ oz/½ cup) grated palm sugar (jaggery); 90 g (3¼ oz/½ cup) grated palm sugar (jaggery); 3 small leatherjackets, scaled and cleaned; vegetable oil

Preparation info

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Balance and Harmony

By Neil Perry

Published 2008

About

The reason I like leatherjacket for this classic dish is that it has a really simple bone structure so it’s easy to eat. You could use sole, ocean perch, snapper, or in fact any fish you like. I also like to deep-fry the fish fillets in a light batter and drizzle this sauce over the top.

Ingredients

3 small leatherjackets, scaled and cleaned
vegetable oil
90 g (3¼ oz/<

Asia
Thailand
Fish course
Pescatarian
South East Asia
Gluten-free

Method

To make the paste, pound the coriander roots, sea salt, chillies, garlic and shallots in a mortar with a pestle until you have a fine paste. Or use a blender to process the ingredients, adding a little water if necessary.

Heat a wok until almost smoking. Add