Best Grilled Whole Fish With Lemongrass Chiles And Coconut Recipes

GRILLED WHOLE FISH WITH LEMONGRASS, CHILES AND COCONUT

Steps:

• Season cavities and outside of fish with salt and pepper. Rub skin all over with coconut oil.
• Thinly slice 1 lime and 1 shallot. Cut another lime into wedges and save for garnish. Fill each fish cavity with lime and shallot slices, a handful of cilantro stems (discard the rest) and the lemongrass.
• Prepare the sauce: Coarsely chop the remaining shallot and juice the remaining lime. In a mini food processor, combine shallot, 1 tablespoon lime juice, the cilantro leaves, the mint, the chile, the garlic, the fish sauce and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pulse until herbs are chopped, then add coconut milk and oil. Continue to pulse until a coarse, chunky sauce forms. (Don't overdo it; you want a relish-like texture, not a purée.) Taste and add more salt, fish sauce and/or lime juice if necessary. (Alternatively, chop everything really finely by hand and stir in the coconut milk and lime juice.) Sauce can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead. Refrigerate until needed.
• Light or heat the grill to medium-high heat. Place fish in basket and grill until blistered and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. (Poke the fish along the spine; it should be tender but still juicy.) Serve, garnished with lime wedges and mint leaves, with sauce on the side.

CHAR GRILLED LEMONGRASS TILAPIA FISH

Steps:

• Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Soak the green lemongrass leaves in cold water and set aside.
• Mix together the diced lemongrass, soy sauce, garlic, spring onion, red chile and ginger in a bowl.
• Lay the fish on a chopping board. Create a fillet by using a sharp filleting knife to slice from the spine of the fish down to the belly without cutting the fillet off. Just leave it lying open.
• Now add the lemongrass mixture to the inside of the fish and close the fillet back up.
• Secure the fish by tying it up with the lemongrass leaves. Brush the fish with the vegetable oil, and then char grill the fish, 10 minute per side. Cut the lemongrass leaves and serve.

SEA BASS STEAMED WITH LEMON GRASS AND CHILI COCONUT BROTH

Steps:

• Combine the fish stock, dry sherry and soy in a large skillet and bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Crush the lemon grass with the back of a knife to release its oils and chop the ginger. Add the lemongrass, ginger and all remaining ingredients except the fish to the simmering liquid and continue to simmer gently for 15 minutes.
• The skillet should be large enough so that when the fish is placed in a bamboo steamer, the steamer basket nestles over the skillet tightly. Place lettuce leaves on steamer basket and lay whole sea bass on bed of lettuce. After placing the whole fish in the bamboo steamer and the steamer is nestled over the simmering liquid, cover the basket with a bamboo cover, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and steam gently for 8 to 9 minutes. When completely cooked, remove from the heat, place the fish on a bed of the bok choy and mushrooms and strain the broth. Discard the lemon grass, and ladle a little of the broth over the top. Scatter the more chopped scallions freely as a garnish.

GRILLED WHOLE FISH

Steps:

• Preheat grill for direct-heat grilling over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, drizzle cavity of each fish with 1 tablespoon olive oil, then season generously with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Aromatics help keep whole fish moist while grilling. Stuff 1 fish cavity with lemon slices and dill and the other with lime slices, basil, and Thai chiles. If using just 1 filling, double amounts called for.
• Fasten each opening with a wooden skewer or toothpicks that have been soaked in water so they don't burn. This keeps the aromatics inside and also makes fish easier to handle on the grill.
• Using a paring knife, make long, 1/4-inch-deep diagonal slashes at 2-inch intervals on both sides of fish so they cook evenly throughout. This also allows any seasonings on skin (see step 5) to penetrate.
• Rub both sides of each fish with remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper, working all into slashes as well as heads and tails -- both are edible, and the tail becomes delightfully crisp when grilled.
• Brush hot grill with vegetable oil; immediately place fish on grill. Cook, undisturbed and uncovered, until undersides are charred and flesh along gills on undersides turns opaque, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Turn fish with 2 large spatulas. If they stick, wait a few seconds until skin sears enough to release cleanly. Grill on other side until charred and fish are just cooked through and opaque, 5 to 7 minutes more.
• Serve fish with lemon and lime wedges and more herbs. To serve, cut fillet free from top side of fish and remove with a spatula. Remove bones to free other fillet.

WHOLE ROAST FISH WITH LEMONGRASS AND GINGER

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Pat the body and inside of the fish dry, and space the fish evenly apart on an unlined sheet pan. Using a sharp knife, cut two diagonal slits, 2 inches apart, into the skin of each fish, making sure not to cut through to the bone. Repeat the slits on the other side. Drizzle both sides and the inside of the fish with 3 tablespoons oil, and season with the 1 1/2 tablespoons salt.
• Working in batches if necessary, transfer the lemongrass to the bowl of an asanka or a mortar. Use the pestle to pound the lemongrass pieces until crushed and fragrant. Move the crushed pieces to one side of the mortar bowl or the asanka. Add the ginger pieces and repeat the pounding process until they're crushed. Combine the ginger and the lemongrass. Add the scallion greens and scotch bonnet chile. Use the pestle to crush and combine these with the lemongrass mixture. Add the shallot and zest of 1 lemon, crush and combine with the pestle. Stir in the turmeric and coconut milk. (Makes about 1 1/4 cup marinade.) Alternatively, you can do this step in a food processor. Add in the ingredients in the order listed, and pulse them all together. Stir in the turmeric and coconut milk.
• Slice the zested lemon into 3 or 4 rounds. Spread the marinade generously over both sides of each fish and about 2 tablespoons into each cavity. Place a lemon slice, the white end of a scallion and some cilantro sprigs in each cavity. (At this point, the fish can be left to marinate for up to 30 minutes, or covered and refrigerated overnight.) Drizzle the tops of the fish with the remaining oil.
• Roast the fish until firm and cooked through, rotating the sheet pan once halfway through the process, about 22 to 25 minutes. Slice the remaining lemon into wedges. Serve the fish over steamed rice or alongside a hearty salad, with the lemon wedges for squeezing.