Description
A vibrant and flavorful sea bass recipe featuring crispy skin and a fragrant topping of sizzled ginger, garlic, chilli, and spring onions. The dish combines the delicate, tender fish with a bold Asian-inspired sauce, perfect for a festive or everyday meal.
Ingredients
Scale
Fish and Seasoning
- 6 x sea bass fillets (about 140g/5oz each), skin on and scaled
- Salt and pepper, to season
Cooking Oil
- About 3 tbsp sunflower oil
Topping
- Large knob of ginger, peeled and shredded into matchsticks
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 3 fat, fresh red chillies, deseeded and thinly shredded
- Bunch of spring onions, shredded lengthwise
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Season and Slash Fish: Season each sea bass fillet with salt and pepper, then make three diagonal slashes on the skin to help it crisp evenly during cooking.
- Fry Fish Skin-Side Down: Heat a heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil. When hot, add half the fillets skin-side down and fry for about 5 minutes until the skin is crisp and golden and the fish is nearly cooked through.
- Turn and Finish Cooking: Flip the fillets carefully and cook for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to a warm serving plate and keep warm. Repeat the frying process with the remaining fillets in batches.
- Sizzle Ginger, Garlic and Chillies: In the same frying pan, add the remaining oil and fry the shredded ginger, sliced garlic, and shredded chillies over medium heat for about 2 minutes until golden and fragrant.
- Add Spring Onions and Soy Sauce: Remove the pan from the heat, toss in the shredded spring onions, then splash the soy sauce over the fish fillets. Spoon the ginger, chilli, garlic, and spring onion mixture over the fish to serve immediately.
Notes
- For a traditional Chinese New Year presentation, serve the fish whole with head and tail intact honoring abundance and a good start and end to the year.
- Ask your fishmonger for line-caught sea bass as a sustainable seafood choice.
- Be careful not to burn the ginger and garlic when frying; cook just until fragrant and golden.
- You can adjust the amount of chilli according to your preferred spice level.
- Serve immediately for the crispiest skin and freshest flavors.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Chinese
Keywords: sea bass, ginger, chilli, spring onions, Chinese New Year, crispy fish, Asian, stir fry sauce
