Australia's Christmas hero is our super-fresh seafood. This cured ocean trout is an ideal addition to Christmas entertaining. Start two days ahead to cure the fish.
Lemongrass and lime-cured trout with rice paper crackers
This cured ocean trout is cured in a soy souce, kaffir lime, chilli and lemongrass sauce for light Southeast Asian notes. Seafood might be a Christmas classic, but we're making this one all summer long.
- 30 mins preparation
- 5 mins cooking plus curing
- Serves 12 - 14
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Ingredients
- 300 ml light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- Finely grated rind and juice of 4 limes
- 4 kaffir lime leaves, chopped, plus 1 extra, very thinly sliced
- 2 long red chillies, seeds removed (optional), coarsely chopped
- 2 lemongrass stalks (white part only), finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
- 1 piece (about 4cm) ginger, coarsely chopped
- 100 gm (about 1 bunch) coriander, trimmed
- 1 side ocean trout (about 1.2kg), skin on, trimmed, pin-boned
- 200 ml vegetable oil
- 6-8 rice paper wrappers
- ½ pomelo, or pink grapefruit, segmented
- ½ cup (loosely packed) Thai basil
- ½ cup (loosely packed) coriander
- ½ cup (loosely packed) mint
- ½ cup fried shallots (optional)
- Lime wedges (optional), to serve
Method
Main
- 1Whisk soy sauce, sugar, lime rind and juice and 200ml water in a bowl. Process kaffir lime leaves, chilli, lemongrass, garlic, ginger and coriander in a small food processor, or pound with a mortar and pestle, to a coarse paste. Add to soy sauce mixture and stir to combine. Place trout in a sterilised non-reactive container to fit snugly. Pour soy sauce mixture over fish, cover and refrigerate, turning once, for 48 hours. Drain before serving (reserve a little of the curing mix to serve if you like). Cured ocean trout will keep covered and refrigerated for 3 days.
- 2Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and fry one rice paper wrapper at a time (be careful, hot oil may spit), turning once, until crisp and puffed (30 seconds to 1 minute). Drain on paper towels. Crackers can be made 8 hours ahead and stored in an airtight container.
- 3Combine thinly sliced kaffir lime leaf, pomelo segments and herbs in a bowl, and season to taste.
- 4Thinly slice trout and serve on rice paper crackers topped with herb and pomelo salad, fried shallots and a squeeze of lime.
Notes
Drink Suggestion: Fragrant gewürztraminer. Drink suggestion by Max Allen