Whole braised fish with spring onion blanket

This is one of those dishes that looks impressive on the table, but which takes very little effort to create. It's designed to be served as part of a banquet or shared meal.

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 80 ml (⅓ cup) vegetable oil
• 500 g whole barramundi or red sea perch, skin scored, cleaned
• 2 cm piece ginger, cut into julienne
• 6 spring onions, ends trimmed, halved
• 125 ml (½ cup) chicken stock
• 60 ml (¼ cup) soy sauce
• 150 g (⅔ cup) caster sugar
• steamed rice, to serve

DRINK (Tea) Bi Lou Chun — high-quality green tea with a clean taste but strong aroma. (Wine) 2010 Dr Bürklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Riesling — a clean, dry riesling with pronounced fruit characters and a touch of herbal spice.

Instructions

Heat oil in a wok or large deep frying pan over high heat. Carefully slide in the fish and cook for 2 minutes each side or until golden brown.

Add ginger and spring onions, and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add stock, soy sauce, sugar and 2 tsp salt. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low and cook, basting fish with cooking liquid occasionally, for 15 minutes or until fish is just cooked.

Transfer fish to a serving platter, cover with the spring onions, spoon over the sauce and serve with steamed rice.

Also written by Xiang Le Chen. Photography by Derek Swalwell. Tea and wine suggestions by Kaki Wong, Yanan Zhou, Susan Wilks and Oliver Wang.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.