Coconut Milk Braised Seafood

Ingredients

400g fish fillets, such as sand whiting, john dory, gurnard or snapper, taken from a medium-sized fish

250g prepared medium sized squid (pouches about 18cm long).

12 large raw peeled prawns

Freshly ground white pepper

1 tbsp lime juice

200g (8 heaped teaspoons) Balinese spice paste

2 tbsp vegetable oil

4 kaffir lime leaves, torn into small pieces

2 fat lemongrass stalks, halved and bruised

120ml Asian chicken stock

250ml Coconut Milk

Method

Cut the fish into 3-4 cm chunks. Slit the body pouches of the squid along one side, open them out flat and score the inside into a fine diamond patterns with the tip of a small, sharp knife. Cut the squid pouches lengthways into 4 wide strips, and then each strip into 3 pieces. This helps the pieces curl attractively during cooking. Score the fins in the same way and cut each one in half. Separate the tentacles into pairs.

Put the fish and squid into a shallow bowl with the peeled prawns and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt, some pepper and the lime juice. Mix well together. Then add half the spice paste and rub it well all over the pieces of seafood.

Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat. Add the remaining spice paste and fry genteelly for 2-3 minutes until it starts to smell fragrant. Add kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and stock and simmer for 1 minute.

Add the fish (not the squid or the prawns) to the pan and leave to cook for 1 minute then turn them over and cook for a further minute. Add the coconut milk to the pan, together with the squid and prawns, and simmer for 2 minutes until all the seafood is just cooked. Season to taste with a little more salt and lime juice to taste if you wish and serve.

Recipe provided by Rick Stein at Mollymook