Seafood

Sterling fresh seafood is a hallmark of Thai cooking, and these recipes celebrate the natural sweet flavors of these aquatic creatures. You can choose to fire up a stir-fry, simmer a curry, toss a fresh salad, or light up the grill. With seafood, the quality of your raw ingredients is essential. There’s a strategy I learned while shopping in the markets of Southeast Asia: always buy your seafood first. It may seem counterintuitive to buy your seafood first because you don’t want to carry it around, and I don’t. So this is what I do: I head to the seafood department first and pick out my selection. Finding the choicest cuts, the sweetest shrimp, the most tender squid, brightest red gills on fish, then I pay for it, have it packed up, and, very importantly, have them keep it on, in, or under ice for me while I continue to shop. Then I come back when I’m done shopping for all my other items. Doing it this way helps me decide what I’m going to cook. Don’t forget to ask for a bag of ice to pack with your fish for your ride home (yes, you can even do this at supermarkets), even a few degrees difference will transform brilliantly fresh seafood into a poor quality seafood—KEEP IT COLD!

Can frozen seafood be fresher that fresh? Yes. Candidly some frozen seafood is “fresher” than fresh, “huh” you may say. This is the deal. Frozen seafood is often frozen right after catching it, and, if done with proper techniques, the quality can be very high. “Fresh” seafood could have been caught, packed, shipped, warehoused, shipped to the market…you get the idea, it could be a week from the time it leaves the water until it arrives on your plate, and often I would prefer high quality frozen seafood that’s defrosted and eaten right away. Probably 95% of the shrimp you’ve ever eaten was previously frozen. It is important to defrost it slowly (overnight) in the refrigerator. Try to plan ahead, avoid submerging the exposed seafood in water, the direct contact washes out much of its flavor and ruins its texture. If you are in a rush put it in a sealed bag and let the slow cool running water pour over it to speed up the defrosting process.

Some of my favorites in this chapter include the Garlic Crab with Green Beans (page 76) its simplicity is only surpassed by its yum factor. BBQ Fish in Red Curry Spices (page 78) recipe will show you how easy it is to use these natural leaves, once you try this you will see how easy it would be to make endless variations. It can be as simple as using different colored curry paste or even making up your own spice marinade based on what you have around. Fire-roasted Shrimp (page 74) are great when you want to get things ready ahead of time, just pop them in the broiler for a few minutes and you’re ready to eat.

 

Grilled Catfish with a Tangy Glaze

The first time I tasted a tamarind glazed deep-fried whole fish I was hooked! It is rare though for most of us to deep-fry an entire fish at home and grilled fish redolent of smoky coals is also amazing. …don’t forget though that most large Asian markets will clean and fry a fish for you…for free. Make this sweet and sour topping before you go shopping, then bring that crispy fish home, drench it in this glaze, garnish, and you'll have an impressive feast.

Serves 4–6
 Preparation time: 10 mins
 Cooking time: 15 mins

¼ cup (75 g) Thai palm sugar or light brown sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons Tamarind Pulp or concentrate (page 25)

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1–2 Thai chilies, minced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

4–6 catfish fillets (about 1 lb/500 g) or one whole catfish (about 2–3 lb/1–1.25 kg), cleaned and gutted

1 tablespoon oil

¼ cup (5 g) mint leaves

1 tablespoon Fried Garlic (page 37)

1 Stir together the palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat for 1 minute until it is a smooth syrup. Stir in the shallots and remove from the heat. Allow to cool to room temperature, then mix in the chilies, ginger, lime juice, and coriander leaves. Set aside at room temperature or store in refrigerator for later while you prepare the fish.

2 Preheat the grill or oven broiler until very hot. Make sure to clean the grill well, then wipe the grill grates lightly with oil. Grill the fish until cooked through, if using a whole fish, grill over medium-low heat until cooked through (sometimes I like to wrap the fish in a banana leaf before grilling to infuse its illusive aroma). Alternately you can pan-fry or sauté the fish in a skillet or wok.

3 Arrange the fish on a plate or platter, spoon the sauce over the fish (serve the extra sauce on the side in a small bowl). Sprinkle the fish with the mint leaves and Fried Garlic.

Yellow Curry Shrimp

Brilliant yellows, bright flavors, and tender shrimp come together in this harmonious Thai curry, and to think that you could have this on the table in 30 minutes any day of the week! Once you buy the curry paste it’s a snap to whip up curries on a moment’s notice, and don’t be shy about experimenting with different vegetables and seafood—chicken would also have a home here. Take the 5 minutes to create the toasty coconut oil before roasting the curry paste to its full potential.

Serves 4–6
 Preparation time: 5 mins
 Cooking time: 15 mins

1 ²⁄³ cups (400 ml) coconut milk (divided use)

¼ cup (65 ml) yellow or sour curry paste

1 cup (250 ml) chicken, seafood or vegetable stock/broth

2 tablespoons Thai palm sugar or light brown sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 stalks lemongrass, tender inner part of bottom third only, bruised

6 kaffir lime leaves (substitute 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest)

1 lb (500 g) peeled and deveined raw shrimp

1 cup (130 g) unripe papaya (substitute chayote) peeled and sliced into bite-sized pieces

¼ cup (10 g) roughly chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

2 red finger-length chilies, cut into small strips or thin rings

1 Heat ½ cup (125 ml) of the coconut milk in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until it reduces by about half and thickens considerably (about 5 minutes). Mix in the curry paste and cook for an additional minute.

2 Pour in the remaining coconut milk, stock, sugar, fish sauce, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to simmer for 3 minutes to infuse the sauce with the aromatics. Add the shrimp and papaya and continue to simmer for 2–5 minutes until cooked through. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning with fish sauce, salt and/or sugar.

3 Remove from the heat, stir in the coriander leaves and transfer into serving bowls and garnish with the chilies.