Serves: two as a main
Cook time: ~30 minutes + 3.5 hours for soup
Ingredients
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 4 birds-eye chillies, sliced
- ~100 g ginger, peeled and sliced
- 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 80 g palm sugar
- 100 g prepared tamarind paste
- 50 ml + 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 4 kaffir lime leaf pairs
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1.25 L chicken stock
- 2 x ~200 g blue-eye loin steaks
- 10 stems Chinese broccoli
- 2 small handfuls bean shoots
- ½ bunch coriander
- 1 tbsp fat (skimmed from soup)
Method
- Using a mortar and pestle or stick blender, crush garlic, shallot, chillies and ginger to a rough paste.
- Heat 2 tbsp neutral oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté paste until fragrant and lightly caramelised.
- Add palm sugar and cook until shiny and sticky, about 7 minutes. Stir in tamarind paste and repeat caramelisation.
- Add 50 ml fish sauce, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, tomatoes and stock. Simmer and reduce back to ~1.25 L.
- Strain through a fine sieve, pressing solids. Return clear soup to pot and keep warm.
- Heat remaining neutral oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high. Fry fish presentation side down until 80% cooked. Flip, remove from heat and finish cooking gently. Rest.
- Finely chop coriander and mix with remaining fish sauce and reserved fat.
- Bring soup to boil and quickly blanch Chinese broccoli and bean shoots.
- To serve, pile greens in bowl, top with fish, pour over hot soup and finish with coriander mix and a fresh sprig.
