The fish
Although you could use a different type of fish, like a tilapia, red snapper, or a grouper, the most commonly used fish for this dish in Thailand is a pla kapong (ปลากะพง), which in English is a barramundi.
Fish come in many different sizes, ranging from 1 kilo or less, to huge.
Make sure your fish is scaled and gutted, which you can either do yourself, or have the butcher do before hand.
Steaming the fish
Using a steamer device, or whatever you can come up with – Pai and I used my mother in laws big sized old wok – you’ll need to place some water in the bottom, elevate the fish on a plate above the water, and still have enough space to place a cover over the pan or wok to seal in all that steam.
Steaming is a really fun style of cooking, because you can really create or homemake your own steamer… just as long as there’s somehow boiling water at the bottom, and that the thing you’re steaming is elevated above the steam of the water, and there’s a seal to keep in all that steam.
One of the worst things about steaming fish is overcooking it. It goes from potentially marvelous to horrible.
So it’s really important to keep watch over your fish when you steam it, and and know about the right length of time that you’ll need to steam it.
For a medium sized 1 – 2 kilo fish, the target steam time is about 10 – 15 minutes. But you do want to monitor it, especially right about the 10 minute mark so it doesn’t get overcooked.
To check the fish, take a fork, and press the meat of the fish. It shouldn’t be slimy, and it should be firm to the touch. Also, take a look, and make sure the fish has turned white in color as opposed to the transparent look of raw fish.
The lime, chili, garlic sauce
For the next part of this recipe, we’re going to make the sauce. And keep in mind that you can make the sauce while the fish is steaming so that both parts of the dish are ready to assemble at the same time.
Pai told me that using chicken stock elevates the flavor of the soup – and so we used fresh chicken stock. Although you could also use canned chicken stock if needed.
In a saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a quick boil, then toss in the palm sugar, and stir until dissolved. That’s it for the cooking. Turn off the heat, and then pour the broth into a mixing bowl.
In the mean time, start preparing what I consider my two favorite ingredients in the world: chilies and garlic.
Peel 2 heads of garlic and then coarsely mince them, they don’t need to be too fine, and sometimes when you order pla kapong neung manao (ปลากะพงนึ่งมะนาว) at Thai restaurants, they will even leave the cloves almost whole, or in slices. So you can chop the garlic whatever size you want, but a coarse mince is a good idea.
For the chilies, use a good handful, and you can use as many or as few as you’d like.
We used about 6 Thai birds eye chilies in the recipe this day, though I would have been quite happy with a few more handfuls.
Dice the chilies and then set both the garlic and chilies aside.
Go back over to the bowl of chicken stock and dissolved palm sugar, and add in the fish sauce, freshly squeezed lime juice, chopped cilantro, and then toss in the minced garlic and chilies, and mix around carefully.
The broth should still be warm, and it will just slightly wilt the garlic and chilies, without cooking them, so they will still retain their wonderful raw harshness.
Make sure you taste test the sauce, it should be sour enough to make you close your eyes, and balanced out by the sweetness of the palm sugar. Add more sugar, lime juice, or fish sauce as needed.
It’s important to know that the sauce is should somewhere be in-between a sauce and a soup – in Thailand it’s eaten more like a soup.
Assembling the fish and sauce
The final process of cooking pla kapong neung manao (ปลากะพงนึ่งมะนาว) is to assemble all the fish and the soup.
In Thailand often the fish will be served in an elevated pan with fire on the bottom to keep it hot. The fish shaped pan looks pretty cool, but isn’t necessary.
However, you really do need to find some kind of pan or platter that can fit the fish, and that has edges to be able to accommodate all the lime juice sauce / soup.
Pai recommends tearing off some leaves of Chinese celery to garnish the bottom of the fish. Our fish was so big that we had to use a metal serving tray, which worked out quite perfectly.
Gently scoop out all the chilies and garlic and chunky ingredients of the sauce over the fish, and then pour over the rest of the lime juice sauce, making sure to coat and cover the entire fish.
That’s it!
Make sure you have some fresh steamed rice to go with it, and then start digging into the fish. You can take bites right off the side of the fish, eat with rice, and then follow with a spoonful of the sour lime juice soup.
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Steamed Fish With Lime and Garlic Recipe (ปลากะพงนึ่งมะนาว)
Pla kapong neung manao (ปลากะพงนึ่งมะนาว), or Thai steamed barramundi fish with lime sauce, is a favorite seafood dish for many Thais. Make this recipe at home and you're in for a real steamed fish!
Instructions
- Make sure your fish is scaled and gutted, and then score the fish with 3 diagonal incisions on each side of the fish. Cut off the top halves of the lemongrass, bruise, and stuff the lemongrass into the cavity of the fish. Steam the fish over high boiling water for about 10 - 15 minutes depending on the size of your fish.
- In a saucepan, heat the chicken stock until it comes to a boil, and then toss in the sugar, reduce heat, and boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set aside.
- Mince the garlic, chilies, and cilantro, and mix into the chicken stock soup, along with fish sauce and lime juice. Stir gently and then taste test. Make sure it's sour, and balanced with a hint of sweetness.
- When the fish is fully steamed, transfer it to a serving platter (with edges to keep in the soup), garnish with a bed of Chinese celery, and place the fish on the platter. Gently scoop on all the sauce over the fish, putting most of the garlic and chilies on the top of the fish.
- Make sure you eat with steamed rice!
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