Thai Style Gemfish, with Beans & Mushrooms
Submitted by docpep
Thai stir-fried gemfish with green beans and mushrooms in a lemongrass-garlic paste with fish sauce, crushed peanuts, and bird’s eye chillies. A fast, fragrant weeknight dinner served over rice.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
20 minREADY
30 minGemfish is a firm, mild white fish from Australian and New Zealand waters that holds up brilliantly in a stir-fry. This Thai-style dish builds layers of flavor fast: a pounded paste of lemongrass, garlic, and black pepper gets bloomed in sesame oil, then bite-sized fish, green beans, and sliced button mushrooms go into the hot wok together.
The sauce is dead simple but punchy. Fish sauce, sugar, and flour mixed with a little water create a quick glaze that thickens around the fish and vegetables in under two minutes. The flour keeps the sauce clinging to everything rather than pooling in the bottom of the wok.
What really makes this dish sing is the garnish. Crushed peanuts, chopped bird’s eye chillies, strips of red capsicum, and sliced spring onions piled on top add crunch, heat, color, and freshness all at once. Serve it over plain steamed rice and let those toppings do the work.
Pro Tips
- If you can’t find gemfish, substitute any firm white fish like barramundi, swordfish, or mahi-mahi
- Pound the lemongrass paste in a mortar and pestle rather than a food processor for a more aromatic, less watery result
- Keep the heat high during stir-frying so the fish sears rather than steams; work in batches if your wok is small
- Bird’s eye chillies are seriously hot, so adjust the quantity to your tolerance
Variations
Ingredients
Directions
Cut 1½ lb of gemfish into bite sized pieces.
Top tail and slice about 4 oz of green beans, and slice 4 oz of button mushrooms.
In a cup or small bowl, mix 2 tablespoon of fish sauce, one tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of flour with a little water.
For garnishing have ready a cup of crushed peanuts, three birdseye chillies chopped (these are the small fiercely hot chillies), a handful of both fine strips of capsicum and spring onions.
Pound together or process 1 tablespoon of lemon grass pieces, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 teaspoon of pepper and a pinch of salt.
In a wok or frypan heat some sesame oil and brown the processed paste over medium heat for a few minutes.
Turn up the heat, add beans mushrooms and fish, and stir fry gently for about 3 minutes.
Add the fish sauce mixture and stir for a minute or two until the liquid thickens.
Serve, sprinkled with above garnish and plain rice.
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