Sesame Roasted Snapper Recipe with Oriental Sauce

We had watched an Asian fish recipe and developed a tremendous urge to cook up a whole fish. After some bargaining at the market, we managed to get a whole snapper fish monster for only $32! (See left - look at its teeth!). Though we didn't really bargain, its all we had on us in cash and the fish-munger reluctantly knocked $13 off the price to our delight.

We decided to prepare the fish whole, seeing it was such a beautiful specimen (like me). To make this you will need to following ingredients:

Whole fish - can be snapper or cod any size you like. We used a 3kg snapper.

Olive oil

Vegetable oil

4 medium size red chillies 

75g of ginger

5 cloves of garlic

A handful of sesame seeds

1/4 bottle Tsao-sing rice wine/sherry

2 whole limes

1/2 cup soy sauce

White vinegar - 2 tbs

Fresh coriander

Sesame oil - 1 tsp.

Sugar - 1tsp.

Salt 

Cracked pepper

Step 1

Cover large oven tray with tin foil. Cut little slots on both sides of the body to ensure flavour gets through - the reason will become apparent later. Place the whole fish onto the tray and  pour the Tsao-sing rice wine and some olive oil after the wine on both sides of the fish. The rice wine will help to get rid of that fishy taste. Coat the fish in sesame seeds, again on both sides. Dice up some garlic and place randomly inside the slots that has been cut into the fish. Place several slices of lime inside the fish body cavity. Place the fish inside an oven set to 170 degree C for about 45 minutes. For a smaller fish you will only need 20-30 minutes. 

Step 2

Now we can prepare the sauce that will go on top of the fish once it is roasted. Pre-heat a sauce pan on medium heat with some vegetable oil. Dice up the chillies, the garlic, and the ginger into thin and long strips and place into the sauce pan. Gentry stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Now add the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and the sugar. Cook the mixture on medium heat for another 30 seconds and the sauce is done. 

Step 3

Once the 45 minutes are up, take the fish out of the oven and place on to a large plate. Take the sauce we prepared in step 2 and pour it over the fish. Spread the sauce evenly over the fish and decorate with some fresh coriander leaves and lime wedges. Viola! Take a minute to stand over the finished meal and marvel at your delicious creation. This will surely impress your dinner guests!