This is an extremely flavourful dish that is light and easy to make. Cilantro, ginger, garlic, chiles, lime and coconut milk are combined into a delicious Thai-style paste that is then tossed with cooked rice. The rice forms the base for the fish and snow peas, which are steamed in the oven. This recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Cook with Jamie calls for sea bass, but you could use any kind of fish of seafood. I used halibut, and it was delicious.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Use tamari instead of soy sauce and look for a brand of sesame oil and coconut milk that are additive-free.

Coconut milk is the base for the Thai paste

Combine the paste with cooked basmatic rice

Place the fish and snow peas on top of the rice, cover and steam in oven

Steamed Thai-style fish with rice

Ingredients:

For the Thai paste

2 large bunches fresh coriander, leaves picked and stalks reserved

2 thumb-sized pieces fresh ginger, peeled

3 cloves garlic, peeled

2 fresh red chiles, halved and deseeded

2 teaspoons sesame oil

6 tablespoons soy sauce

Juice and zest of 2 limes

400 ml light coconut milk

For the fish and rice

400 g basmati rice

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 x 170 g sea bass fillets, or other fish, pinboned and skin scored

1 handful sugar snap peas

1 bunch spring onions, outer leaves discarded, trimmed and finely sliced

1-2 fresh red chiles, deseeded and finely sliced

1 lime, quartered

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. In a food processor or liquidizer, whiz up the coriander stalks, half of the coriander leaves, the ginger, garlic, halved chiles, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice and zest and the coconut milk. This will give you a lovely fragrant Thai-style paste.

Cook your rice in salted, boiling water until it’s just undercooked, then drain it in a colander. Scoop it into a high-sided roasting tray. Pour your Thai paste over the rice and mix it in well, then shake it out flat. Lay the sea bass fillets on top, scatter over the sugar snap peas, then cover the dish tightly with tinfoil and put it in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle over the spring onions, the sliced chile and the other half of the coriander leaves. Divide between your plates with a wedge of lime. Serves 4.

From Cook with Jamie