These Thai curry paste marinated monkfish skewers are the hero of this dish and skewered on lemongrass stalks makes it pretty unique. It’s also paired at the table with a recipe inspired by a dish Mike once ate and told Ben about… pineapple rice.
INGREDIENTS:
Thai red paste
- 1 chunk of root ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 3 red chillies
- 3 shallots
- 6 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 tsp palm sugar
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 lime
- tsp salt
- 1 bunch of fresh coriander
Monkfish
- 750 g monkfish tails
- 4 stalks of lemongrass
Pineapple Rice
- 200 g jasamine rice
- 1 pineapple
- 1 red onion
- 1 red pepper
- 6 stalks of asparagus
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 shot of groundnut oil
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
STEP-BY-STEP-GUIDE:
THAI PASTE
Strip the outer leaves from the lemongrass stalks and soak the stalks in water, keeping the outer leaves for the paste. Peel and roughly chop the garlic, ginger and shallots for the paste. Place into a food processor with the zest and juice of the lime, the cumin, palm sugar, chillies, paprika, salt, outer lemongrass leaves and the stalks from the bunch of coriander (leave the coriander leaves for the rice dish). Blitz until you have a paste.
MARINATE THE MONKFISH
Cut the membrane from the monkfish and chop into chunky pieces of roughly equal size, big enough to thread onto lemongrass skewers. Marinate in the red Thai paste for anywhere between an hour and 8 hrs.
SKEWER THE FISH
Thread the monkfish pieces onto the lemongrass skewers so there are 4-5 chunks on each skewer, enough to make up a portion. Lay the fish skewers on a grill rack over a tray that’s been lined with tin foil. Grab the last two limes and cut them in half. Lay next to the skewers, cut side up. Preheat a grill to a medium heat.
BOIL THE RICE
Cook the rice in plenty of salted boiling water for 9 minutes until just cooked, then drain. Run under cold water to cool and remove excess starch, then drain again and leave to dry out on a tray.
CUT THE PINEAPPLE & VEG
Cut the pineapple in half from top to bottom and using a small knife and spoon scoop out as much flesh as possible, leaving the two halves of the pineapple intact to use later as a serving bowl. Remove the tough core from the pineapple flesh and dice what is left. Peel and dice the red onion, deseed and dice the red pepper, peel and crush the garlic and chop the asparagus into bite-sized pieces, avoiding the woody ends.
GRILL THE FISH
Grill the fish skewers for 6-7 minutes, turning every so often until the fish is cooked right through and firm.
STIR-FRY THE RICE DISH
Stir-fry the pepper, onion and garlic in the groundnut oil in a large pan for 2-3 minutes until they begin to soften. Toss in the asparagus and rice and cook for another 2-3 minutes until piping hot right through. Add in the soy sauce, tamarind, freshly chopped coriander leaves and diced pineapple, then keep frying until everything is piping hot and the asparagus is just cooked.
SERVE
Spoon the rice back into the pineapple shell and serve with the fish skewers and grill limes beside. Tuck in and wash down with an ice cold beer or white wine. Serves 4