Trio Flavour Deep Fried Rockling with Pear Salad

Paul Prakongsunt

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

200g rockling fillet
1 cup cornstarch

Trio flavour sauce
100g tamarind puree
200g palm sugar
1½ cup water
2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
5 red hot chilli (finely chopped)
3 coriander roots (finely chopped)
1 ½ tbsp fish sauce
½ tbsp  sea salt
2 tbsp oil

Pear salad
1 handful salad mix
1 packham pear (julienned)
1 pinch red onion (thinly sliced)
½ carrot (julienned)
4 – 5 mint leaves
2 cherry tomato (halved)
3 tbsp roasted walnut

Dressing
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
¼ extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

Garnish with red capsicum, finely chopped and crispy shallots

Method

To make sauce, heat up a saucepan with oil, then sauté garlic, chilli and chopped coriander roots until golden brown.

Then add tamarind puree, palm sugar, fish sauce, salt and water. Reduce the sauce for 5 minutes or until it’s thickened. Pour into a separate bowl and set aside.

Fill a large wok or deep-fryer one-third full with oil. Heat over high heat to 180C (or until a cube of bread turns golden in 10 seconds). Coat rockling fillets with corn starch, then slice into oil. Cook for 4 minutes until they are crispy.

To make salad, combine salad mix, carrot, pear, cherry tomatoes, roasted walnut and mint in the mixing bowl.  Drizzle balsamic dressing into the salad and toss it well.

To serve, place rockling on one side of the plate, pour the trio flavour sauce onto the fish then garnish with a sprig of coriander. Place salad next to the fish, then top it off with and capsicum and crispy shallots.