Last week I had dinner a Jaiya, a wonderful Thai restaurant in NY on third Avenue between 28th and 29th street. There are many amazingly enticing dishes there but the Crispy Whole Red Snapper with Red Chili Sauce is out of this world delicious. We always order the sauce on the side and take home whatever is left over. Naturally, since I love this sauce so much every time I opened my refrigerator it beckoned me to take action. Two nights later I could no longer resist the temptation of this sweet and spicy treat so I whipped up this dish – pan fried red snapper served over rice with a side of steamed string beans with a simple lemon sauce. Thanks to Jaiya, I could prepare a romantic meal for two in less than 20 minutes. Sweet!
Pan Fried Red Snapper Filet with Sweet & Spicy Chili Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1 lb red snapper filet, skin on
- salt and papper
- 1/4 cup of flour
- Thai Red Chili Sauce*
*For the Thai Red Chili Sauce you can pick some up from your favorite Thai restaurant as I did, you find a recipe online for to make a batch of your own, or can buy a bottle of Red Chili Sauce from your market.
Directions:
- Rinse the fish and pat dry with paper towels.
- Sprinkle fillets lightly with salt and pepper
- Pour a bit of flour onto a plate and dredge fillets, on both sides, with flour.
- Shake off excess flour. Lay the fillets on a large plate or baking sheet.
- In a large frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon olive
- oil over high heat.
- When the pan is very hot, lay the fillets side by side in the pan without
- crowding them and cook for 1½ to 2 minutes until browned on the bottom,
- Turn fillets with a wide spatula and brown the other side, 1 to 2 minutes longer.
Plating the dish
- Place a mound of rice on a serving platter and place the red snapper on top of the rice.
- Pour the chili sauce over the fish and serve immediately.
- Pairs well with Thai beer, saki or white wine.
