Lime-Cured Fish with Chilli Padi and Pink Onions

by Shu Han Lee, featured in Agak Agak

Published by Hardie Grant

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Introduction

This is one of my best-loved dinner party creations. It looks and tastes like it’s way harder work to make than it actually is. Much like Peruvian ceviche, fresh fish is cured in citrus juices. Here, we use lime juice, as well as fish sauce for saltiness and bird’s eye chilli for heat. The zippy acidic marinade lightly ‘cooks’ the raw fish and red onions, taking away their sharp edge. While the dish works beautifully as a simple side dish to have alongside other bits, I also like serving it as a starter or a snack with prawn crackers.

As featured in

Agak Agak

Image of Shu Han Lee's Lime-Cured Fish with Chilli Padi and Pink Onions — Photo by Ola O. Smit

Ingredients

Serves: 2-3 as a starter, snack or side

Metric Cups

juice of 2 limes (about 4 tbsp)
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1½ teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
1 bird's eye chilli (chopped)
1 small red onion (thinly sliced)
200 grams skinless white fish fillets, such as sea bream or sea bass
small handful fresh coriander (finely chopped)

TO SERVE (OPTIONAL)

prawn crackers

juice of 2 limes (about 4 tbsp)
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1½ teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
1 bird's eye chile (chopped)
1 small red onion (thinly sliced)
7 ounces skinless white fish fillets, such as sea bream or sea bass
small handful cilantro (finely chopped)

TO SERVE (OPTIONAL)

prawn crackers

Method

Lime-Cured Fish with Chilli Padi and Pink Onions is a guest recipe by Shu Han Lee so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe

To make the marinade, combine the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and chilli, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking; you might find you need a pinch more sugar if you have a particularly salty fish sauce.
Add the sliced red onions to the marinade and set aside for 15 minutes. The acidic juices will help to take away the onion’s raw taste and lightly pickle them, mellowing both their flavour and colour.
Meanwhile, slice the fish fillets against the grain, at an angle, into ½ cm (¼ in) thin slices. Pour the marinade over the fish. The longer you leave it, the more ‘cooked’ the fish gets; I like to leave it for just 5 minutes.
To serve, arrange the fish and pink onions on a plate, dress with the citrusy milky marinade and sprinkle with the chopped coriander. To eat, get everyone to spoon a bit of everything onto a prawn cracker and shove the whole thing into their mouths.

To make the marinade, combine the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and chilli, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking; you might find you need a pinch more sugar if you have a particularly salty fish sauce.
Add the sliced red onions to the marinade and set aside for 15 minutes. The acidic juices will help to take away the onion’s raw taste and lightly pickle them, mellowing both their flavour and colour.
Meanwhile, slice the fish fillets against the grain, at an angle, into ½ cm (¼ in) thin slices. Pour the marinade over the fish. The longer you leave it, the more ‘cooked’ the fish gets; I like to leave it for just 5 minutes.
To serve, arrange the fish and pink onions on a plate, dress with the citrusy milky marinade and sprinkle with the chopped coriander. To eat, get everyone to spoon a bit of everything onto a prawn cracker and shove the whole thing into their mouths.