Sea Bream Rice Bowl

Christmas and all of its rich food is approaching.  I think it's great at this time of year to be a bit more pared back in our food choices, perhaps not so many fatty meats and deep flavours so we appreciate the tastes of Christmas all the more when they come?  In some cultures it is traditional to fast until Christmas Day, I'm not proposing this as an idea but eating fish with spiced flavours does feel "right".

There is something I love about raw Asian style dressings like this added after cooking, the flavours are so fresh.

If you prefer you could cook fish fillets instead of baking the fish on the bone but personally I always think fish cooked on the bone is a bit better in flavour.

Sea Bream Rice Bowl - Serves 1

Ingredients

1 Sea bream
50g, 1 1/2 oz Rice of your choice
50g, 1 1/2oz Frozen soy beans*

A handful of fresh "stir fry" vegetables, I used baby corn, mange tout (snow peas) and pak choi.
1 tsp vegetable oil, groundnut oil or spray oil

For the dressing

2 tsp grated Ginger
1 tsp Runny honey
1 tbsp Fish sauce
1/2 tsp Finely chopped lemongrass (see frugal tip below)

Coriander (cilantro) to serve (optional)

Method

If your sea bream hasn't been prepared, gut, clean and scale the fish then wrap in foil (head and bones still in) and bake in a preheated oven at about 400oC, 200F, Gas Mark 6 for about 20 minutes or until the fish is cooked and just opaque.

Make the sauce by mixing all of the ingredients together.

While the fish is cooking, cook the rice, Thai Jasmine or Basmati rice is good here.  About 3-4 minutes before the end of the boiling time, add in the soy beans.

While the rice and fish are cooking, stir fry the vegetables until hot but still crunchy.

When the rice is cooked, drain and put into a bowl.  Skin the fish and take off the bone, top the rice with the fish and vegetables and coriander if using.

Finally top with a drizzle of the dressing.

And enjoy!

My frugal tip is if you have a spare stem of lemongrass you don't think you will use, put it in a glass of water for a couple of weeks, possibly even 3 (this takes quite a while), changing the water once or twice a week until roots start to form.  Pot this up and keep indoors and although other stems don't form, the leaves regrow and you can harvest the green leaf repeatedly and chopped up finely use as you would lemongrass in any recipe.

*Can't find Soy Beans?  The soy beans are there to increase the vegetable intake, as textural interest in the rice and because I love them but I've had difficulty finding them from time to time as they tend to be on sale only in very large supermarkets.  If you can't find them you could substitute these for peas or miss them out and use 15g, 1/2oz more rice.