Tom Yam Chilli Sambal Fish

I have a pack of about five 20-cm groupers left from my hubby's last fishing trip. I don't mind eating fish but I dislike having to scale and clean them. In fact I have been putting off cooking this last batch for a while.

To make my job easier, I chopped off the heads and belly - I don't have to wrestle with the gills and guts!!

I finally did it and as they were not fresh enough to be steamed, I make something spicy.

I had a jar of tom yam paste which I bought some months ago.

I had to use about 3/4 jar of paste before I was quite satisfied with the taste. It was still not good enough. I didn't get the 'oomph' I wanted.

I resorted to adding some home-made chilli sambal, 3 stalks of sliced serai and 4 chilli padi and WOW!

What I used:

Fish

3/4 jar tom yam paste

3 tablespoon chilli sambal

3 stalks serai, sliced thick

4 chilli padi, sliced

1 medium onion, sliced

juice of one lemon

oil

salt and sugar to taste

water

What I did:

1. Fry onions, serai, chilli, tom yam paste and sambal.

2. Add in lemon juice and some water.

3. Bring to a boil and season the gravy before adding the fish.

4. Simmer till the fish is cooked.

5. Serve with a spoonful of nonya achar.