Serves 4

What you need:

4 x 150g/6oz. cutlets of fresh fish (or 1 whole fish to serve 4) such as sea-bass, red snapper or hake, gutted and cleaned
2 stalks fresh lemongrass
4 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or dried
3 slices fresh galangal or ginger
250g /9oz jasmine or basmati rice
100g /4oz sugar-snap peas
2 small red peppers, quartered
3 cloves garlic
3 hot red chillies, deseeded and chopped
Coriander, roughly chopped
1 lime, juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon nam pla or nuoc mam or fish sauce

What you do:

Crush the chillies, coriander and garlic to a paste, using either a mortar and pestle or a blender. Whisk the lime juice, sugar and fish sauce together, then add the garlic paste and leave in the fridge until the fish is ready. Rinse the fish, remove all scales, if necessary, and dry. Make a small slit in the flesh and stuff this cavity with a little lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal or ginger. Use a bamboo steamer or wok to steam the fish for around 10-15 minutes or until fish is cooked. Make sure that the water doesn’t evaporate. While the fish is cooking, quarter the peppers, trim the insides and char-grill over a low heat. Plunge the peas into boiling water for a couple of minutes, drain and reserve. Boil the rice in water for around 9-10 minutes or until cooked. To serve, place some of the rice, peppers and sugar-snap peas on a plate and the fish to one side. Spoon a little of the chilli-lime sauce over the top and serve the rest in a bowl. Sprinkle with chopped coriander.

Éamonn Ó Catháin, Journalist and Chef