Homemade Sambal Fish Stir Fry recipe using Dory fillet along with freshly made Sambal paste. A mouth watering Malay dish with a blend of unique Indian spices, quick and easy to make. You can also use readymade sambal paste here, but I prefer making fresh as it gives better flavour to the whole recipe.I am using thai red chillies, they are the most spicy chillies I have ever had, some times just half or a small one is enough for an entire recipe. If you prefer less spicy, deseed them before using or just use 1 or 2.
Equipment
- blender
- stir fry pan
Ingredients
For Sambal Paste:
- 2 inch ginger or galangal
- 5-6 thai red chillies (adjust as per preference)
- 10 shallots or 1 small red onion
- 5-7 large garlic cloves
- 2 small red bell peppers
- 4-5 lemon leaves or 1 inch lemongrass stick
- 1 tsp tamarind paste
- 1 tsp shrimp paste optional
- Salt to taste
- 3-4 tsp olive oil
Other ingredients for stir fry
- 1 large dory fish fillet
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp cumin powder
- 1 large onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 capsicum thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
- 10-15 cherry tomatoes cut in half
- Salt to taste
- 2 tsp olive oil
- Sambal paste
Instructions
For sambal paste:
- Blend all above ingredients (except olive oil) in a grinder, mixing a little water if required.
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan and fry the paste for 5-10 mins until semi dry. It is done when you can see it turning reddish-brown leaving oil in the edges.
- Keep the cooked paste aside, check for salt.
For fish stir fry:
- Marinate the fish with salt, lemon juice and red chilli powder and keep aside for 20-30 mins.
- Heat oil in a pan, then add mustard seeds, let them crackle.
- Add sliced onions and fry until transparent.
- Add turmeric and cumin powder and stir for a minute.
- Now add some salt and capsicum to it, cook for 3-4 mins
- Add peanuts, sambal paste and mix it all, cook for few more minutes.
- Now spread the whole mixture evenly within the pan and keep dory fillet above it then cover and cook for 5-7 minutes on very low heat without stirring at all. It will steam the fish without burning the mixture.
- Open the cover to flip the fish along with scraping the mixture from the bottom of pan. At this point, fish gets almost cooked and you can cut it in two pieces to allow an easy flip to cook the other side.
- Once you turn the fish, add cherry tomatoes in pan, then cover and cook for another 2-3 mins or more if required, just keep it on very low flame.
- Now switch off the heat and let it settle in steam for 2 minutes, cherry tomatoes soften by the time.
- Sprinkle lemon juice over it and serve hot with rice, naan or noodles etc.
Notes
Dory fillet cooks quickly, hence avoid flipping more than once or twice otherwise it will be mushy.
You can adjust spicy by adding or removing red chillies.
Use a non stick pan to avoid excess oil.