Zak and Tamar’s Hainanese flatfish BBQ

1. Let’s get saucy. For the spring onion sauce, heat the oils in a pan and mix the spring onion and ginger in a heatproof bowl. Once the oil is sizzling hot – b—-y carefully – pour the oil over the spring onion and ginger, then mix through. Done! So easy. Feel free to add more ginger if you like it zesty. You can store this in the fridge in a sealed container for about 2 weeks (or freeze it in cubes). It goes great on almost everything! Great as the finishing flavouring on noodles or throw it in your pan at the start of a stir fry.

2. Now for the chili sauce, again dead easy – put all the things in a bowl. If ya like it spicy, add more or hotter chilis. Mix and put it in the science oven (microwave) for 30 seconds to a minute to warm through and dissolve sugar. Again, this will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks (a week if the chicken stock is homemade).

3. Rice time. Wash your rice, please. Put 2 cups rice in the rice cooker and rinse with cold water until the water is clear. Then bung in the rest of the ingredients and flick the switch. Once the rice cooker is done, fluff it in the pot, pop the lid back down, and leave on warm for another 5 minutes. If you cook rice in a pot (get a rice cooker, honestly, life’s hard enough), you will also need to add two cups of water along with the chicken stock.

4. Let’s fry a flatfish! Dust your whole fish in seasoned flour and fry on your weapon of choice – we used a hibachi grill, which gave it an amazing charcoal flavour that went really well with the fresh sauces. But a standard barbecue hot plate or a frying pan big enough to handle the whole fish will get the job done. Cook the fish for 4 minutes on each side – be careful flipping, so you don’t break it or splash oil on yourself.

To serve, make a bed of rice, place the fish proudly in the centre, surround with slices of cucumber and drizzle with both sauces. Keep some bowls of sauce to the side coz it’s moreish! Now the fun part – eating! Yes, there are some bones but there are also exciting textures, incredible flavours and the meal itself is a journey to enjoy.