Baked Whole Barramundi, with Asian flavours

This Barramundi fish was caught with a fishing rod and line from the beach, only the day before I baked it, and couldn't have been any fresher, or more delicious. He was caught in the waters of the Hinchinbrook Channel near Cardwell on the Far North Queensland Coast, by a friend who only ever catches as much as he needs, just eats what he can and very thoughtfully gives a few away to older residents of his community. Fishing sustainably like this will ensure that the barramundi won't be fished out in this area by local fishermen.

Fish are not very photogenic when cooked, not when I take the photos anyway, ha, ha, but don't let this one's looks fool you. He was delicious. Saltwater Crocodiles are known to frequent the Hinchinbrook Channel, and they also love Barramundi, so the fishermen are very careful to stand back a long way from the water. The local fishermen know the dangers that they are dealing with. I was reading that crocodiles have been known to jump up and take a fish off the fishing line as it is being pulled in by the fishermen.  After all, when we visited Hartley's Crocodile Farm near Cairns recently, when Hugo and Matthew were visiting, and we were on one of the tour boats, the tourist guide was encouraging a large crocodile to put on a show and jump up beside the boat and take chicken from them, attached to a line of course. It was kind of strange though that they had to work very hard to coax the crocodiles to jump up. They were obviously very well fed, and as it was also Winter, they just wanted to sleep, with one eye open. However, never trust a crocodile with one eye open or both closed. We have also been at Hartley's during Summer, when the crocodiles were eager to leap up beside the boat for food. The following are some photos I took of crocodiles at Hartley's Crocodile Farm as we walked around the park. They were all in fenced off areas, of course.

I think these are Freshwater crocodiles "Freshies",  not as dangerous and not found in the oceans

Mr. HRK called in to our friend's house near Cardwell, and collected the precious barramundi late one afternoon when he was driving back up here to Cairns and I baked him the following day. The flavours of this fish were outstanding, honestly it is the best Barra I have ever tasted.

Fresh barramundi cleaned and scaled by Mr. HRK

I based this tasty Asian  recipe on one published by the lovely Lorraine Elliott, author of Not Quite Nigella, as I hadn't ever baked a whole Barramundi before. I have baked many fish, but normally cook Barramundi in filleted form. I thought that having been so generously gifted a whole fish weighing nearly 1.3 kg., it deserved to be baked. A freshly caught fish like this is a very precious commodity.  It is also gratifying to know that it has been caught in our local waters.

Recipe:

Cooking time: 30-35 minutes depending on the size of the fish. The flesh will flake away easily with a fork when cooked. This one took nearly 40 minutes in total to bake.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 whole and very fresh Barramundi, cleaned and descaled (mine was about 1.3kg when prepared for cooking)

Herbs and spices:

3/4 cup Thai or sweet basil leaves

3/4 cup  coriander/cilantro leaves

1 long red chilli, similar to a cayenne

Sauces:

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

3 tablespoons Thai sweet chilli sauce

2 teaspoons mirin

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1.5 tablespoons fish sauce

1.5 tablespoons olive oil, use garlic flavoured oil if you have it, plus a bit extra for the vegetables

4 bunches broccolini or as much as you wish for a healthy serve of green vegetables

Rice to serve 4

Optional: Ingredients for a Wombok salad, please see link to the recipe below

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200 deg. C/400 deg. F and line your baking tray with baking paper.

Chop up the herbs, slice the chillies and remove the seeds as best you can.

Place a small amount of the herbs and chilli aside to use as a garnish later, and fill the cavity of the fish with the rest of the herbs and chilli.

Mix the sauces and the oil together and  brush them over both sides of the fish. Be generous with it. 

Bake the fish for 20 minutes. 

Add the broccolini to the pan, and baste the fish with some more of the sauce. Baste the broccolini with a little olive oil.

Cook for another 10 minutes and check to see if the fish is cooked. If it isn't, add some more sauce and cook for another 5 minutes.

I served the fish with a delicious Wombok salad, boiled basmati rice and broccolini. Wombok salad is perfect to serve with fish.

Delicious Wombok salad, light and refreshing

There are many ways to bake a fish, and because Barramundi is such a delicately flavoured fish,  I  would also be happy to just bake it with slices of lemon, some butter or olive oil, and a sprinkle of lemon pepper. It won't disappoint.

Hope you are having an enjoyable weekend.

 Warm wishes,

Pauline