Sea bass with blackbean sauce

2 x Sea bass, gutted and scaled

olive oil

salt and pepper

For the filling:

1 can of fermented black beans, drained

2 spring onions, roughly sliced

3 cm piece of ginger, roughly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, grated

A handful of coriander, roughly chopped, you can use the stems and leave the leaves for the decoration and sauce.

1 tbsp Soy sauce

For the sauce:

1 tbsp Sesame oil

2 cloves of garlic, finely grated

2 cm piece of ginger, finely grated

1 can of fermented black beans, drained

1 red chilli, seeds removed and finely sliced.

500 ml chicken stock

soya sauce, to taste

Garnish:

3 spring onions, finely sliced

A handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped

Serve with rice.

Preparation of the fish: 

1. Heat oven to 180C

2. Put all the ingredients for the filling in a food processor and wiz to a paste.

3. Rub the sea bass with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stuff it with the black bean paste and wrap in foil and put in the oven- bake for  20-30min.

4.  In the meantime prepare the sauce. 

Making the sauce:

1. Heat up the oil in a pan, add the grated garlic and ginger. Stir around so it doesn’t burn and when they start getting a golden color add the chicken stock, black beans and chilli. Bring to boil and then simmer for 20 min. Put aside and season with soy sauce to taste. 

Once the seabass is out of the oven, remove the head (unless removed before) and place fish on a plate. Put some of the sauce over the fish and garnish with chopped spring onions and coriander. Serve with rice of your choice.

Another serving option is to fillet the fish and serve up on individual plates.

Follow the illustrations below. Make sure you remove the filling first and put aside. You can add it when presenting on the plate.

Filleting fish: 

1.