Baked Australian Barramundi

Why we should eat steamed / baked Australian Barramundi?

Adding fish into your diet is a great way to improve your heart health, to reduce your weight and lower the rates of stroke, depression. There are many ways to cook and enjoy fish; however, so far, only baked or broiled fish are consider as the healthiest way of eating fish.

What health benefits that Barramundi has brought to us?

I had never heard about Australian Barramundi until I moved here. Barramundi has a firm texture and mild with buttery flavor.  Not only that, Barramundi has the highest Omega-3 fatty acid of any white fish. Every bite is packed with protein and is really versatile.

The last time I baked Australian barramundi was when we had my sister-in-law’s parents over and everyone really enjoyed every single bite of it. I prefer to use lime for cooking and lemon for seasoning after the food being cooked. Besides that, I also think lime can take away the strong fishy smell from the fish better than lemon in cooking.

In this recipe I use shiitake mushroom as I like the taste of it and I do use it in many Asian dishes. You can find it in the dried products section in any Japanese, Vietnamese, or Chinese grocery stores. However, you can also exclude it from your ingredients list and the fish will still taste delicious. Last but not least, I hope you will enjoy this dish as much as we do!

Serves 4

prep time: 20 minutes              cooking time: 20 minutes / 30 minutes

total time:  40 minutes / 50 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 whole barramundi medium size, gutted and scaled
• 4 limes
• 2 red chillies
• 4 spring onions / shallots
• 1 (5 cm) piece of ginger
• ½ bunch of coriander
• 8 small dried shiitake mushrooms
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 2 table spoon of fish sauce
• 2 table spoon of olive oil / vegetable oil
• 8 toothpicks to secure the filling in the fish tummy

METHOD

1. Rinse the fishes under cold water, pat dry, make a long cut along the fish’s tummy, make some small deep cuts in the skin of the Barramundi on each side and set aside in cool place
2. Thinly slice 2 limes in half moon shapes, squeeze 2 limes to get the juice
3. Peel and cut ginger into juliennes and place in a small bowl and set a side. Remove the seeds from the chilies and thinly slice them in juliennes and set aside
4. rub the fishes with salt, black pepper and 2 table spoons of lemon juice on both sides, slice some ginger juliennes into the cavities cuts on the fishes
5. Preparing the filling. Soak shiitake mushroom in hot water for 5 minutes and wash and finely chop then put in a bowl. Wash coriander, spring onion well, remove root end and discard. Chop stems roughly and leaves separated and add ¾ to the bowl with shiitake mushroom and keep ¼ for garnishing later. Add black pepper, a small pinch of salt, lime juice, fish sauce and olive / vegetable oil in the bowl and mix all the ingredients well, using as the filling
6. Stuff the filling into the fish tummies and secure with toothpicks
7. Rub the fishes (both sides) and baking tray with olive oil and laying half of the lime slices on the tray, lay the fishes on top then lay the rest of the lime slices and chili juliennes on top of the fish. Cover with the foil. Set the oven at 180 C for 5 minutes then bake the fishes for 30 minutes. Garnish with the rest of spring onion and coriander. It’s ready to serve.

NOTE: For steaming version: follow until step 7 then lay half of the lime slices on the steamer and lay the fishes on top and then lay the rest of the lime slices and chili juliennes on top of the fish. Steam the fishes for 20 minutes. Garnish with the rest of spring onion and coriander. It’s ready to serve.