Chargrilled sea bass stuffed with shrimp and lemongrass recipe

Serves 4 4 x 350-400g sea bass, scaled and trimmed Vegetable oil, for brushing Salt For the curry paste 3 dried red chillies, such as kashmiri, slit open and the seeds shaken out 1½ tsp coriander seeds 1½ tsp cumin seeds 1½ tsp fennel seeds 1½ tsp black peppercorns 10g finely grated fresh coconut 3 fat garlic cloves, roughly chopped 2cm piece peeled ginger, roughly chopped 1½ tsp turmeric powder 2 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves discarded and core roughly chopped ½ tsp blachan (shrimp paste) ½ tsp palm or light muscovado sugar 2 tbsp vegetable oil For the curry paste, cover the dried chillies with boiling hot water and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Drain well. Put the coriander seed, cumin seed, fennel seed and black peppercorns into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Tip the powder into a mini food processor and add the coconut, drained and soaked red chillies, garlic, ginger, turmeric, lemongrass, blachan, sugar and vegetable oil. Blend to a smooth paste. If you are going to cook your fish on the barbecue, light it before you are ready to cook. Allow a gas barbecue 10 minutes to heat up and a charcoal one between 30-40 minutes, until the glowing coals are covered in a layer of white ash. To prepare the fish, cut off the heads, and then starting at the head end, start to cut the top fillet away from the bones until you get the whole blade of the knife underneath it. Rest a hand on top of the fish and cut the fillet away from the bones until you are 3-4 cm away from the tail. Turn the fish over and repeat on the other side, then pull back the top fillet and snip away the backbone close to the tail with scissors. Repeat with each of the fish. Season the cut face of each fillet with some salt and then spread a generous tablespoon of the curry paste onto one fillet. Push the fish back into shape and tie along its length in 3 places to keep it in place. If you are grilling your fish, preheat your grill to high. Brush the fish with a little oil and season with salt. Barbecue or grill for 3-4 minutes on each side until crisp and lightly golden on the outside, and cooked through. • Rick Stein is the ambassador for Malaysia Kitchen. Get more recipes and information on Malaysian cooking at malaysiakitchen.co.uk