Thai Sea Bass & Morning Glory
When we were in Thailand we got quite heavily into a vegetable that's called Morning Glory (!) over there. I mean, we had it every day by choice and sometimes I'd have had it for breakfast too in one of their tasty omelette things. It's kind of like big robust spinach but more crispy and crunchy when stir fried, with straw-like stems and a sweet, green flavour. It's indiginous to Thailand, but there are other Chinese varieties that are similar. I've been searching for it high and low since March and thought Chinese supermarkets would be the best place (and there are a lot round my area) but no luck, so I was excited to find this in the Asian vegetable section of my local big Tesco:
It's going by a different name, but a quick google told me it was one and the same, so I snapped it up. At home I gave it a rinse (it doesn't hold water in the same way as our usual spinach) and tentatively trimmed the very ends off.
In Thailand, Morning Glory was invariably served simply stir-fried with soy, ginger, garlic and chilli, and as I'm very much a beginner in the Thai cooking stakes, I stuck to this. I don't know why but South East Asian flavours just don't come naturally to me even though I like the cuisine very much.
We're on a health kick this week (The Hare at Bushey and Mimmo La Bufala are both very much to blame) so I thought some nice sea bass fillets would be just the ticket. I steamed them en papilotte with coconut oil, chilli, lime, galangal, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, some sugar water, fish sauce and soy. That sounds more fuss than it actually is. Put the whole lot in some foil and wrap it up tight, then put it in the oven for 20 minutes or until the fish is no longer translucent.
Stir frying the morning glory takes only a couple of minutes. I added some peppers and asparagus to it for contrast and was fairly generous with the chilli.
Dress it all with some spring onion and coriander and dinner is served...