Fried Snapper fish in "red sauce"

ปลากะพงน้ำแดง

Red sauce is a "pour-over" sauce, used to enhance the flavour of the fis, and is quite a common preference in Thailand to use this with fish recipes. You can vary thespicyness of this sauce, depending on your taste and tolerance. For those who dont like a strong taste of fish, a little more chilli will reduce the effect bof fishiness.For my tatses, snapper is a very non fishy tasting kind of fish, and has such a clean fine wonderful white flaky flesh to it that the mouth just waters thinking about it. A bit like haddock maybe.This dish can be served with boiled rice, or on its own as an hor d'hoevre too, even with plain rice soup it is delicious.

Ingredients;
Snapper fish - 500gm, belly pork - 100gm, 3 dried wood mushrooms, 300gms of Morning Glory plant (leaves not flowers), grated ginger (1/2 a cup). Finely sliced red chillies (or capsicum if you dont like spicy), 1 tablespoon of diced garlic, 1 tablesp[oon of sugar, 2 teblespoons of oyster sauce, 1 teblespoon og maggi or golden mountain seasoning sauce.
2 tablespoons of cornflour or flour, white pepper (1/2 teaspoon), 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and one cup of stock water. (also of course some vegetable oil for frying).

Preparation Method;\
rub the white pepper and salt over the fishmeatdip in the oil and flour and put on one side to marinate.
Slice the belly pork into thin slices. Take the morning glory, and select the youngest freshest sprigs, and wash them well. As for the wood mushrooms; soak them in tepid water until they swell and become soft to the middle when you squeeze them, and then slice them into small slices too. Cut the skin off the ginger root, wash it and slice it into thin fine slices (as if grated - you can grate it if you like but it will become mushy). Put the wok on the stove and heat the oil until it smokes a little. Add the fish and fry until it attains a golden color and looks crispy.The take the fish out and put to the side (you can use some kitchen paper to remove the extra fat if you like to slim). Fry the morning glory in the same oil and place on a plate to one side too. Add the garlic and fry till it is golden and has a wonderful aroma, add the belly pork, mushrooms, and fry unitl they are cooked - add the stock.

Add the oyster sauce, seasoning sauce, and sugar, fry until they all mix together - taste it to see if it has the right flavour (it should be slightly sweet/salty), and the cornflour should be well dissolved in the gravy.
Stir fry a little more to bring to the boiling point - once bubbling, pour it over the piece of fish and morning glory, and sprinkle the ginger, and red pepper/chilli/capsicum, anmd serve immediately whilst still sizzling!