Grilled sea bass with oyster sauce vinaigrette recipe

Crispy skinned sea bass with stir-fried ginger, spring onions and shitake mushrooms and a sweet Malaysian dressing from Gary Rhodes

Gary Rhodes: "This is such an easy and exciting dish to try, offering a range of flavours that compliment one and other so well, the sweet bite of candied ginger calming their quite robust characters. The rich bok choy elements of this dish also eat well with steamed fish or grilled chicken."

Serves 4

• 4 x 150-175g portions skinned sea bass fillet
• Flour, for dusting
• 4-6 heads bok choy, divided into leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 100g shiitake or chestnut mushrooms, sliced or quartered
• 1-2 nuggets candied ginger, cut into 1-2mm thick sticks
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 knobs butter

For the vinaigrette

• 3 tbsp kicap manis
• 100ml water
• Pinch of ground white pepper
• Pinch of sugar
• 2 tbsp sesame or olive oil

1. For the vinaigrette, bring the soy sauce, water, white pepper and sugar to the boil before whisking in the sesame or olive oil. Keep to one side.

2. Lightly flour the skin side of the sea bass. Heat a skewer on the flame of a hob and hold against the skin to make neat chargrill marks.

3. Quickly blanch the boy choy in boiling salted water for approximately 30 seconds before draining.

4. Heat the olive oil and 1 knob of butter in a wok or frying pan. Add the garlic, candied ginger and mushrooms gently cooking for a minute or two before adding the spring onions and bok choy. Cook for a further 1-2 minutes and the vegetables are ready to serve.

5. Meanwhile, brush the grill-marked seabass fillets with butter, placing them on a greased baking tray. The fillets can now be cooked beneath a preheated grill for 5-7 minutes, depending on the size of the fish, until just firm to the touch.

6. Divide the vegetables between 4 large bowls or plates, drizzling each with the oyster sauce vinaigrette before presenting with the seabass.

Recipe by Gary Rhodes for Malaysia Kitchen, a worldwide celebration of Malaysian cuisine