Spicy Grilled Fish (By G)

After 7 weeks of travelling I was really looking forward to cooking for myself (and Biggs) again.  I got a little cookbook in Cambodia and, after intense scrutiny over a long period of time, settled on barbecued fish.

The recipe called for whole Mackerel but they didn't have any at the fish shop - they guy said Taylor is running at the moment (which I took to be a good thing) so I got that instead.

I marinated the fish in a lemongrass, chilli, ginger, shallot, lime and coconut blend then chucked them on the barbecue.  To make sure the fish was cooked all the way through I chucked them in the oven for a while.

For sides I attempted a Burmese tomato salad - tomatoes, red onion, coriander, fish sauce, vinegar, lemongrass (actually the recipe called for lemongrass vinegar but we appear to be fresh out), fried garlic, fried shallot and crushed peanuts. Also, I blanched some beans, added red onion, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, tamarind paste, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, sesame oil and fried garlic.

To my surprise the fish was moist and perfectly cooked. I think it could have done with some more of the marinade. The tomato salad was a long way off the mark and the beans were a bit over blanched - otherwise it was a pretty good effort. Somehow I've lost the ability to multitask so there was a lot of dashing back and forward as I remembered urgent things that needed to be done shortly after they needed to be done.