How to Make Seabass Summer Rolls

Yields: 10 rolls

Preparation time:  30 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients needed to make Seabass Summer Rolls:

For the marinade:

• 2 lemongrass stalks, lightly smashed
• 2-4 fresh dill sprigs, chopped
• 1 red bird’s eye chili, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
• 2 oz fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce

For the summer rolls:

• 10 rice spring roll wrappers
• 1 whole seabass, scales removed and cleaned
• 1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped into thin strips
• 6 oz carrots, shredded
• 1 courgette, peeled and chopped into thin strips
• ½ pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced into thin strips
• 3 oz rice vermicelli, cooked according to package instructions
• Bunch of fresh dill, torn roughly

For the dipping sauce:

• 8 oz fresh pineapple, crushed and pulsed into grainy puree
• 1 red bird’s eye chili, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce

Cooking instructions for Seabass Summer Rolls:

• Warm up your outdoor grill over high charcoal fire.
• To make the marinade, pour the lemon juice in a small bowl, along with 4 tbsp water and stir in the ginger, garlic, sugar, chili and dill until well combined.
• Whisk in a splash of fish sauce and set aside.
• Score three shallow slashes on either side of the fish’s skin and drizzle few tsp of the prepared marinade over it, including within the cuts.
• Stuff lemongrass stalks within the cuts and smother it with rest of the marinade.
• Flip it over to coat the either sides with the marinade and set aside for half an hour to marinate.
• Place the fish on the hot grill grate and grill one side for about 10 minutes before flipping it over to sear the other side until the fish is cooked through.
• Remove from grill and allow to cool slightly.
• To make the dipping sauce, whisk all its ingredients together in a small bowl, along with 4 tbsp water until they blend thoroughly into a uniform mixture and set aside.
• To assemble the summer rolls, spread a rice wrapper on top of a cutting board and brush small amount of cold water all over it to moisten it up slightly.
• Pile up small amount of the cooked vermicelli along the middle of the wrapper.
• Slice out a tbsp of the cooked flesh from the fish; pick the bones if any and place it on top of the noodles.
• Fold one side of the wrapper once and arrange small amount of shredded carrot adjacent to the fish.
• Top it up a couple each of pineapple, courgette as well as cucumber strips and sprinkle a pinch of dill over them.
• Roll the wrapper up in a tight cylinder and tuck in the open ends to secure.
• Make rest of the summer rolls in a similar fashion and serve alongside dipping sauce.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Last Updated on March 30, 2013 by