ginger fish/pla jien

There's an amazing Thai restaurant on the Gold Coast, in Australia, called Chiang Mai Thai. Ask any local and they'll have been there, and probably love it. It was a treasured obsession and indulgence of ours for a few years. I would call and say, "Hi, may I please place a take away order?" and at the sound of my voice, the receptionist would reply, "Ah, yes, let me guess, ginger fish?". This is another dish that I've tried to recreate a couple of times but never got quite right (fish sauce is my salvation - it's the key to both these dishes, I've discovered!). I've had a few requests for my ginger fish recipe so here tis (I think this recipe looks more complicated than it is - perservere, it's easy and worth it!).

You will need:

2 - 3 firm white fish fillets (depending on size)
Corn Flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil and 500mL for shallow frying
1/2 cup water
1 cup loosely packed julienned ginger
6 cloves garlic
1 onion thinly sliced
1 cup woodear mushrooms (I couldn't get any woodear mushrooms so substituted Enoki, which worked fine. I think at a pinch button mushrooms would even be okay, but woodear is by far the best).
1/2 cup mangetout, trimmed and washed
Handful of pea aubergines, washed
Eschallots, washed and sliced in 4 cm lengths (and extra dark green for garnish)
Sliced red chili (optional - quantity to taste)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons light soya sauce
1 heaped tablespoon soybean paste (this is pretty crucial - any good asian grocer will stock it)

NB You can really use any variation on ingredients with this, the most important are for the sauce, obviously ginger, and the wood ear mushrooms. This can be done with chicken or tofu, instead of fish, and the shallow frying of the fish is optional. This recipe is as close to Chiang Mai's as I've been able to make it, and they use deep fried fish (so if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me!).

What to do:

Make the sauce: Mix oyster sauce, fish sauce, soya sauce and soy bean paste in a bowl and set aside. Heat 500ml vegetable oil in a deep frying pan or sauce pan. Don't use non-stick. Coat the fish fillets in cornflour. Check oil is hot enough by flicking a bit of leftover cornflour in. If it sizzles and floats you are good to go. Carefully place the fillets in (all at once if your saucepan is big enough, or in batches otherwise). Once golden, remove with a metal slotted spoon or metal tongs and set aside.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a deep frying pan or wok and add the garlic, onion and pea aubergines. Fry for a few minutes until lightly browned. If you aren't doing deep fried fish, this is where you should add the chicken, or the tofu, or the unfried fish. Fry for several minutes until golden and cooked through. Add ginger, mushrooms and the sauce mix. Add chilli, if using, and the water. Bring to the boil for a minute or two, then add the scallions, mangetout and any other vegetables you're using.

There are two things you can do here. Either place a fillet of fish on a plate and spoon the sauce on top OR add the fish to the saucepan and stir to combine. Serve in a large dish, garnished with finely sliced eschallot and beansprouts and accompany with steamed jasmine or sticky coconut rice.