Ho Mok Pla

Ingredients

• 500 g firm white fish fillet, skinned and sliced into 1 cm strips
• 4 tbsp red curry paste
• 400 ml coconut cream
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large handful Thai sweet basil leaves
• 100 g Chinese cabbage, finely shredded
• 6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded hair-fine
• 1 long red chilli, sliced into fine slivers
• Banana leaves for the cups, or 8 small ramekins

Before you cook

• Wipe the banana leaves clean and cut them into circles about 15 cm across.
• Form each pair of circles into a shallow cup and pin the corners with staples or cocktail sticks, or simply set out ramekins instead.
• Slice the fish into finger-length strips about 1 cm thick.
• Shred the kaffir lime leaves into fine threads and slice the chilli into slivers.
• Set aside 100 ml of the coconut cream for the topping and stir the rice flour and salt into it.

Steps

1. Put the red curry paste in a large bowl and add the fish strips.
2. Stir the fish and paste together in one direction only, for a full 3 minutes, until the fish starts to feel sticky against the spoon.
3. Add the beaten egg and keep stirring the same way until it is completely absorbed.
4. Pour in the remaining coconut cream a little at a time, stirring without stopping, so the mixture thickens instead of splitting.
5. Season with the fish sauce and palm sugar and stir for another 2 minutes, until the mixture is thick enough to fall slowly off a spoon.
6. Line the bottom of each cup with shredded cabbage and a few sweet basil leaves.
7. Spoon the fish mixture into the cups, filling them to about 1 cm below the rim.
8. Bring water to a rolling boil in a steamer and arrange the cups inside without crowding them.
9. Steam for 20 minutes, until the tops have set firm and no longer wobble in the middle.
10. Spoon a little of the thickened coconut cream over each cup.
11. Scatter the shredded kaffir lime leaf and the chilli slivers over the top.
12. Steam for 3 minutes more to set the topping, then lift the cups out and let them stand for 5 minutes before serving with rice.