Ingredients
- 1 lime
- 1 stick lemongrass
- Thumb-sized piece of ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ red chili
- ½ small white onion
- 1 tsp dark brown sugar or palm sugar
- 1½ tbsp fish sauce
- 300 ml fish or chicken stock
- 1 tin coconut cream
- 150 g rice
- 190 ml water
- 4 hake fillets (or other firm white fish such as cod, pollock, monkfish, haddock, or sea bass)
- 4 bok choy
- Oil, salt, to taste
Instructions
- Slice the thumb-sized piece of ginger, ½ red chili, and ½ small white onion. Crush the 2 garlic cloves and cut the top quarter from the 1 stick lemongrass. Bruise both pieces of lemongrass to release their flavor.
- Set the Instant Pot to sauté (medium heat). Add a little neutral oil, then the onion, a large piece of lemongrass, garlic, chili and ginger. Cook for about 2 minutes until the onion softens.
- Add the 300 ml stock, 1 tin coconut cream, 1 tsp dark brown sugar, and 1½ tbsp fish sauce. Stir well.
- Place a short-legged trivet in the pot. Set a small, heatproof bowl of 150 g rice, 190 ml water, a pinch of salt, and the reserved lemongrass tip on the trivet. The bowl should sit just above the broth without tipping.
- Cancel sauté, secure the lid, and pressure cook for 3 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally, about 13–15 minutes in total. When the pin drops, open the pot and carefully lift out the rice. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
- Switch back to sauté. Bring the coconut broth to a gentle simmer (medium-low heat) and slide in the 4 hake fillets. Nestle the 4 pak choi around the fish. Cook for 2–3 minutes until the fish is opaque and flakes easily, and the pak choi is just tender.
- Serve the rice with the coconut broth, fish, and pak choi. Squeeze over the juice of 1 lime before serving.
Notes: Any firm white fish works here, but thicker fillets are easiest to handle. Swap pak choi for spinach or tenderstem broccoli if preferred.