Life All Travel Destinations Entertaining Food All Chefs Recipes Restaurants Wine Matching Wine All Wine 101 Wine News Wine Regions Wine Varietals Home > Selector Magazine > Food > Tea-smoked trout in a Thai-style salad Food Tea-smoked trout in a Thai-style salad Preparation time 5 minutes Cooking time 10 minutes plus 4 hours marinating Serves 4 as an entree or 20 as finger food Ingredients 2 x 200g fillets Ocean or Rainbow Trout or Salmon, skin on Marinade 1 ½ cups (375ml) water 2 tsp (10g) ground cumin 1 tbsp fresh chopped coriander 2 tsp (10g) salt 2 tsp (10g) brown sugar 3 tsp (15ml) extra virgin olive oil Smoking mixture 1 tbsp black tea leaves e.g. English breakfast 1 tbsp herbal tea eg. Lemon, lemongrass, ginger flavours 3 tbsp jasmine rice 2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tsp coriander seeds 2 strips lemon rind 4 star anise Salad 2 baby cos lettuce, washed, leaves separated 1 Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeds removed, julienned ½ bunch mint leaves, torn ½ bunch Thai basil leaves, torn 2–3 tbsp fried shallots Dressing 1 long red chilli, finely chopped 2 limes, juiced 40g brown sugar 25ml (5 tsp) fish sauce Method Mix the marinade in a flat dish which will comfortably fit the fish. Wipe skin side of fish with kitchen paper and slash in three places. Roll in marinade then leave skin side up, cover and place in fridge for 4 hours. Drain trout or salmon from marinade and wipe well with kitchen towel. Line a wok or stir-fry pan with two thicknesses of foil. Place smoking mixture on top, mix well, cover and place over high heat. When it starts to smoke, place a greased rack with trout or salmon, skin side down on top. Ensure there is room for air to circulate. Cover and reduce heat to low. Smoke for about seven minutes for pink inside or until cooked as desired. Turn off heat, remove lid (either outside or ensuring exhaust fan is on), trout and rack. Using tongs, fold up foil to encase smoking mixture. Put aside to cool before discarding. Lay 4 or 5 cos lettuce leaves on each of four serving plates. Gently flake the trout evenly over the leaves. Top with finely sliced cucumber, mint and basil leaves. Whisk or shake dressing ingredients together to dissolve sugar. Spoon half a teaspoon over each leaf. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon fried shallots over each leaf and serve immediately. Food Preparation time 5 minutes Cooking time 10 minutes plus 4 hours marinating Serves 4 as an entree or 20 as finger food SHARE