Malaysian Barbecue-Glazed Flounder...

We are still playing it fairly safe in the seafood department, but we made a little more headway tonight! After this evening's dinner, Malaysian Barbecue-Glazed Flounder, we are able to add one more recipe to the list!

We've been having fairly good luck with flounder lately, so I used that again instead of Halibut as the original recipe called for - any of your favorite firm white fish would be a good choice I think. The fillets were first lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, then quickly sautéed until the fish began to easily flake with a fork.

When the fish was almost cooked through, we prepared the "barbecue" glaze - this zippy mixture is a combination of fresh lemon juice, orange juice, honey, rice vinegar, hoisin, sambal oelek and fish sauce. For a bit of body, cornstarch is also added - as soon as the sauce comes to a bubble, it is only left on the heat for a few seconds to activate the thickening power of the cornstarch. This mixture is then brushed on each of the fillets right before serving. This doesn't have that rich, robust and smoky depth that you would expect with barbecue - however, the hoisin sauce does mimic some of that.

Very bright and clean with the honey, along with the fresh lemon and orange juices, the sweetness in the shiny glaze is tamed by the sharp vinegar and heat from the sambal oelek (chile sauce with garlic). I was a little afraid that the pungent sauce might overwhelm the delicate fish, but we found that the flounder held its own and didn't get lost underneath the barbecue.

Recipes
Malaysian Barbecue-Glazed Flounder