Every kid in Australia has a fond memory of catching a tommy rough on a jetty. Tommy rough is such an underrated culinary fish. When fresh (ideally jetty caught), I believe it is one of the tastiest fish. In 'Ăn Cơm' #6 I served up a lightly floured tommy rough with an aromatic lemongrass and tomato salsa on a bed of steam rice and eggplant with wok fried morning glory on the side.

Tommy Rough with Lemongrass and Tomato Salsa

Ingredients (Serve 4)

· 2 lemongrass sticks, grated

· 1 onion, diced

· 1 garlic clove, crushed

· 1 handful of basil, sliced

· 250g ripped tomato, sliced (canned tomato)

· Half a lemon

· 1 teaspoon sugar

· 1 tablespoon fish sauce

· 2 tablespoons fried shallots, to garnish

· 250g tommy rough fillet

· 2 tablespoons plain flour

· 2 tablespoons cooking oil

· 1 eggplant, sliced to 1cm thickness

· 4 tablespoons of olive oil

· 1 bunch morning glory

· 4 garlic cloves, crushed

· 1 teaspoon chicken powder

· 1 tablespoon cooking oil

1. Brush eggplant slices with olive oil. Heat pan and fry eggplant pieces for roughly 2 minutes on each side. Set aside to keep warm.

2. For the salsa, add oil to pan and heat. Add onion and lemongrass to fry for 1 minute. Add garlic and sliced tomato and fry for 2 minutes. Add sugar and fish sauce and cook for 1 minute. Squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle basil. Reduce heat and leave to simmer until ready (don’t allow the salsa to get too dry!).

3. For morning glory, add oil to wok. Add garlic, and right before the garlic starts to brown, add morning glory and fry. Ensure to regularly toss morning glory to cook evenly. Add chicken powder and toss through.

4. For the fish, sprinkle flour over fish fillet. Add oil to a pan and heat. Add tommy rough fillets and fry for 1-2 minutes on each side.

Place one eggplant slice on plate. Scoop steamed rice on top of eggplant. Place fish fillet on top of rice and sprinkle with salsa and garnish with fried shallots. Add morning glory to the side.