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Here is a fun, flavorful way to cook fish at home, — Poached Halibut in a Thai-Inspired Coconut Broth!
Poaching is a great technique for cooking fish, and I love cooking fish like tilapia, cod, halibut or salmon this way. It is a type of moist-heat cooking technique that involves cooking by submerging a food item in a liquid usually at a lower temperature allowing it to cook slowly and evenly.
Because of its high-fat content, full-fat coconut milk is great at absorbing the flavors in this dish. It draws in aromatics like the garlic, shallot, ginger and Thai chiles wonderfully and really infuses the flavor into the halibut as it poaches in the broth.
I made this particular dish using what I had on hand in my fridge, pantry and freezer one day and a lot of the flavors are inspired by the popular Thai Tom Kha soup. I really wish I would have had some lemongrass on hand to really up the flavors of the broth that I poached the fish in, but the flavors still ended up being delightful — a little sweet, a little salty, very tangy, and a touch of spicy! Overall, this Poached Halibut in a Thai-Inspired Coconut Broth is so fantastic and a great way to make a simple weeknight meal a bit more exciting.
Poached Halibut in a Thai-Inspired Coconut Broth
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 large shallot loosely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ” knob ginger peeled and minced
- Salt to taste
- 13 oz. Can full-fat coconut milk
- 1 cup seafood stock
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp coconut aminos
- Zest of ½ lime
- Juice of 1 lime or 2 tbsp
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 3 thai chiles thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp dried coriander
- 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms thinly sliced
- 2 cups snow peas
- 12 ounces halibut cut into 2 inch strips
- Steamed white rice for serving
- Freshly chopped cilantro for serving
- Thinly sliced scallions green parts only for serving
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet with tall sides over medium heat. Add the shallot, garlic, ginger and a pinch of salt and saute until tender, 3 mins.
- Add the coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, coconut aminos, lime zest, lime juice, coconut sugar, thai chiles, coriander and whisk until well combined and bring to simmer.
- Add the mushrooms, snow peas and halibut and cook, simmering, until the halibut is just cooked through and flakes easily with a fork, about 6 minutes.
- Serve over steamed rice and garnish with scallions and cilantro.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is fabulous! I used salmon and vegetable broth instead of fish stock and it still came out great. Felt like a special dinner.
Made with cod and it was delicious! Whole family loved it❤️
This was so good! Honestly restaurant quality food I’d be happy to pay for. Winner for sure!
This was so easy and so delicious! Made as is but with asparagus instead of peas. Omitted the sugar too and didn’t miss it. Will make again!
Looking forward to making this this week! Do you think shrimp would be a good substitute for the halibut?
Yes shrimp could definitely work well here.
The broth is heaven! I used asparagus instead of snap peas and it turned out great. 10’s across the board!
Alex thoughts on subbing with cod?
100% would be great.
Made it with cod tonight – so good!
awesome!!! so glad it was a hit.
So so delicious and easy. The broth is heavenly! I used a local sea bass instead of halibut.