Pla Rad Prik - fish in chili

This can be made with any fish. Personal choices would be catfish, sea 
bass or salmon. 

Thai preference would be to gut and clean the fish, but leave the head 
on. You may of course prefer to remove the head, even to use fish 
fillets...Ingredients

a fish, about 1 lb  

white wine (preferably rice wine) 
plain flour 
oil for deep fryingsauce:

3 tablespoons of kratiem (garlic), finely slivered 
quarter cup prik chi fa (Thai jalapenas), thinly sliced 
quarter cup prik chi fa daeng (red jalapenas), thinly sliced 
quarter cup hom daeng (shallots, or other onions), thinly sliced 
quarter cup bai phak chi (coriander/cilantro leaves), chopped 
quarter cup nam pla (fish sauce) 
1 tablespoons palm sugar 

quarter cup bai horapa (sweet basil leaves), choppedmethod

cut three or four slashes in the sides of the cleaned fish, and sprinkle 
with the rice wine. Dust liberally with the flour, and deep fry in hot 
oil until crispy. 

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, or second wok, add a little oil to the hot 
pan, and stir fry the chilis and onions until fragrant. Add the fish 
sauce, and bring to a gentle boil. Stir in the sugar and continue 
stirring until the sugar is dissolved. add the coriander leaves, and 
stir occasionally until the sauce is slightly reduced (about 5 minutes). 

Remove from the heat, and transfer to a sauce jug. Add the basil leaves 
when cool. 

The fish, on a serving platter, and accompanied with a basket of khao 
niao (sticky rice), and the jug of sauce is presented to the diners, 
with the usual Thai table condiments (notably nam pla prik - chilis in 
fish sauce). 

Normally diners break off small pieces of the fish with chopsticks and 
transfer them to their plate, make the morsel into a ball with a little 
sticky rice and dip it into the sauce before transfering it to the mouth 
with the right hand... left handed diners and those feeling more 
comfortable could of course use a fork and spoon...