I adapted this from a recipe I came across about a year ago on a random blog found while Googling. This is the recipe I found. I do a similar thing with my sea bass but I make my sauce out of tiny spring onion circles fried lightly in a very small amount groundnut oil (too much oil and the sauce gets an unpleasant greasy top layer), then I add garlic and ginger paste and chilli and fry the mixture for a minute or so. Then I add fish sauce and lime juice and dissolve a little sugar into it. I don’t measure any of the quantities; the only guidance I follow is 1) make enough sauce to comfortably baste the fish and 2) the heat, sweet, salt and sour all need to be in balance. When you taste it you just know when you’ve got the balance right because no one flavour sticks out harshly.

When the sauce is done, I pour it over your whole (the bones make it taste better), gutted seabass. It’s best to use a container that fits the fish quite snugly so that the sauce doesn’t spread out around the fish too much. Then I put it in the oven at 200 degrees until the fish is cooked through, which takes about 20 mins. If I have some fresh coriander, I chop it up roughly and scatter over the fish before serving. A veg stir fry (again with very little oil) and unsalted rice are good accompaniments for the fish as the rice absolutely loves the sauce.

EDIT 1 Jul 2014: For one whole seabass start with 3 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp lime juice. Add a little water to the sauce to stop it evaporating into nothing.