pan frying fish filets question

[KennethT]

I've been looking to recreate the sambal fish that I had at (old) Lai Huat in Singapore...  They take a whole fish, fry it, then coat it in their sambal which seems to consist of chiles, dried shrimp, shrimp paste, tons of garlic and shallots.  I made the sambal last night, but it got finished too late to start dinner.\

 

I have 2 filets of red perch.  I was thinking of giving them a flour coating, then pan frying - the question is which flour?  Should I use AP flour or rice flour?

[Duvel]

I think the rice flour would give you a lighter, crispier finish on the fish and would be my choice if you serve the fish as it is. That being said since you want to coat it in the sambal , I’d rather go with the sturdier AP coating ...

[SLB]

Can you do one of each?  Then tell us how it turns out?

[KennethT]

I wound up using AP flour, and it turned out great.  Unfortunately I didn't take photos - but the skin stayed pretty crispy, even though it was slathered in a mostly dry sambal - the sambal had been fried previously, and then refried to warm up just prior to slathering...