Chop ingredients, leave sugar on top of the chopped garlic/onion to be added together. Mix: juice of a lime, fish sauce, soy sauce, add ground black pepper to liquid.
Heat pan to searing hot. This is very important to get the colour onto scallops. But this also creates a bit of smoke so turn up the extractor fan, open the window and close that kitchen door... Fry scallops in oil for 1 min until golden, then flip them over and add the garlic, ginger, sugar, spring onion and chopped fresh chilli into pan. Cook for about 1 min more, then add the juice mixture. Finish off with roughly chopped coriander. Leave for 30s. Serve immediately. Total cooking time: less than 3min.