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Ikan Bakar
Serves 2-4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 2 whole fish, such as bass, snapper, mackerel or tilapia
- 5tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1 large banana leaf, cut into strips
For the sambal
- 5 garlic cloves
- 5cm piece ginger
- 5cm piece galangal
- 3 red chillies
- 5 shallots
- 1tbsp ground coriander
- 1⁄2tsp ground turmeric
- 1⁄2tsp ground cumin
- 2tbsp unsalted butter
- 80ml kecap manis
To serve (optional)
- Stir-fried greens and sambal matah (see sambal matah recipe)
Method
With a sharp knife, make three shallow incisions on both sides of each fish and set aside.
For the sambal, use a spice grinder or pestle and mortar to grind the garlic, ginger, galangal, chillies and shallots to a paste. Heat a frying pan over a medium–high heat and add half the rapeseed oil. When hot, stir in the sambal paste and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the spices, stir and add the butter, stirring until it melts. Transfer to a bowl, add the kecap manis and stir until smooth and quite dark. Rub most of the mixture all over the fish and in the cavities and slits, reserving the rest, and wrap tightly in a banana leaf strip.
Heat a pan over a medium– high heat and heat the remaining oil. Add the fish, fry on one side until cooked through, then flip and cook the other side, basting from time to time with the reserved marinade, until the exterior is charred and the meat flakes away easily from the bones with a fork. Serve with stir-fried greens or sambal matah, if using.
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