Free Online Recipes

Otak-Otak (Spicy Fish Cakes)

Ingredients:
500g spanish mackerel / ikan tenggiri (skinned)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 pcs coconut
1 pc egg (lightly beaten)
8 – 10 pcs kaffir lime leaves / daun limau purut (slice finely)
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp sugar
20 pcs banana leaves (cut into 15cm squares)
40 pcs toothpicks

Spice mixture ingredient:
5 pcs candlenuts (washed)
15 – 20 pcs dried chillies
50g galangal
1 thumb long fresh tumeric root
2 stalks lemon grass
4 cm square, ½cm thick belacan
15 pcs shallot
2 tbsp coriander powder

Method:

1. Cut fish into thin slices and grind in food processor.
2. Grate coconuts, squeezed for 1 – 2 cups of thick cream.
3. Cut off dried chili stalks. Soak dried chillies in warm water for about 40 minutes till softened; drain and set aside.
4. Peel and dice galangal, tumeric root and shallots.
5. Pound or grind the first 6 ingredients of the spice mixture till semi-fine (for lemon grass, use only the hard white part). Add shallots last and pound well, then add the coriander powder.
6. Heat oil in wok, stir-fry spice paste for 5 minutes till fragrant and oil exudes. Stir in coconut cream and cook till just under boiling point. Turn off heat and cool. Stir egg into cooled spice mixture.
7. Add ground fish meat, salt, sugar and kaffir lime leaves.
8. Soften banana squares by holding them 6cm above a gas flame. The leave will turn soft and change colour.
9. Divide the fish mixture into 20 portions. Put each portion into the centre of the banana leaf squares, shape it into rectangle. Fold the leaf to enclose the mixture, secure with toothpicks at both ends.
10. You can either barbecue the fish parcels over gently glowing coals for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, till banana leaves crinkle and turn brown, or you can bake them in a pre-heat oven at 180 ºC for 10 minutes till done.