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Fresh mackerel pounded and marinated with coconut milk, ground chilli, onions, lemongrass, blue ginger and turmeric then wrapped in a fresh banana leaf and left to sizzle over hot coals. That is what Otak Otak is.

Eaten with bread as a sandwich, as an appetizer, or as an accompaniment to hot steamed rice, this is a star recipe of both Peranakan and Indonesian cuisines.

Though otak otaks are traditionally made of fish meat, modern versions of otak otak use crab or prawn meat and fish head too.

Recommended

• Nam San Mackeral Otah
  267 Joo Chiat Road
  63455542
  Open 11pm to 7pm (closed only 4 hours)
• Peramakan Level 3 Keppel Club
  10 Bukit Chermin Road
  S(109918)
  Open for lunch and dinner
  63772829
  www.peramakan.com
• Epok Epok Central
  Blk 4A Eunos Crescent
  Eunos Crescent Hawker Centre
  #01-09
  Lokman 96958889
  7am to 7pm daily
  Closed on Mondays

Recipe

Ingredients :

500g fish fillet

3 dried red chilies, soaked and drained

5 candlenuts or macadamia nuts

1 onion, grated

1 tbsp blachan (dried shrimp paste)

1 tsp turmeric

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp coconut milk

1 tbsp palm sugar or white sugar

1 tsp salt

4 banana leaves or 12 dried lotus leaves, soaked until pliable

Method :

Using a fork, scrape the fish into fine flakes and place in a bowl, or briefly blend to a paste in a food processor. Add 4 tbsp water, a tbsp at a time, beating with a wooden spoon until it feels light and fluffy. Pound or grind the drained chilies, nuts, onion, blachan and turmeric together to make a paste. Mix the paste with the fish, then add the egg and beat well. Add the coconut milk, sugar and salt.

Cut the banana leaves into 15cm squares and dip into boiling water for 2 minutes to soften them. Drain and pat dry. Place 2 tbsp of the fish mixture in the center of each square and roll up to form open-ended tubes. Fasten each end with a strong cocktail stick. Heat the grill until very hot. Brush the banana leaves lightly with oil and grill for about 5 minutes on each side, until the leaves are slightly charred and the filling is firm when pressed.

Serve as an appetizer followed by a Malaysian curry, or as part of a shared meal with coconut rice, curries and sambals. Finish with thin crepes (kueh dadar) with a sweet coconut filling.