Seawater fish prepared in rich thick paste of exotic spices, wrapped in banana leaves and grilled. The smell of this highly seductive dish is just so overwhelming. This is a very authentic Indonesian seafood dish.

This style of cooking is known as PEPES in local language. Basically any type of white meat dishes, slathered liberally with lemon basil-based paste and then wrapped tightly with banana leaves. The ingredients inside are slowly infused by steam/heat so that the spices can taken in wholly. A really exciting way to enjoy your fish.

Any type of fish and seafood is the norm, but some have done away with poultry. They can be pan-grilled, charcoal-grilled or steamed.

Grilled Fish in Banana Leaves, Ikan Pepes Panggang

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

30 gr fresh lemon basil, leaves only (5 cup)
75 g red chili
30 g candlenuts (6 pcs)
40 g galangal, sliced
3 lemongrass, chopped white parts finely and reserved the top part for later use
50 g shallots (7 pcs)
10 g turmeric
30 g garlic cloves (4 pcs)
5 g ginger
½ tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar
¾ cup water
650 g Round Scad / Cigar Minnows (5 pcs)
5 lime leaves
Banana leaves for wrapping

Directions:

For the upper half, cut into three to four pieces. Set aside.
Into the bowl of a food processor, add red chili, candlenuts, sliced galangal, chopped lemongrass, shallots, garlic, turmeric, ginger, salt, sugar and water. Blend finely until it forms thin and runny paste.
Transfer to a bowl. Stir in the lemon basil, cut lemongrass and lime leaves. Mix well. This will result in 1,5 cup of sauce mixture.
Line two pieces of banana leaves. Add 1/8 cup of sauce mixture on one end of the leaves. Place one fish on it. Pour another 1/8 cup of sauce over the fish. Roll the banana leaves tightly around the filling and pin the end of the leaves by using toothpicks or stapler.
Repeat the same thing with the rest of the fish.
Heat grill pan. Line the wrapped fish inside the pan. Place a heavy plate / cutting board on top of the grilling fish – to achieve nice grill marks on the leaves as well as to squeeze all the juice out of the fish so that they can be steamed in their own juice. Grill on medium heat for 20 minutes each side.
Serve warm with fresh tropical vegetable salad and steamed rice.

Notes:
Round scad can be substituted with any kind of white seawater fish. If the fish is big, cut them into pieces when wrapping.
Lemon basil can be substituted with sweet basil (for Italian cooking) – however the taste would be quite different, some other type of acid-tasting herbs will be needed to replace the lemon flavor of lemon basil.
When adding sauce on the fish, take care not to scoop in too much water. Leave out the watery part of the sauce, if possible because it always leaks out when grilled and make a small mess.
Grilling time will depend on the thickness of the fish. Try poke around in one before removing all from heat.