Dinner tonight was a dish I first tried in Honolulu. It's called otak-otak ikan, otherwise known as grilled fish cakes in banana leaves. I served it with a side of fresh veggies and homemade peanut sambal, made with some of the last remaining jalapeno peppers from the garden.
This was my first time making peanut sambal from scratch and it was remarkably easy. I prepared it by:
1. Preparing a puree of two jalapeno peppers and three cloves of garlic.
2. Mixing the puree with 1/16 tsp salt, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup hot water, 1.5 tsp tamarind juice, and 1.5 tsp palm sugar.
3. This mixture was then heated until the oil began to separate.
I remember eating my first bite of otak-otak ikan. I thought I'd died and gone to culinary heaven. The combination of charred banana leaf together with other sweet and savory tastes sent me off to some distant planet momentarily. I hadn't eaten it again until today, and was pretty thrilled at how similar it tasted to my first otak-otak initiation. I prepared mine by:
1. Mixing 1/2 lb fish paste, 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1 egg white, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp galangal juice, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp cornstarch in a blender.
2. Placing 2-3 tsp of fish paste into a banana leaf section and folding it twice over. I used a toothpick to secure both ends and then cut off any extra/unnecessary leaf. (Tip: soak your toothpicks in water so they don't burn while being grilled.)
3. I then oiled a pan and cooked the otak-otak for fifteen minutes on each side.
After being grilled, the interior of the otak-otaks look just lovely, don't they? Charred and beautiful, tender and moist. Dipped in the peanut sambal and eaten with a little rice, this was a culinary orgasm. Really, I can die happy now.