Go Back
–+ servings

Ingredients

Yields: 2
  • 2 threadfins - or any other similar, medium-sized white fish
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 medium banana leaves - cut into a 15-inch x 10-inch rectangle

Asian-ish Romesco

  • 1 large red/orange Palermo pepper - or bell pepper
  • 2 bird’s eye chillies
  • 3 garlic cloves - peeled
  • 1- inch piece of ginger - skin removed
  • ½ a lemongrass stalk - chopped
  • 80 g toasted almonds
  • 50 ml tomato puree - can be substituted with 10ml of thick tomato paste + 40ml water.
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar - or sherry vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 50 ml olive oil

Method

Pepper

  • Roast the pepper over an open flame (or using a blowtorch) until the skin is completely charred and blistered. Let it sit in a covered bowl for 5-10 minutes, to steam slightly. Then, using a spoon, scratch off the charred skin as best you can. (If possible, do not wash the pepper under running water; you’ll be washing the flavour away! It’s okay if little bits of char are left behind, they’ll just add a touch of smokiness of the sauce.) Then, cut open the pepper and remove the seeds and stem.

Sauce

  • Put all the ingredients for the sauce, except for the olive oil, into a blender or food processor, and blend it for 10-15 seconds until it all barely comes together but is still relatively chunky. Put the blender on its lowest setting, and drizzle in a small stream of olive oil as it blends. The sauce is done when all the oil is blended in!

Prep fish

  • Clean the fish. Remove the guts and scales, and trim off its fins if they’re too long. Make two long slices along both sides of the top fin, to create two cavities where you can stuff with sauce. Sprinkle a pinch or two of salt onto the fish, then slather the sauce all over the fish, in its belly and in the two cavities you just made. Then, brush a bit more sauce onto the banana leaf, and roll up the fish within the banana leaf, securing the overlapping ends with two toothpicks.

Grill!

  • Heat up your grill (or griddle pan with a bit of oil if you don’t have a grill) until just smoking, then place the wrapped fish onto the grill, letting it cook for 6-8 minutes, before flipping it over and cooking for another 5-ish minutes. The banana leaf should be pretty charred at this point, and the insides just cooked through and still moist.

Serve

  • Unwrap the fish from the banana leaf, and serve it whole.