This type of cooking in Indonesian is known as Pepes a cooking method of steaming the wrapped ingredients in banana leaves until it becomes tender and then grill the packet.
You can make Pepes as complicated as ever, or as simple as only adding SAMBAL Chili Sauce, salt (to taste), lime juice and lemongrass.
Let’s get ready to try the simpler version:
Ingredients: 1 whole sea bass (scaled and cleaned) 1 tsp of salt and 2 tbsp of lime juice ( mixed well and rub it onto the fish leave it for 10 minutes) 2 Tbsp of SAMBAL Chili Sauce 1 Stalk of Lemongrass crush the bottom of the stalk to maximize it’s fragrant 3 Kaffir lime leaves Banana leaves to wrap and two toothpicks ( you can find banana leaves in Asian stores, I got mine from WAI YEE HONG, Bristol) To make: Place the sea bass on to the banana leaves, rub the SAMBAL Chili Sauce onto it and inside the cavity, place the crushed lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves on top and wrap the ingredients inside the banana leaves. Closed each end with toothpicks. Get your steamer ready, once it’s steaming, place the packet into the steamer and let it steamed for 10-15 minutes. You can put the cool packet in a vacuum pack and keep it in the fridge or freezer for later use or cook it straight to the grill. To consume it straight away, place the packet on a grill to cook until the banana leaves changed color usually 10 minutes (depending on what kind of grill you are using, the electric ones tend to heat faster than the gas or charcoal, keep an eye when you do the grilling).Grilled Sea Bass in Banana Leave
To Serve:
You may enjoy this dish with Pineapple in SAMBAL Chili Sauce and if you are feeling a bit famish add some steam rice. Or enjoy this dish on its own as a main course.
Traditional serving will be Grilled Fish, Rice, Fresh Salad and SAMBAL to wash it down Indonesian Jasmine Tea no sugar or milk.
