Curry Rubbed Fish in Banana Leaf
If you have been reading along at all the past 6 months or so, you know that I have been pretty obsessed with the cookbook Pok Pok. I recently got a brand new grill, and it opened up a bunch of new possibilities for recipes I could make from the book. This weekend went out to the ethnic market and grabbed some banana leaves for this fun recipe of curry rubbed fish.
I love the bounty of intersting ingredients this recipe uses, like banana leaf, fresh turmeric, and lemongrass.
Fresh turmeric is really bright.
The paste is turmeric, chiles, galangal, lemongrass, garlic, and shallot.
I used a nice snapper for this recipe because the fish guy told me it was the most fresh and delicious thing he had in stock that day.
Chop up the fish into large chunks and toss it in the curry paste with some salt, fish sauce, and basil.
Then wrap it up with the banana leaf. First you want to rinse the leaf, and then quickly wave it over the flame of your stove to make it a little more pliable for wrapping. Otherwise it will probably break when you try and fold it.
I also made the corn from the book. It is slathered and basted with coconut cream while cooking.
I’m so pumped about my new grill by the way! I will be talking about it a bunch more in the near future.
Packets of goodness.
The fish was nice and spicy and meaty, and the curry gave it a strong pungent flavor. The banana leaf helps it steam and stay really tender and juicy.
I topped the corn with some lime, chile flake, and basil to match the basil in the fish. I loved the flavor of the burnt coconut on the corn it gave it a nice caramelized taste.
It was a beautiful day for grilling and a perfect recipe like this only makes it better.
Because this is from a cookbook, I am not putting a recipe down here today. If you don’t own this book by now though, you’re crazy.