Otak Otak - Fish Dumplings in Banana Leaves (LaZat Malaysian Cooking School)

This is the third post in the Malaysia and Singapore! series. Other posts in this series include Lot 10 Hutong - Kuala Lumpur's Most Famous Hawker Stalls Under One Roof and LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking These cute little "presents", called Otak Otak in Malaysia, make the perfect pre-dinner appetizer at a large party. You can make a large batch of them beforehand and just steam them right before the guests arrive, which only takes 10 minutes.

They are impressive to look at, taste phenomenal, and are really easy to make.

Otak Otak is very popular in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. It's a portable food, and thus is often sold at stalls for people on-the-go, sort of like the Chinese do with zhongzi (bamboo leaf wrapped rice dumplings) or the Japanese do with onigiri (seaweed wrapped rice balls).

The steamed little package is usually filled with small chunks of white fish and aromatic flavors like lemongrass, shallots, tamarind paste, kaffir lime leaves, and curry - all bound together with eggs and coconut milk.

The resulting dish is fantastic and most certainly a crowd pleaser.
 
Prepare a spice paste by grinding together (either with a mortar and pestle or food processor) lemongrass, red chili peppers, and shallots. Prepare shredded kaffir lime leaves by rolling up a leaf and then thinly slicing it.

If you can't find fresh kaffir lime leaves, you can probably use the dried version, but use a lot less.

In bowl, add a beaten egg to the spice paste and mix well. Add fish curry powder to the mixture and continue mixing. Finally, add the cut up fish to the sauce mixture and mix.

Add coconut milk.

Add the shredded kafir lime leaves and mix. Finally, add sugar and salt. Now you're ready to start wrapping!

First, we need to soften the leaves. The easiest way to do this is to lay the banana leaf on an open flame for about 10 seconds. It will soften, darken, and be less prone to breaking.

Lay down the heated banana leaf, put one kaduk leaf down, and top with the fish mixture. Kaduk leaf is really, really hard to find in the U.S. (and no, it's not a betel leaf, though it looks like one. Some call it wild pepper leaf). The instructor told us we could substitute with spinach.

I think 2-3 pieces of fish is plenty.

And then wrap according to the visual instructions below!

Have your toothpicks ready so you can seal your little presents.

Little packages of love, ready to be steamed!

You can refrigerate or even freeze them at this point until it's time to serve them.

Steam for 10 minutes.

Waiting patiently.

Viola!

Definitely eat while hot - it's so much better that way.

It's hard to eat just one, so I was glad we each made four of them!

Otak Otak
Recipe Source: LaZat Malaysian Home Cooking
additional notes by Jennifer Che
Makes 4, serves 1-2 people

Spice Paste
2 stalks of lemongrass, sliced really thinly
2 red chili peppers, deseeded and sliced
6 shallots, peeled and halved

Grind together the lemongrass, chili peppers, and shallots either with a mortar and pestle or with a food processor, adding a bit of oil if necessary to keep the blades running. Set aside.

Ingredients
80g (2.8 ounces) white fish filet, cut into 1 inch cubes
Spice Paste (see above)
1 egg, beaten lightly
½ teaspoon fish curry powder [They recommended using Babas brand {affiliate link}]
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 kafir lime leaf (finely chopped)
5 kaduk leaves (or spinach)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
4 banana leaves (or aluminum foil, see note below)

Making the Fish Filling
1. In bowl, mix together the beaten egg and spice paste.
2. Add fish curry powder and mix well.
3. Add fish filet to the sauce mixture and mix.
4. Add coconut milk and shredded kafir lime leaves and mix
5. Add sugar and salt

Wrapping
1. Clean and soften banana leaf by placing it over a low flame for ~ 5 seconds before use
2. Place a small scoop of the fish filling (about 2-3 pieces of fish) in the center of the leaf on top of a kaduk (or spinach) leaf
3. Wrap as shown above
4. Stick a toothpick through the middle to fasten it shut
5. Steam for 10 minutes
6. Serve!

Notes: 

1. I asked whether bamboo leaves could be replaced for banana leaves and they said no, because the bamboo flavor would overpower the dish. If you don't have banana leaves, you can easily do this with aluminum foil. You could even make little "purses" by playing around with the foil and making handles. I would cut the foil approximately 4 inches by 8 inches, though you could make different sized packages if that's what you prefer. Be creative!

2. I would highly consider doubling or even quadrupling the recipe. Allot about four per person as an appetizer. I easily ate four of these myself in the class, and I was still plenty hungry to eat the rest of my meal.

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