You can make this with snapper or bream and it works equally as well, I have made with both, last night I made it with bream. Banana leaves a great way to cook fish especially if cooking the fish on the BBQ, I cooked it in the oven last night. I served this with Asian style vegetables and I cooked 2 fish,of about 750g a piece to serve 4 or if your fish are smaller you can cook 4 individual fillets. Cooking times are based on my oven temperature, not a BBQ and you will have to adjust if doing them on the BBQ, mine gets very hot and cooks about 5-10 Min’s quicker on the BBQ, if cooking on the BBQ, cook with a covered BBQ, using indirect heat.
Banana leaves are available at most Asian grocery stores, I find they sell them in quite large packets, just as a note banana leaves can be frozen as long as intended use is for frying or cooking fish like this and not to use for display purposes. Please feel free to play with veg ingredients a lot of what I added was just what I had to use up. The weights are just a rough guess, taking total weight and judging what I thought was left I don’t think they would be too far off, really just to let you know you can use whatever you have on hand or your favourite.
Ingredients
2 Large banana leaves (big enough to completely enclose fish.)
2 Whole bream or Snapper (750g a piece.)
11/2-2 Teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 Stick lemon grass, sliced thinly
2 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tablespoon lime juice
2 Tablespoons light soy sauce
60ml Sweet chili sauce
1 Teaspoon sesame oil
Vegetables
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, crushed
2 Teaspoons fresh grated ginger
1 Teaspoon sesame oil
1 Medium red pepper, sliced thinly
1 Carrot, cut into sticks
3-4 Tablespoons of reserved sauce
150g Asian cabbage
80g Snow peas
80g Red Cabbage
200g Bean sprouts
4 Green onions, sliced thinly
Optional extra sauce
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
2 Teaspoons light soy sauce
2 Teaspoons lime juice
Method
1. Using tongs dip each banana leaf one by one into boiling water, remove immediately, rinse under cold water, dry thoroughly, leaves should be soft and pliable.
2. Cut each fish 3 times, place each fish on a leaf, top each fish with lemon grass and garlic.
3. Combine garlic, juice, sauces and oil, drizzle a little sauce over each fish reserving about 3-4 tablespoons for the vegetables.
4. Fold leaves over fish and secure with kitchen string. Place parcels in a pre-heated oven of 180 degrees Celsius and cook for 25-30 Min’s or until cooked through.
5. Alternatively which I love banana leaves for, cook on the BBQ, covered, using indirect heat for about 20-25 Min’s. (I find it takes me 30 Min’s in my oven and about 20 Min’s on the BBQ, but I do have an extremely hot BBQ, I do not know how 4 smaller fish fillets affects the time as I have only cooked 2 larger fish.)
The banana leaves will get quite crispy and may even burn in places, they will stay quite moist underneath as the juices run from fish and sauce. For presentation purposes I keep 2 banana leaves to use as the base to serve fish on after.
Vegetables
1. Heat olive oil in a wok or large pan, add garlic and ginger and stir fry until fragrant.
2. Add pepper, carrot and sesame oil, stir fry 2-3 Minutes, add both cabbages, peas, sprouts and reserved sauce. Stir fry until vegetables are just tender serve immediately with fish.
Extra sauce
Just an optional extra if you prefer to have a little more sauce to drizzle over fish once served.
1. Combine the 3 ingredients in a small microwave safe bowl and microwave 30-45 seconds to just warm through.
To Serve: I place a banana leaf on a serving platter top with whole fish, I pour remaining juice and sauce from the banana leaf fish was cooked in over fish, and arrange the vegetables around the fish, garnish with sliced onions.
All photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.
