Steamed fish parcels with lemon basil

Name: Steamed fish parcels with lemon basil
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Indonesian
Ingredients: 1 lemongrass stick; 1 large tomato, sliced into 8 rounds; 1 bird’s eye chilli, seeded and sliced; 30 g (1 oz) lemon basil or Thai basil; 2 tablespoons oil; juice of ½ a lemon; 200 ml (generous ¾ cup) coconut milk; 4 x 150 g (5½ oz) skinless white fish fillets; banana leaves or foil, for wrapping; 1 cm (½ inch) turmeric, peeled, or ½ teaspoon dried turmeric; 1 cm (½ inch) ginger, peeled; 2 cm (¾ inch) galangal, skin scrubbed; 3 garlic cloves; 3 small red Asian shallots; 1 bird’s eye chilli (optional, for heat); 1 large red chilli, seeded

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Fire Islands

By Eleanor Ford

Published 2019

About

Opening your own banana leaf parcel at the table to reveal a delicately fragranced fish fillet brings pleasing drama to a meal. If you can’t find banana leaves, use foil instead, but they are worth seeking out in Asian supermarkets for the subtle herbal taste they impart.

Ingredients

4 x 150 g (5½ oz) skinless white fish fillets
juice of ½ a lemon

Asia
Indonesia
Fish course
Pescatarian
South East Asia
Gluten-free

Method

In a bowl, toss the fish fillets with lemon juice, salt and pepper and leave to marinate out of the fridge whilst you prepare the bumbu.

Trim the lemongrass to the pale white and lilac part, bruise with the handle of a knife then finely slice. Roughly chop the remaining bumbu ingredients and blend everything to a paste in a food processor or high-speed blender. Adding a little water wil