Cooking Fish Wrapped In Banana Leaves

I love cooking fish in banana leaves. Doing this accomplishes two things: (i) the fish tends to be moist, and even if you overcook it slightly, it doesn't dry out as quickly, and (ii) the banana leaves themselves impart a rather nice aroma to it.

Wrapping food items in banana leaves is popular in many cultures, especially in Central America, India, and Southeast Asia. And I also think that it has a preserving quality to it, and food doesn't seem to go bad as quickly even when kept at room temperature. A very popular dish in Malaysia is Nasi Lemak. It is cooked rice, served with a hot chili paste cooked with dried anchovies or squids, and garnished with maybe a sliced egg and cucumber. The entire thing is wrapped in banana leaves while it is hot, and as it sits for a bit, the aroma from the banana leaves permeate through the rice. It is delicious!

Anyhow, my version of cooking fish wrapped in banana leaves involves several different variations. I've used whole fish such as trout or even mackerel, and have used seasonings such as a mixture of ground dried ancho chili, ground cumin, and tumeric powder. I've also used a wet paste mixture. The ingredients from the wet paste include: onions, garlic, fresh ginger, lemon grass, anchovy fillets, fish sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. I blend the first 4 ingredients in a blender until smooth and then saute the entire thing, including the remaining ingredients, with, get this, a cup of vegetable oil. It requires that much oil because it will saute for a long time. In fact, there is a trick that people who cook this type of food will tell you, which is to saute it until you start seeing the oil leaching out of paste. Then you know that you've cooked it enough.

I let the paste cools down, or maybe even cook it the day before and store it overnight in the refrigerator. Then, when I'm ready to use it, I simply smother the fish with this paste, and then set it onto the banana leaf. Here, I've added sliced lemons top and below the fish filet, in this case, a piece of salmon.

I then wrap this up with the banana leaf.  I used to use toothpicks to keep the whole thing wrapped up, but a while back I decided to use an outer lining of aluminum foil. It is so much easier to keep the either thing wrapped up using it.

Place the whole package on a baking sheet and bake it in a hot oven, 425 F, for about 20-30 mins, depending on the size and thickness of the fish. This one took about 20 mins but I always check if it is done.

When done, I remove the aluminum foil, but keep the banana leaf, because that is how I present the dish.

I've also done this on the grill, and the banana leaf not only cooked it to perfection, but the wrappings prevented it getting the fish to stick to the grill.

It has always been a crowd pleaser, and it is something I'll continue to do.

Zz.