Hun’s blogpost
Homemade “Ikan Bakar“
I love Malaysian street food and I tend to try and recreate the recipes back home whenever I get the chance. Ikan Bakar or Grilled Fish has always been a favourite, especially grilled stingray. I have longed to have good stingray but I think it may have been close to a decade since I had a good piece of grilled fish cooked the Malaysian way. This was one of the dishes I enjoyed as a kid when my dad would bring the whole family to Jalan Bellamy to enjoy ikan bakar. And during my college days I would tend to go out with a couple of my friends for supper and ikan bakar was always something we ordered every time.
To make good grilled fish at home, one just needs a few simple ingredients to get the flavours right. Now in this post, I will also tell you something that is truly wonderful and abundance in Malaysia which I think every Malaysian household should start using in their daily cooking. Have you ever heard of red palm oil? Malaysia is the world’s second largest producer of palm oil. Locally we have many different cooking oils available in the market but the one oil that truly stands out among others is the red palm oil, which is derived from the reddish mesocarp pulp of the oil palm. It is naturally red and that makes it rich in nutrients such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lycopene. Too scientific? Ok, that just means this oil is packed with good anti-oxidants and is totally good for your health.
Now back to our recipe, grilled fish is easy to cook at home. One doesn’t need a fancy barbecue pit with red glowing charcoal or a professional cast iron griddle…. nope, one only needs a good flat frying pan and a simple home oven to get this delicious dish started.
Here is a list of ingredients needed for making this scrumptious dish:
1 strip Banana Leaf ( cut into 2 pieces, 1for grilling and another for plating)
1 large piece or 500g of stingray (Any other firmed flesh fish is fine)
For the spice paste:
Items A
6 shallots
5 cloves of garlic
4 pieces of dried chilies, cut and soaked in boiling water
2 large fresh red chilies
2 red chili padi or birds eye chili
2 stalks of lemongrass, use the white tender core
1 inch of fresh young ginger
1 inch of fresh turmeric root
1 inch or teaspoon of belacan/ dried shrimp paste
4 tablespoons of red palm oil
Items B
1 tablespoon of tamarind pulp
2 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of palm sugar or gula malacca
salt to taste
For the condiment dip (air asam kicap):
2 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce or Kicap manis
2 shallots, sliced
1 green chili padi or birds eye chili
1 red chili padi or birds eye chili
1 small tomato or half a large tomato
1 tablespoon of tamarind pulp
2 tablespoons of water
Juice from half a lime or to taste
Method:
1. Blend Items A till smooth. If it is hard to blend the ingredients together then you can add a little bit of water to loosen things up.
2. Saute the spice paste till fragrant and the oil has split or separated from the paste (pecah minyak).
3. Take tamarind pulp and water, mix them together and strain out the tamarind seeds to get the asam water. Add in Items B into the paste and cooked till the paste has nicely caramelized. Taste and season with salt to your liking. Let spice paste cool.
4. Take the piece of stingray, lightly season with salt and cover with the spice paste on all sides. Wrap it in cling film and set aside to marinade for 1 hour.
5. Preheat your oven at 180 °C.
6. To grill the fish, just place marinated fish on once piece of banana leaf and let it sear on a fry pan till slightly caramelized. Sear on both sides.
7. Place stingray still wrapped in the banana leaf and cook in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness and size of the stingray. As the stingray was seared on the frying pan, then the cooking time won’t be too long in the oven.
For the condiment dip:
1. Take tamarind pulp and water, mix them together and strain out the tamarind seeds to get the asam water.
2. Slice the shallots and chili padi finely.
3. Give the tomato a rough chop
4. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. If it is too sour, add a bit more of sweet soy sauce. If it is not sour enough then you can add more tamarind water. This is up to you.
Give this recipe a try. It is very easy to follow and you can view my video to watch how I make it. Serve this tasty dish with steaming hot fluffy rice and you will be one happy fellow with a big grin on your face. If stingray isn’t your favourite choice of fish then one could experiment with different types of fish. I have tried barramundi (siakap), red snapper (ikan merah), mackerel and cencaru.
Malaysian flavours are unique, there is no one precise recipe. Everyone has their own family or secret recipe. It really depends on your taste and preference. Some may want the spice paste spicier so there is no rule saying you can’t have more chilies in it. I have friends who would love a different type of air asam dip made with belacan but for me, I favour the simple sweet and tart flavours of the kicap air asam. You are the master chef of your kitchen, enjoy!
by 
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