If you want to cook an elegant dish without the effort, then try making fish wrapped in banana leaves. This dish looks professional and hard to make, but it requires little effort. The most complicated part about making this dish involves making the marinade to add flavor.
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Banana leaves help create a package to hold the marinade and fish together to ensure that the marinade soaks well into the fish. Although you can use aluminum foil to cook fish in the same fashion, banana leaves add a natural fragrance and appearance to any dish.
This traditional method for grilling fish uses a banana leaf to hold the fish together, steam it to perfection, while allowing the great smoke flavor to gently soak into the package. This is a great way of grilling fish that is delicate because the banana leaf holds it all together and lets you add anything you want to the packet.
Grilled Fish In Banana Leaves
1 white snapper 500gm -scaled and gutted
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp curry powder
2 stalk lemon grass - cut into 2 inch and pound it slightly
few slices of ginger
1/2 lemon - slice thinly
1 tbsp vegetable oil
banana leaves
Garnishing
1/2 onion - slice thinly
2 bird eyes chilli or 1 red chilli
Coriander leaves
Lemon
1/ Clean and pat dry the snapper with a paper towel. Remove any hard fins that might poke you later at the dining table.
2/ Rub salt, pepper and curry powder over the surface and inside of the fish. Massage the fish with 1 tbsp oil. Stuff the fish with lemongrass, ginger and lemon. Dress up the fish with few slices of ginger and 3 slices of lemon. Chill in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours.
3/ Preheat grill. Take a banana leaf large enough to wrap the fish (you can cut up the fish if you can't find a large enough leaf) and wash it thoroughly.
4/ Blanch the banana leaf in hot water for a few seconds to soften it. Dry the banana leave with kitchen towel. Brush vegetable oil over the part of the leaf that will be in contact with the fish.
5/ Place the fish on the banana leaf and fold leaf to completely enclose the fish. Secure with toothpicks or skewers.
6/ Place the package on a medium hot grill and cook on each side for about 8 to 10 minutes depend on the fish size. Best to use out door BBQ pit to grill the fish.
7/ Watch carefully to prevent the banana leaf from burning. It will blacken in parts but it shouldn't be allowed to burn through.
8/ After about 10 minutes remove the packet from the grill and gently open enough to test the fish for doneness.
9/ The fish should flake easy with a fork and have an opaque appearance through to the center. If the fish isn't done, secure the package and return to the grill.
10/ When the fish is done transfer it to a serving platter and serve. Garnish with slice onion, fresh chilli and coriander leaves. Drizzle the chilli lime sauce just before serving.
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1 bunch coriander leaves - chopped
3 red chillies - remove seed
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup lime juice
2 tbsp water
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/ Combine coriander leaves, chillies, garlic, lime juice and blend into a paste.
2/ Add salt & sugar to taste, mix well.
Something interesting about bananas. The origins of banana.
Archeologists have focused on the Kuk valley of New Guinea around 8,000 BCE (Before Common Era) as the area where humans first domesticated the banana. Additionally, though this is the first known location of banana domestication, other spontaneous domestication projects may have occurred throughout the Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Therefore, Kuk is the first known instance of banana domestication, but it is probably not the cradle from which all other domesticated species sprang.
From New Guinea, the Kuk domesticated variety appears to have spread to the Philippines, and then radiated widely across the tropics. In general, however, it can be said that bananas originated in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific around 8,000 to 5,000 BCE. From New Guinea and the Philippines, bananas dispersed far and wide across the tropics, in all directions.
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It is probable that bananas arrived in India, Indonesia, Australia, and Malaysia, within the first two millennia after domestication. Buddhist literature notes the existence of the banana in 600 BCE, and when Alexander the Great’s expeditions led him to India in 327 BCE, he stumbled across the fruit.
Perhaps most surprising, the banana may have arrived in South America well ahead of Europeans, as early as 200 BCE, carried by sailors of Southeast Asian origin. By the 15th and 16th century, Portuguese sailors were establishing the crop throughout Brazil, where it likely spread to the sugar plantation economies of the New World and the Caribbean.
And now for dessert............
Deep-fried Banana
6 pieces ripe banana
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup corn flour
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp grated coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp slaked lime ( optional )
170mls cold water
Coating
1/2 cup rice flour
2 tbsp grated coconut
1/ Sift self raising flour, corn flour, rice flour and baking powder together.
2/ Add grated coconut, salt, slaked lime and water, mix into a smooth batter.
3/ Mix the 1/2 cup coating rice flour with 2 tbsp grated coconut to resemble bread crumb. Keep aside.
4/ Peel and slice the banana into half.
5/ Heat oil in the wok or pot until very hot.
6/ Dip the banana in the batter and then gently coat them on the rice flour-coconut mixture. Carefully slide the coated banana into the hot oil.
7/ Fry the banana using medium heat to prevent burning.
8/ Fry till golden brown, remove from heat and drain on the kitchen towel.
Pink vanilla ice cream
Ingredients
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cup whip cream
2 tsp vanilla extract ( I use homemade)
1 stick vanilla bean
few drop of pink coloring
Method
1/ Split open the vanilla bean, scrape out the tiny seeds, keep aside.
2/ Mix the milk, and sugar cook in medium flame until sugar melt.
3/ Cook until you see small bubbles at the side, turn fire to low but don't let it boil.
4/ Use a hand whisk to beat the eggs lightly. Take 1 cup of the hot milk mixture and add it to the eggs, whisking all the time to prevent the eggs curdle.
5/ Then pour the entire egg mixture to the milk mixture. Add the vanilla seed and vanilla pod. Continue cooking until the mixture thicken and coats the back of the ladle.
6/ Remove from stove and let it cool. Add vanilla extract and whip cream, stir till well blend. Remove the vanilla pod.
7/ Cover the ice cream mixture with cling wrap and leave in the fridge overnight or at least 4 hours.
8/ Making ice cream can be done without the use of ice cream maker. An electric mixer or food processor can be used to break up the ice crystals during the freezing process.
9/ After 4 hours, beat the ice cream mixture with electric mixer/ processor for 5 mins until thick and smooth. Cover with cling wrap and chill in the freezer for 2 hours.
10/ Remove from freezer and beat the ice cream mixture again for 5 mins, chill in freezer again. Repeat step 9 and 10 for 3 times in order to obtain a smooth and creamy texture.
11/ The ice cream should be thick but soft to scoop. If not thick enough return to freezer for additional freezing time and beat the mixture again.
12/ Once ice cream thickened properly, stir in any condiment of your choice and mix well.
13/ Pour the ice cream mixture in air tight container and freeze till set.
Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him for the entire weekend.
Have a wonderful week ahead, enjoy.