BOTAK'S OTAK OTAK

Now, you must be wondering, this don't look anything like otak otak. Where's the coconut / banana leave wrapping? Being a city slicker, those are hard to come by, so I decided to spread it on a slice of bread and popped it into the oven toaster for 10 mins. Does the job just fine too! My mom used to make the best otak otak that I've ever had, and this comes as a close second. She used to pound the ingredients together, but now I have a food processor, or so I thought. This being the Hungry Ghosts Festival, things can get rather weird..... You can use any fish you like, the default choice is normally spanish mackerel, but waste not, want not, I always believe, and we Peranakans have a unique way of making the off cuts taste good, so I'm using what's left of the salmon and parrot fish meat from my de-boning of the fishes

INGREDIENTS

60g Dried Chilies, seeds removed

30g Lengkus

50g Balachan

12 pcs Buah Keras

200g shallots

8pcs daun limau, finely sliced

50g lemongrass

1 tablespoon tumeric powder

1 tablespoon coriander powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

100ml santan

500g of any boneless fish slices

METHOD

Re-hydrate the dried chilies

Put the rehydrated   chilis, lengkus, balachan, shallots, lemongrass, tumeric powder, coriander powder, salt and sugar in a food processor and blend it into a paste.

Add some oil in a pan and cook the paste until the oil rises to the top.

Remove the cooked paste and let it cool to room temperature.

When it's sufficiently cooled, put in the two eggs, half of the fish slices and 100ml of santan into the food processor and make sure everything is properly blended.

Remove from the food processor and add the remainder of the fish and the sliced lime leaves, stir in to make sure they're properly mixed. 

Spread a generous amount on a slice of bread.

Put it in an oven toaster at 200 degree Celsius for 15 minutes.

When it's cooked, remove and cut it to smaller portions and it's ready to be served.

The funny thing was that when i wanted to use the food processor, it broke down. My mom always told me that pounding was the way to go as it released more flavor from the spices. Maybe that's why this batch tastes so good? ;-)

Enjoy! I sure did!