Pepesan Ikan

Preparation – 15 minutes

First, make sure that the mackerel is cleaned, you can have this done by the fishmonger. You can also use a whole mackerel but remove the entrails.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Heat a small frying pan and roast the candlenuts in the dry frying pan for a few minutes. Transfer the roasted nuts to a small blender or mortar.

Peel the shallot and garlic cloves and roughly chop them. Peel the ginger root and roughly chop it too. Heat a little oil in the frying pan over high heat and fry the shallot, garlic, ginger and chilli for a few minutes.

Make a bumbu by puréeing the shallot, garlic, ginger, red chilli and roasted candlenuts. Then add the tamarind paste, a pinch of salt, coriander seeds, turmeric and galangal.

Finish the Pepesan Ikan – 35 minutes

Spread the bumbu on the inside and outside of the mackerel. Place half a lemongrass stalk in each mackerel and then sprinkle the lime leaves over the fish.

Transfer the mackerel to a piece of aluminium foil, or banana leaf, and fold it into a parcel. Make sure not to close the parcel too tightly.

Place the parcels in a large baking dish and bake the mackerel for about half an hour. The exact cooking time will depend on the size of the mackerel.

Remove the lemongrass stalks and lime leaves, serve with, for example, rice, prawn crackers and acar (indonesian pickle). Enjoy your dinner!