Thai-Style Baked Fish in Banana Leaf
White fish fillets marinated in a fragrant blended Thai paste, wrapped in banana leaves and baked. Serve with jasmine or sticky rice. You should get those classic Thai flavors: umami, salty, sweet, sour and bitter.
🍳 Cook: 12 min
Ingredients
| 2 medium | fillets of monkfish, snapper or tilapia | |
| a couple | banana leaves | |
| 1/2 tsp | 2.5 ml | coriander seed |
| 3 | kaffir lime leaves, cut into thin strips | |
| ½ | lime, squeezed | |
| 2 cloves | garlic | |
| 1/2 tsp | 2.5 ml | minced galangal |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | fish sauce |
| 1 sprig | fresh coriander, root removed | |
| ½ | bird's-eye chili (no seeds if you can) | |
| a few scrapes | lime peel zest | |
| 1/2 cup | 120 ml | coconut milk (or 1 tsp coconut shavings and 1/2 cup water) |
| 1 big | pink shallot |
Instructions
- Put everything except the fish and banana leaves into a small blender and blend to a paste.
- Meanwhile, pass the banana leaves over some heat or an open flame to release some of the flavors — you don't need to burn them, just start to give them a sweat, flipping them all the time for about 30 seconds.
- Once everything looks like a paste, you're good.
- Put the fish fillets in a marinating dish and cover with the Thai marinating paste. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Cut the banana leaves down to size.
- Put a fish fillet in the center of each and wrap it like a burrito or a present so it won't leak. Tie them off with more banana leaf strips rather than toothpicks.
- Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 12 minutes. Plate them still wrapped up so whoever is eating gets to open them like presents.
- Serve with jasmine rice or, if feeling ambitious, some sticky rice.