Maritime Southeast Asia · Volume 45, The Mortar, the Wok and the Roti Board
Otak-otak
Straits Malay/Peranakan; Muar, Johor, the best-known regional centre
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 2 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Muar, in southern Johor, wraps its version in attap palm leaf instead and is the best-known regional centre for the dish today.
As tradition built it
Makes about 8 parcels . Grilled or pan-cooked 1 to 2 minutes each side
Ingredients
An outline, not yet a recipe: the tradition's method with its ingredients named but not weighed. Quantities are being added from sources inside the tradition, lead dishes first.
- 150g fish fillet fish fillet
- 3 lemongrass stalks lemongrass
- 10g dried chilli and 3 fresh red chillies chilli
- 15g fresh turmeric turmeric
- 15g tapioca starch tapioca starch
- pieces about 15cm by 10cm, for wrapping banana leaf, for wrapping
Method
- Fish fillet blended with lemongrass, chilli and turmeric, bound with tapioca starch, wrapped in banana leaf, pinned shut at both ends, and grilled over charcoal until the leaf chars on both sides, the leaf itself contributing a grassy, faintly smoky note while shielding the delicate paste from direct flame.
What a modern chef changes
The Big Green Egg run indirect, exactly the profile this parcel needs
Rung 6
Method
- Run the Big Green Egg indirect at a steady, moderate temperature, exactly the profile this parcel actually needs, rather than the hard, close, uneven heat a home charcoal grill often defaults to, holding the leaf at the edge of charring for longer without ever burning through it.
- Fold a little labneh-style strained yoghurt into the fish paste before wrapping, for a lighter, silkier set than the traditional egg-and-coconut-milk binding alone gives.