Sepat

As tradition built it

Serves 4. Marinate 10 minutes, grill 15 minutes.

Ingredients

• 700 g flatfish, or a similar firm white fish
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• ½ tsp salt
• 150 g purple aubergine
• 5 stems Sumbawan basil (or ordinary basil)
• 3 star fruit (belimbing wuluh), or a squeeze of extra lime
• 5 red bird's eye chillies
• 5 candlenuts, toasted
• 3 shallots, charred
• 1 tomato, charred
• 1 tbsp tamarind water
• 1cm shrimp paste, charred
• 300 ml hot water

Method

1. Marinate the flatfish in lime juice and salt for around 10 minutes, then grill over coals until cooked through.
2. Grill the aubergine whole until the skin blisters and the flesh softens, then peel and remove the flesh.
3. Grind the chilli, toasted candlenut, charred shallot, charred tomato, tamarind water, shrimp paste and salt to a paste.
4. Combine the grilled aubergine flesh, basil, star fruit and the ground paste, loosen with the hot water, and adjust the salt.
5. Flake the grilled fish and fold through the dressed aubergine mixture. Serve warm.

What a modern chef changes

The smoke pushed into every component, not just the fish.

Rung 1, Rung 3.

Method

1. Smoke the aubergine on the Big Green Egg indirect before grilling it hard, layering a longer, gentler smoke beneath the same char the tradition already applies.
2. Dehydrate a portion of the star fruit to concentrate its sourness into a garnish rather than folding all of it into the dressing, giving the finished dish a controlled acid hit as well as a background one.
3. Grind the finished paste through the chinois after cooking, for a smoother, more refined dressing than the traditionally rustic, textured version.