Woku Ikan Kakap - Manado Spicy Basil Red Snapper

Author: Anita Jacobson

Categories: Main Dish

Cuisines: Indonesian

Ingredients: Seafood

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 45 mins

Total Time: 1 hour

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 2 red snappers (about 1 kilogram total), clean and cut to 4-6 pieces each
• 1 lime, extract the juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoon oil
• 3 lemongrass (Indonesian: sereh), bruised and knotted
• 2 pandan leaves (Indonesian: daun pandan), knotted
• 6 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk)
• 1 liter water
• 5 tomatillos (Indonesian: tomat hijau), cut each into halves
• 1 tomato (Indonesian: tomat), cut into quarters
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Grind the following into spice paste
• 150 gram shallot (Indonesian: bawang merah)
• 3 cloves garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih)
• 10 red cayenne chilies (Indonesian: cabe merah keriting)
• 2-10 red bird eye chilies (Indonesian: cabe rawit merah)
• 2 inch ginger (Indonesian: jahe)
• 1 inch turmeric (Indonesian: kunyit)
• 4 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri)
• Garnish
• 2 scallions (Indonesian: daun bawang), thinly sliced
• a handful of lemon basil/Thai basil leaves (Indonesian: daun kemangi)

Instructions

1. Marinate red snapper pieces with lime juice and salt. Set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a wok/pan on high heat and sauté spice paste, lemongrass, pandan leaves, and kaffir lime leaves until fragrant, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the fish into the wok/pan, mix well.
4. Add water and bring to a boil. Add tomatillos, tomato, and season with salt. Reduce heat, and simmer until the sauce is slightly reduced, about 30 minutes. Adjust the salt as needed.
5. Turn off heat, transfer to a serving plate, garnish with scallions and lemon basil.