Ikan bakar recipe

Timor-Leste's grilled mackerel, sour with tamarind and calamansi, finished with a handful of raw lemon basil and eaten with the chilli relish ai manas.

1 hour and 20 minutesmedium9 ingredients

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp tamarind paste
• 2 whole mackerel
• 3 limes
• 1 bunch lemon basil
• 4 clove garlic
• 4 red chillies
• 1 red onion
• 2 ginger
• 1 tsp salt

How to make Ikan bakar

1. Dissolve 2 tbsp of tamarind paste in a little warm water and strain out the seeds. The sourness of tamarind is what makes this sabuko, not chilli powder.
2. Mix the tamarind with the juice of 3 limes (calamansi if you can get them), 3 crushed garlic cloves and 1 tsp of salt.
3. Slash 2 whole mackerel three times on each side and rub the marinade into the cuts and the belly cavity. Leave 45 minutes.
4. Grill over charcoal, 6 to 8 minutes per side, basting with the leftover marinade. Dili cooks throw coconut husk on the embers for extra smoke.
5. While it grills, pound the ai manas: 4 red chillies, 1 red onion, 2 cm of ginger and a garlic clove with salt and a squeeze of lime.
6. Off the heat, cover the fish with a big handful of torn lemon basil. It goes on raw at the very end, never into the marinade.
7. Serve with plain white rice and the ai manas on the side.

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