Fish in banana leaf

if you want to cook an elegant dish without the effort, then try this recipe. This fish wrapped in banana leaves looks professional and hard to make, but it requires little effort. Although you can use aluminium foil to cook fish in the same fashion, banana leaves add a natural fragrance and an elegant appearance.

Serve 6

¼ cup of Olive oil
12 small fish fillets (cod or any other firm white fish)
12 thin slices of fresh lemon
12 thin slices of fresh mango (mango from tin will do very well too)
5/6 large fresh banana leaves -take care not to tear leaves. Cut 24 rectangles strips 10cm x 25/30cm long
(if you don’t have fresh banana leaves, you can use tin foil)
2 onions sliced in rings
2 large stalk lemongrass, white part only, chopped in 12
5 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 green chilli or mango pickles if you prefer
1tbsp of fresh ginger, peeled
2tbsp of fish sauce
A fresh small bouquet of coriander or 2tsp ground coriander
Salt and pepper

Rice and finely chopped red chilli to serve.

1. Process garlic, chillis, ginger, coriander, fish sauce, salt and pepper in a small food processor to a rough paste.
2. Cut each banana leaves to size.
3. Place a layer of the spice paste on 12 banana leaves in half across the middle.
4. Lay a fish fillet on the top.
5. Then lay a mango slice on the top of the fish fillet.
6. Then pile two or three onions rings, 1 thin slice of fresh lemon, then lemongrass.
7. Wrap up into a parcel.
8. Cook flat in a frying pan with olive oil at medium eat for 4/5 minutes each side.
9. To check, open one banana leaf and insert a fork into the fish fillet. Once the inside appears opaque, you can safely remove the fish.

Serve hot with rice and chopped red chilli.