212 Plaice in coconut chili sauce
By popular demand I blog more light seafood dishes from Beb Vuyk’s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek. This plaice in a coconut chili sauce (sambal badjak) is a delicious way to prepare fish. It’s fast, healthy and very Dutch – Indonesian.
Sambal badjak is a special chili sauce you can make yourself (or buy in specialized Asian stores). Sambal Badjak is chili (or another kind of red pepper) fried with oil, garlic, terasi, candlenuts and other condiments. This is darker and richer in flavor than regular sambal. If that is too much work, just use regular chili sauce. For a tasty recipe check this site.
This Beb Vuyk fish recipe is good for 2 people and is ready in 20 minutes.
Plaice with sambal badjaksaus, from Beb Vuyk‘s Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 197.
Ingredients
2 large plaices
1/10 block santen (coconut cream or 2 cups concentrated coconut milk)
oil
1 cup of water
spices
1 tablespoon sambal badjak (chili sauce)
2 tablespoons asem water, made with a piece of tamarind the size of a walnut ( I use tamarind paste)
juice of 1 lemon
salt
Clean the fish, rub it in with a paste of tamarind and salt. Allow to absorb for a while. Fry the fish in the oil brown and crispy. Put her on a platter and keep her warm. Bring the water to a boil, mix in the santen and sambal badjak. Bring the sauce to a boil and let it thicken a bit. Rub it over the fish before serving.
Plaice in coconut chili sauce
In Beb’s Cook Book, she uses a plaice. I choose for a turbot. It looks a lot like plaice, but is is more a delicacy. It is also slightly more expensive than a regular plaice. It keeps the white color of the flesh nicely, even after cooking. A turbot has a lot of camouflage. Beautiful.
I’ll clean the fish, but leave the head on. Looks great and add to the flavor.
Plaice in coconut chili sauce
The sauce can be quite thick almost like a paste. I like the sauce slightly thinner because I serve this dish with potatoes and carrots (very Dutch). This way the sauce is a gravy that you can pour over the potatoes. Delicious.
I do not fry my fish and keep her warm on a platter . I make my sauce during the frying time. When the fish is done you can pour the sauce over immediately and serve with some lemons or limes. Yummy.
