Lara Lee’s recipe for ikan bakar, or Balinese-style baked fish
Lara Lee’s recipe for ikan bakar, or Balinese-style baked fish
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Firm white fish baked in a gingery garlic marinade. How I love this dish, which is inspired by the wood-fire grilled and marinated fish from the shores of Bali. In this version, the fish is oven-baked, adorned with crispy, chewy bits of garlic and ginger, and served swimming in a pool of salty-sweet kecap manis. Eating a whole fish from head to tail ensures a good start and finish to lunar new year, and represents abundance, wealth and prosperity. Enjoy as part of a bigger banquet, or with vegetables and rice.
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Prep 15 min. Cook 40 min. Serves 2. 800g whole fish, such as sea bream or similar firm-fleshed white fish, cleaned and gutted. 80ml neutral oil (eg, vegetable, sunflower or peanut), plus extra for greasing. 5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced. 50g unpeeled ginger, minced or grated.
½ tbsp ground turmeric. 1 tsp fine salt. 1 lemon, ½ thinly sliced, the rest cut into wedges, to serve. 1 tbsp kecap manis. Take the fish out of the fridge 15 minutes before cooking, so it comes up to room temperature. Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7, then line a baking tray with foil and brush lightly with oil.
For the paste, combine the oil, garlic, ginger, turmeric and salt in a small bowl, and microwave in three 10-second bursts, until fragrant. Score the fish four or five times diagonally on both sides, cutting down roughly ½cm-1cm deep. Coat the cavity of the fish with about a quarter of the paste, then use the rest to coat both sides of the skin, making sure the paste fills the scores.
Arrange the lemon slices along the middle of the foil, lay the fish on top, and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes. Lift out the tray, drizzle the kecap manis all over the fish, then return to the oven for another five minutes, to finish cooking. To check it’s done, insert a thin-bladed knife or metal skewer into the flesh for 10 seconds, then remove and press to your bottom lip: if the blade or skewer is warm, the fish is cooked; if it’s cold, return the fish to the oven and test again every few minutes.
