Spicy Grilled Fish (Ikan Bakar Sambal)

The other day, I came across this blog of Lela from Malaysia and I drolled over her menu there. After asking her permission and getting all the main ingredients that I need, I made this spicy fish. This is really really good...my husband loves it! Thank you Lela for sharing the recipe...I made a little modification, since I do not have the turmeric leaves, I replaced it with lime leaves. And since there is no quantity mentioned on the original post, I just made it up myself. Anyhow..here is the recipe I used.....

Ingredients:
- 1 fresh Tilapia, wash, remove the scales and volume inside the stomach cavity
- 2 lemon grass, cut into 2cm in length
- 3 lime leaves
- 6cm of ginger
- 4cm of galangal
- 10 cloves of garlic
- 10 cloves of small red onion
- 20 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 Tbsp of dried small shrimp
- 1 tsp of ground turmeric
- 2 tsp of ground white pepper
- 1 Tbsp of tamarind, mix with a little bit of water and discard the seed and hard part
- salt
- sugar
-oil for saute


In a blender, blend all the ingredients except the fish and lime leaves until smooth. Then fill up fish's stomach cavity with 2 Tbsp of this seasoning. Place the fish in an aluminum pan and spread some of the seasoning all over the fish (do not use up all the blended seasoning, use app. 1/4 of it). Bake in an oven at 375F for 20minutes each side. After the first 20min flip it over and then spread another quarter of the seasoning on the fish. Continue to bake until the desired dryness (as for me, I like it dry and well done).
While baking it, in a pan saute the rest of the seasoning with a little bit of oil for 2minutes. Add lime leaves and continue to cook until boiling. Put it aside.
When the fish done, take it out from the oven and place it on a serving plate. Pour the sauted seasoning on top. Serve it with warm steam rice, fresh cut cucumber, tomato or other fresh vegetable as you wish.