Grilled Banana Leaf Wrapped Mackarel (Pepes Ikan Makarel)

I have been missing this food for a long time. The reason I kept procrastinating in making it was that I did not have banana leaves...hehehe..not a strong reason, is it? So the other day when we did a visit to an Asian store and saw frozen banana leaves, I decided to buy the fish and prepared it for this food I long for. I made it quite spicy since my husband likes spicy foods. And this time I did not steam it first as what we normally do, I just grilled it in an oven.

Ingredients:
- 4 good size mackarel, wash, remove the scales and volume inside the stomach cavity and make 3 good cuts on each side of the body
- 1 lime, use the juice
- 6 cloves of small red onion
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 16 chili paddy or bird's eye chili
- 1 tomato
- 6 candle nuts
- 4cm of galangal
- 4cm of turmeric
- 4cm of ginger
- 2 lemongrass, cut into 4cm in length
- 8 lime leaves
- 8 Indonesian bay leaves
- 2 green onion, chop thinly
- bunch of lime basil leaves (I skipped it this time)
- 1tsp of shrimp paste
- 2tsp of ground black pepper
- salt
- sugar
- water
- banana leaves and toothpicks for wrapping

Drizzle the lime juice over the fish and let it immerse for 15minutes. While waiting, blend onion, garlic, chili, tomato, candle nuts, galangal, turmeric, ginger, and shrimp paste in a blender until smooth. Add a little bit of water as needed. Pour it in a big container and add pepper, salt, sugar, and green onion. Mix it well. Fill up the fish's stomach cavity and cover the body with the seasoning. To wrap the fish, first place 1 lime leaf, 1 bay leaf and 2 cut of lemon grass on a piece of banana leaf. Then place the fish on it and top it up with another lime leaf and bay leaf. Wrap it and seal it with toothpick. Do it for all the fish. And then place them on an aluminum pan or other oven dish and put it in an oven. Set the oven at low heat grill program, to avoid fast burning of the banana leaves. Grill it for 45minutes to an hour, and flip it over at half way.
Serve it warm with warm steam rice.