Fish amok (amok trey)
This Cambodian steamed curry is a lovely mixture of aromatic spices, coconut and fish to make a delicious dish.
Servings: 2
Calories: 364kcal
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Ingredients
For kroeung paste
- 2 stems lemongrass or 1 if thick, white part only
- 1 teaspoon kaffir/makrut lime leaves finely chopped volume
- 1 teaspoon galangal fresh, finely chopped volume
- 1 teaspoon fresh turmeric
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small shallot
For rest of dish
- ½ lb white fish eg haddock
- 1 egg
- ½ cup coconut cream or thick part of coconut milk
- 2 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar or brown sugar if not available
- ½ teaspoon shrimp paste
- ½ teaspoon chili paste
To cook (not eaten)
- 2 banana leaves or can use foil if not available
- 4 cocktail sticks/toothpicks or 8, depending how wide/narrow boat is
To top
- 1 kaffir/makrut lime leaf
- 1 red chili or a few thin slices of red pepper
Instructions
To make kroeung spice paste
- Peel the outer layer off the lemongrass and trim the end then finely chop. Thinly slice then chop the lime leaves, removing the central rib of the leaves as you go. Peel and chop the galangal, turmeric, garlic and shallot. Make sure everything is reasonably fine before you mix as it will make things easier, plus the lemongrass and lime leaves in particular are hard to break up.
- Place all of the ingredients in a mortar and pound them together so that they come together as a relatively smooth paste. You can chop and mix in a blender/food processor but it's worth crushing the ingredients together at least a little to help the flavors meld together.
To make banana leaf boats
- Cut two approximately 8 in (20cm) squares from the banana leaves, making sure you remove any of the central, thicker rib. Wash the pieces of banana leaf well in warm water (both to clean and help soften the leaves) then dry well.
- Taking one piece at a time, fold in one side of the square, then fold in the two sides at right angles to that to form corners. Fold the triangles you form at the corners against the first side you folded, then secure them with cocktail sticks, either using one to hold both corners, if it fits, or one for each. Turn the piece of banana leaf around and repeat on the other end, folding in the open edge, then folding the corners in and securing. Repeat with the other piece of banana leaf.
To make dish and cook
- Prepare a pot with boiling water - either a wok or another semi-wide pot that will hold bamboo steamers (or other steamer that can hold the banana leaf boats flat).
- If the fish is not already peeled, remove the skin and any bones. Chop into reasonably small pieces.
- Place the fish in a bowl and add the egg, coconut cream, fish sauce, palm sugar, chili paste and the kroeung paste that you made in the first step. Mix everything together well so that it is well combined.
- Divide the mixture between the two banana leaf boats. Very finely slice the lime leaf and some pieces of chili or pepper and scatter these over the top of the mixture in the banana leaf boats for decoration. Place the banana leaf boats in one or two bamboo steamer baskets (it depends how wide they are but they probably need one each) then steam for around 20 - 30 minutes until the mixture is starting to set around the edges and you can see the fish has cooked and is no longer transparent. Serve with rice.
Video
Notes
The video shows the method for making the banana leaf boats. If you don't have banana leaves, you can use foil (no need to use cocktail sticks, just fold in on itself) but they aren't quite the same.
This recipe makes around 2 teaspoon of kroeng paste which is ideal for two portions - the video shows making a full amount of paste but just making one final fish amok (so it's not divided between boats as in the instructions above) but method is otherwise the same. You can make extra paste, if you prefer, to either make more portions or save some for another time - it will keep a few days in the fridge or you can freeze.
Nutrition
Calories: 364kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 96mg | Sodium: 648mg | Potassium: 798mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 337IU | Vitamin C: 36mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 4mg
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