~ Grilled Yellow Tails on Banana Leaves ~
It is rather common that we always hear eating fish during the Chinese New Year is practised due to the auspicious homonyms of “Nian Nian You Yue”, which means having surplus or savings. However, do you know of the auspicious homophonics of eating two times fish, one on the eve of Chinese New Year and another on the first day of Chinese New Year? “Yue Le You Yue” sounded like having surplus year after year. So, some practise eating fish on both days to welcome the New Year, full of positive believes. Whether it is due to the auspicious believes or not, it is good to be eating fish as a healthier choice over other meat dishes. I would not mind eating fishes “year after year”!
In case you are wondering why I call this recipe “Kampung” cum Western Style, I actually put together a village flavour, i.e. banana leaves, with a modern way of grilling fish with butter and Chinese parlsey using an electric heat source, my AMC Navigenio which does not smoke my kitchen. I could have used sesame oil and English parsley in this recipe too as an Oriental cum Western cross over but I thought it would be nice to use the Chinese parsley as it is known to be good for detoxification.
The slightly smoky aroma and flavour as a result of the grilled banana leaves permeated well into the fishes especially on the side attached to them. I am a gravy person. When we finished the fishes, I tried to squeeze every drop of gravy stuck to the banana leaves in the pot. Although there was not much as they seeped into the banana leaves, I satisfied my taste bud with the clear buttery residuals from the parsley blend with the leaves aroma. If I wish to have more of the banana leaves touch on both sides of the fish, I guess I will try out a different recipe with the fishes wrapped in banana leaves instead.
This is a really simple recipe, yet nutritious and delicious. It appear special with banana leaves lined at the base of the Pot unit but it is so easy to prepare. For an auspicious recipe, consider this as one of your Chinese New Year recipe for fish. Remember, “Yue Le You Yue”!
Grilled Yellow Tails on Banana Leaves Recipe (Serves 4) :
- 2 Yellow Tails, approximately 400 grams
- 1/2 inch Ginger
- 5 cloves Garlic
- 3 stalks Chinese Parsley
- 10 grams Butter
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
- 2 pieces Banana Leaves, approximately 26cm x 26cm
- 1/8 Lemon (wedged), optional
AMC Healthy Cooking Method :
- Marinate Yellow Tails with salt and pepper.
- Line and AMC 24cm 3.5 litre Pot unit with banana leaves. Pre-heat the Pot unit (lid on) on Navigenio heat, “level 6” up to 50°C or “Meat Window”. Activate Audiotherm on 50°C or “Meat Window” for readiness indication.
- When Audiotherm beeps, turn off Navigenio & Audiotherm. Remove lid and set Pot in up-turn lid.
- Place fish onto the banana leaves in the Pot unit and cover it with Navigenio turned upside down. Turn Navigenio on low heat level “-“. Activate Audiotherm and set 12 minutes to grill.
- When Audiotherm beeps, turn off both Navigenio & Audiotherm. Drizzle with some lemon juice and serve warm in the Pot unit.
Tips : All AMC Pot lids can be used as a coastal when baking with Navigenio or when you are serving food directly from the pot on the table. The lids are specially designed in a manner where it can steadily stand on its own knob when up-turned, acting as a coastal when baking or serving. For more information about Navigenio, read here.