Haute cuisine for Ramadhan
During the month of Ramadhan, breaking the fast is for many the best part of the day, when the table groans with delicacies to sate the day-long hunger.
Indonesians tend to turn to sweet dishes to break the fast. Traditional desserts like kolak pisang (bananas cooked with coconut milk and palm sugar), cendol (a drink made with rice flour) and es blewah (cantaloupe dessert) are favorites among Muslims abiding by the old watchword: “to break with sweetness”.
The main meals that follow, however, are rarely any different from those eaten throughout the rest of the year.
The Jakarta Post Travel is taking it up a notch by asking two executive chefs from fine-dining establishments to share their halal recipes, perfect to break the fast in style.
Smoked Fish with Melinjo
Chef Jenal Abidin works plies his trade at InterContinental Jakarta Midplaza’s Rasa Restaurant, which serves Indonesian food, fine-dining style. His passion for food began as a child, when he helped his mother at her food stall.
Jenal has a knack for adding innovative twists to Indonesian dishes, and his choice for a sophisticated post-fast dish is smoked fish with Melinjo (gnetum gnemon).
Ingredients: 100 grams of rock salt, 30 grams of melinjo skins, 30 grams of large red chili, 20 grams of red onions, 10 grams of white onions, 2 orange leaves, salt to taste, palm sugar to taste and a pile of mid-sized firewood.
Thoroughly wash the fish, then dry it and sprinkle rock salt over it. Ready the grill by lighting the firewood, then extinguish the fire by covering it with husks so the live coals produce steady smoke. Position the tuna fish approximately 30 centimeters from the coals, then smoke it for four hours to cook the fish without scorching it.
Prepare the melinjo condiment: sauté the red onions, white onions, melinjo skins and orange leaves together until the mixture is soft and produces a pleasant spicy odor. Add the salt and palm sugar. Placed the smoked fish on a plate and dress with the condiment.
Filleto di Barramundi Spadellato
Italian chef Alessandro Molini leads the Prego Restaurant at Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali, following a stint in the West Indies. After earning a culinary certificate from Domodossola in Italy, Molini rose through the ranks of a culinary career in eateries from Tanzania to Greece.
For hungry Ramadhan observers, he suggests barramundi fillet basil mashed potatoes and parsley broth.
You will need 600 grams of barramundi. For the basil mash potatoes, you will need 300 grams of potatoes, 40 grams of butter, 10 grams of basil and 40 grams of cherry tomatoes. For the parsley broth, ready a liter of fish stock, 100 grams of potatoes, 100 grams of shallots, 100 grams of lemon juice, 50 grams of parsley and lemon zest to taste.
Sear the barramundi, seasoned with salt and pepper, in a hot frying pan on the skin side until crisp and gold. Flip the fish and finish the cooking over a medium heat – take care not to overcook.
For the basil mashed potatoes, boil the potatoes in salted water. When cooked, mash until pureed. Add the oil, butter and basil, and mash further. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.
For the parsley broth, blanch the parsley for ten seconds in boiling salted water and cool in ice and water. Drain and mash into the texture of pesto.
In a saucepan, reduce half the lemon juice, shallot and lemon zest. Add the potatoes and the fish stock. Boil and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Blend until the mixture obtains a silky texture, add the parsley and serve immediately.
Compose the plate with a quenelle of basil mashed potatoes, then the parsley broth and barramundi and garnish with a fried cherry tomato.
