Not quite right…

I still had the red snapper…

…that my Bintulu brother-in-law gave us when he came back to Sibu for the Ching Ming Festival and it had been sitting in the freezer all this while; I don’t know why my missus never took it out to cook and the other day, I decided that I would do it and get it out of the way once and for all. I always have this thing about stuff lying idle in the freezer or the refrigerator, probably because I am moderately OCD. Hehehehehe!!!

I had these ingredients from my garden – the big  daun kunyit (tumeric leaves) for wrapping and I did cut a bit into thin strips, the curry leaves and the serai (lemon grass) and also the daun kesum (Vietnamese coriander)…

I also pounded these…

…garlic, shallots, chillies, kunyit (turmeric) and lengkuas (galangal) and I used the paste to rub the fish, both sides and also inside…

…before placing it on a bed of the big kunyit leaves.

Then I stuffed the inside with some of the daun kesum and the serai and I placed all the rest on top of the fish before covering it with another layer of the daun kunyit and wrapping it all up and putting it in the oven to bake for over 30 minutes.

The fragrance filled the whole house and I was anticipating something really very very nice. Finally, it was done…

I saw this lady on tv and she said that if the fish eye is white, then it is cooked. Hmmmm…that’s new to me! I never took note of that before…but yes, indeed, it was done…

…to perfection.

However, we all thought it was just all right, nothing to shout about. I have done something a lot simpler with ikan buris and ikan bawal hitam (black pomfret) and both turned out really great. Perhaps this way of cooking is not quite right for red snappers.  I had it served sweet and sour once…

*At Fisherman Restaurant*

…and it was very nice and if I am not wrong, they use the head for fish head curry (you can have a choice between this or the more expensive ikan tapah). Maybe if I had deep-fried or grilled it first before wrapping it all up, it would be nicer but I guess I will never know – for some reason or other, I never buy this fish from the market myself.