Leaf cookery is common throughout the world's tropical regions.
Wrapping fish, chicken or beef in a banana leaf is very common in African cooking, but since fish easily picks up the flavors of what it’s cooked with, it tastes particularly good in the sweet banana leaf.
Outside the tropics, look for (frozen) banana leaves in International, Asian, and Latin American grocery stores.
Chicken can also be cooked this way.
Here's what you need, to whip up this delicacy!
Ingredients
- banana leaves
- two to four pounds of fresh fish (either whole, or cut into filets, steaks, or pieces); in Africa freshwater fish are typically used
- one or two onions, finely chopped
- juice of one or two lemons
- salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
- cayenne pepper or red pepper (to taste)
- oil (just a spoonful)
- one tomato, chopped and crushed (or canned tomatoes) (optional)
- a few okra, chopped (optional)
- a bunch of sorrel leaves (optional)
- one Maggi cube (crushed) or a spoonful of Maggi®sauce (optional)
Method
- Warm the banana leaves for a half-minute in a hot oven, or on a grill, or in a pot of boiling water. This makes them easier to fold. Remove the center rib of each leaf by cutting across it with a knife and pulling it off. Cut the ends off each leaf to form a large rectangle.
- Fold the banana leaves to completely enclose the ingredients in a packet two or three layers thick. Use something like the burrito folding technique. Depending on how many leaves and how much or how many fish you are cooking you may want to make more then one packet. Use oven-proof string to tie them closed.
- Cook the packets over an outdoor grill, or in an oven. If using an oven, you may want to place some aluminum foil under them to catch drips.
- Turn them every ten minutes. After half an hour carefully open the packet and check to see if the fish is cooked, if it is not, close the packet and continue cooking.
- Serve in the packet with some