Recipe: Rosheen Kaul’s Grilled Whole Fish With Sweet Soy Sambal

Seafood restaurants in Indonesia are something else. The live seafood is usually in an aquarium-style room full of tanks with all manner of sea creatures and an outdoor cooking area of charcoal grills. The air is filled with the heady smell of sweet caramelisation, where everything is basted in a fragrant butter and sweet soy marinade to smoky perfection.

This recipe pairs smoky, caramelised fish with a sweet soy sambal – a sauce that may not look like your typical sambal, but still earns its name thanks to the inclusion of chilli. Built on a base of thick, syrupy kecap manis, this sambal is sweet, spicy and tangy, and works just as well with fried tofu, tempeh or chicken as it does with grilled fish.

If it’s the latter, look for fish with glossy, firm flesh and clear eyes, and ask your fishmonger to scale and clean it before you take it home.

For more free recipes – from weeknight winners to weekend projects – sign up to our Cooking newsletter

Rosheen Kaul’s grilled whole fish with sweet soy sambal

Serves: 2
Preparation time: 25 minutes (plus 1-3 hours marinating)
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

Marinade and fish
3 candlenuts or macadamia nuts
4 Asian shallots or 2 French shallots
3 garlic cloves, peeled
½ stalk lemongrass, tender white part only, chopped
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp neutral oil, for frying
1 medium whole fish (approx. 600g), scaled and gutted
1 tbsp kecap manis (dark sweet soy sauce)
1 tbsp butter, melted
Lime wedges, to serve

Sweet soy sambal
1 cup (250ml) kecap manis
1 tbsp water
2 red birdseye chillies or 1 red chilli, sliced
1 green chilli, sliced
1 small French shallot or 2 Asian shallots, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
2 tbsp lime juice
4 cherry tomatoes, diced

Method

Combine the candlenuts, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, turmeric, coriander powder, salt and half the neutral oil in a food processor or mortar and grind to a smooth paste.

With a sharp knife, make a few deep cuts into the skin of the fish, then rub the marinade all over the outside and inside the cavity. Marinate for at least 1 hour (but no more than 3).

Meanwhile, make the sweet soy sambal: in a bowl, combine kecap manis, water, chillies, shallot, garlic, lime juice and cherry tomatoes. Stir well – it should be thick, sweet and spicy. Add a splash of regular soy sauce if you’d like it a little saltier.

Heat a barbecue or cast-iron grill pan to medium-high. Mix the kecap manis and melted butter, then grill the fish, basting often with the sweet soy butter. Cook for 6-7 minutes per side, until the flesh is cooked through and the skin is caramelised and lightly charred.

Serve the grilled fish hot with the sweet soy sambal, lime wedges and steamed rice.

This is an edited extract of Secret Sauce by Rosheen Kaul, published by Murdoch Books. RRP $39.99.