A Weekend Across the Bridge (1)

One thing I like doing when food shopping is to browse around aimlessly around the aisles to look for products that I normally don't find in all grocery stores - like a particular brand of horseradish paste from Dean & Deluca, or finding a bottle of Banana Essence amidst a sea of Vanilla Extracts in the Fil-Am store. A couple of weeks ago, it was a bag of frozen Banana Leaves.My Aunt called me up last Friday to ask if we would like to spend Saturday night at their house in New Jersey. They live just 20 min. from GW Bridge and I haven't seen them in more than a month - so why not? I also thought it would be a great chance to see what I could do with my leaves. I offered to cook them dinner, "Kamayan" style. When we got there, we finally got the chance to meet the newest addition to their family: 4-month old Buster.
As you can see, Chyna was not a happy camper. She was in a glum mood the whole day.
We shopped at their local Korean food market for some fresh seafood and veggies, and then I got down to business. I was making a very simple dish: Steamed Fish/Shrimps wrapped in Banana Leaves. They swore it was so good (can 6 people be wrong?) that I decided to post the steps on how to make it. This recipe is not taken from any cookbook so it can be adjusted to anyones taste/preference. Before starting anything else: Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Then shell and *de-vein (*optional) shrimps, leaving the tail intact. I used haddock fillet. Flounder, tilapia, sea bass or cod fillets can also be used. Season fish and shrimps according to taste with combination of paprika powder, black pepper and seasalt. Tear off a piece of banana leaf large enough to cover the fish. (Save any leaf strands since you'll be needing them to tie the whole thing together later on).


Do the layering as follows (from the bottom-top): Arrange a bed of scallions (about half a bunch) on top of the banana leaf, then put the fish on top of scallions. Add some strips of sweet bell peppers (yellow, red, orange - whatever color you want) on top of the fish, then pile on the shrimps (don't scrimp!) until the fish and bellpeppers are covered. I used a mix of tiger prawns, jumbo shrimps, and regular medium-sized ones. For variety, crab or lobster meat can be added too.



I topped the whole thing with thin slices of lemon, then I drizzled EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and about a tablespoon of soy sauce over it. Sprigs of fresh dill gave this dish an extra kick - flavorwise. 'Finally wrapped it with the banana leaf and tied it snugly. So the juices won't escape, I also wrapped and sealed (important!) the whole thing in foil. (BTW, this package is good for one person/serving only). After making 7 of these, I placed them on the bottom rack of the pre-heated oven and TADAAAAA!!! After 40 minutes, we finally got to open that banana leaf on our plates. The delicious aroma that wafted from it hit our senses like a ton of bricks and sent us reeling back home to the Philippines...