BBQ Mackerel with Lemon Grass (Ikan Kembung Bakar Serai)

Since I was kid, I love fish. I like any kind of fish. Fresh water fish or ocean fish, both I like it. Ocean fish has much more nutrition if they don't get contaminated. Juwana is one of the district in Pati. It's located by the sea and it has some developing fisheries. When I was in high school, I remember some of my friends whom come from Juwana. A few of them moved to stay in the students dorms near the school and some of them just like to make trip from Juwana to Pati which was 45 minutes to 1 hour trip by bus or another public transit. I found that they are really smart thou...because they like to eat fish most of the time. I and my mom are big fan of fish. When she deep fried the fish, I just like to munching on it...ohh, so good...I've never get bored eating that stuff. Seafood also one of my favorite too. You just name it...mussel, clam, calamari, squid, crab, lobster, I love them all, even seaweed. When I just came back from Canada, I visited my friend, Melani in Salatiga and she served me a big platter of green mussel, my God, I just can't stop eating it. But this is the worst part, I got a very bad headache after that. I think I got poisoned by eating too much green  mussel so just be cautious with that. But I still love seafood, they are so delicious compare to any poultry.

I would like to share one of my fish recipe. Even though I live far away from the ocean right now, it doesn't stop me eating fish. In Lucky Supermarket Asian Store, they have so many different kinds of frozen fish, which is very fortunate for me. Fresh fish is still the best thou. So here it is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 mackerel fishes

1 lime

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Spices to blend:

2 shallots

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp fish/ shrimp paste (terasi)

1 candle nut

1 tsp white pepper powder

1 tsp coriander powder

10 cm of lemon grass, chop thinly

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tbs sweet soy sauce

Direction:

1. Marinate the fish with squeeze lime and salt for 20 minutes.
2. Deep fry the fish until golden brown.
3. While you are deep frying, blend all the spices above and sauté it with little bit of oil until fragrant. Set aside.
4. Smear the fried fish with blended spices and throw it to BBQ for about 15-20 minutes over medium high heat.

Serving 2 people