Coconut Fish Cake (Otak2) with Peanut Sauce Recipe

Coconut Fish Cake is one of my favorite Indonesian food! In Indonesia, they called it Otak-Otak, which translates to Brain-Brain. I'm not quite sure why they called it BRAIN, maybe because of FISH being one of the ingredient and fishes are brain food. Anyways, this recipe I got from my mom. Pssssttt...don't tell her I'm sharing this to the world!

What you need:

Fish Cake:

• 1 Pack of Cha Cha Fish Paste (1 lb fish paste/ground mackerel)
• 100 ml of Thick Coconut Milk
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Minced Garlic
• 2 Tbs Thin Sliced Green Onion
• 50 ml Cold Water
• 1/2 Cup Tapioca Stach (Tapioca Flour)
• Banana Leaves

Peanut Sauce:

• Thai Chilli Pepper (Depending on how spicy you want, you can put none to however many you like)
• 1/2 Cup of Ground Peanut or Peanut Butter
• 1/2 Cup of Warm Water
• 1 tsp Minced Garlic
• Salt

How to make:

Fish Cake:

1. To make the fish cake, combine fish paste, water, and coconut milk in a medium bowl. Mix them until they are well mixed.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients (salt, garlic, green onion, and tapioca flour)
3. Clean banana leaves, cut them to squares and dry them with paper towel.
4. Place about 2 Tbs of fish paste on one side of banana leaves and roll it.
5. Close the ends with tooth pick, or some people use staples (be careful don't eat the staples)
6. Bake for 10 minutes at 375F, flip and bake for another 10 minutes.

Peanut Sauce:

1. Chop thai chilli pepper finely, then combine the rest of the ingredients together.
2. Mix until well mix and serve with the fish cake.

I hope you love the Otak-Otak! 

Here is an example of Cha Cha Fish Paste sold in the US, there are a lot of different brands so what brand doesn't really matter. Good luck!