How to make otah otah?!
Mince 200g mackerel (or some other oily fish) until very fine. Add 3 tablespoons corn flour, 3 rounded tablespoons sambal ingredients** (ground), 1 teaspoon oyster sauce, lime leaves [optional but some like it; and if you have access to it. I skipped this one], and some oil. Mix well and bake--wrapped in banana leaves (if available), or in aluminium foil. How thick or long you want the otah to be is up to you. I pressed the otah paste on greased aluminium foil until about 1 cm thick, threw it in the oven (230 deg C / 450F), and baked it for about 10 minutes. You really need to experiment a little to see what works for you. Remove otah at about 8 minutes, and every other 2 minutes or so, and when it looks firm and brown with a nice texture, you can use the taste test.
**The sambal is the one we make with chilli, onion, garlangal (blue ginger), tumeric (yellow ginger), belachan, a few cloves of garlic, some lemon grass, candle nuts (buah keras) and ground together - same one we use to cook curry or assam fish or sambal prawns.
Answers: OTAH:
Mince 200g mackerel (or some other oily fish) until very fine. Add 3 tablespoons corn flour, 3 rounded tablespoons sambal ingredients** (ground), 1 teaspoon oyster sauce, lime leaves [optional but some like it; and if you have access to it. I skipped this one], and some oil. Mix well and bake--wrapped in banana leaves (if available), or in aluminium foil. How thick or long you want the otah to be is up to you. I pressed the otah paste on greased aluminium foil until about 1 cm thick, threw it in the oven (230 deg C / 450F), and baked it for about 10 minutes. You really need to experiment a little to see what works for you. Remove otah at about 8 minutes, and every other 2 minutes or so, and when it looks firm and brown with a nice texture, you can use the taste test.
**The sambal is the one we make with chilli, onion, garlangal (blue ginger), tumeric (yellow ginger), belachan, a few cloves of garlic, some lemon grass, candle nuts (buah keras) and ground together - same one we use to cook curry or assam fish or sambal prawns.
Otah-Otah Paste
Ingredients: (Taste of Singapura)
Onion, Galangal, Tumeric, Chilli, Lime leaves, Lemon Grass, Ginger, Candlenuts, Cooking Oil, Natural Flavour 120K
Cooking Instructions:
1) Mix 1kg of Otah-Otah Paste with 1-litre concentrated coconut milk..
2) Add in 2kg of minced fish/Shrimp/cuttle fish and stir well until the Otah mixture thickens.
3) Crack 4 eggs white into the mixture and stir for 1 minute with 100g cornflour.
4) Pour the Otah mixture onto a small baking tray.
Optional:
You can line the tray with banana leaf before pouring the mixture.
Bake for 15 minutes at 200 C in the oven and it is ready to be served.
If you choose steaming, steam for 30 minutes and it is ready to be served.
Alternatively, you can choose to cook wet Nonya Otah-Otah:
1) Mix 1kg of the Otah-Otah Paste with 2-litre of concentrated coconut milk.
2) Cook and stir at medium heat for 10 minutes.
3) Add in 3kg of sliced fish meat or fishcake into the gravy for 10 minutes until the fish is cooked.
4) Ready to serve and garnish with shredded tumeric leaf.
Suggested Serving: To serve 30 portions.
If you choose to cook 1/2kg of the Ready Ingredient Paste, then reduce the recipe to half portion.