Club Med Sestriere, Italy

Sestriere Village viewed from above and afar

Sestriere is a posh ski resort located 17km from France and an hour and a half by car from Torino. Together with the Italian villages of Pragelato, Claviere, Sauze d'Oulx, Cesana Torinese and San Sicario, and Montgenèvre in France, it makes up the Via Lattea (Milky Way) skiing area. Sestriere is connected to 146 skiable slopes, with 400 km of trails.

The main ski lift leaving the village

It regularly hosts alpine ski World Cup events and is famous for having hosted the World Ski Championships in 1997 and the main alpine skiing events during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. Looking at the relatively new (and designer) state of most of its buildings, it is surely the site of one of the Olympic Villages.

View of the village from Club Med

Truth be told, I've never heard of Sestriere before last week. We have never skied in Italy. But last Thursday, I decided to look for a ski weekend for the family - and unfortunately everything recommended by everyone I knew was fully booked or not available for just a weekend in the busiest ski week of the season. Since I have the Club Med website as my home page, I decided to take a look at their ski resorts in Italy - and voilà that was how we found ourselves skiing and staying at Club Med Sestriere over the weekend.

Arriving at Sestriere

Baby Boy after a few cocktails (the Teenager was permanently stuck at the bar)

The kids love Club Med. The Teenager even has Club Med GOs (Gentil Organisateur) on Facebook. I unashamedly took the opportunity to remind him from time to time that if he didn't succeed in life, he could forget about paying himself holidays at Club Med since it's not for the masses. I've decided to drop the supermarket cashiers as it could get embarrassing when the kids go up to them to ask if they didn't do well at school. Oops.

Welcome to Club Med!

Sestriere is at 2035 metres. That's really high and you can imagine that there will be snow at this altitude. When you arrive at the village, you see 2 towers from afar - one white and one red. The Babies told me later that they felt like Princes and Princesses in a tower. The connecting bedrooms were comfortable and of good standing and are all situated along a carpeted spiral landing.

Parents' bedroom

I learnt that they were built by the Agnelli family (FIAT) in the 1930s. And one of them housed the Olympic team. Now they are both run by Club Med. The white tower houses most families with children, the bar, stage, Club Med boutique, the reception and the main restaurant. The red tower (you have to walk outside in the cold for about 3-5 minutes) houses rooms for couples and groups, a small restaurant, the ski rental shop, ski storage rooms, the gym, massage rooms, sauna, Turkish bath and swimming pool. And from the red tower, you walk down a flight of steps and you are almost at the main ski lifts. Quite convenient.

White tower behind

Red tower

Skis storage room

Swimming pool with partial view of the mountains outside

The beauty about Club Med is that almost everything could be done in-house. Hub complained about the cost before the trip, but said that it was good (if still expensive) value for money at the end of it. You just book, pay and turn up. We arrived, collected our room cards, ribbons for the free-flow drinks at the bar, our ski passes and then we rented our skis at the in-house ski rental shop (a little expensive, but really good-quality stuff they had) and went skiing.

Walking to the ski lifts from the red tower

When we came back, we locked up our skis, had a few drinks and snacks at the bar, then went to the sauna, Turkish bath and pool. During the week, you could also have collective gym and aquagym lessons in the morning and full-day ski lessons (for teenagers and adults) all included in the price. They also have a special club for teenagers in the week.

Terrace at Club Med

Before dinner, we had more drinks at the bar, the Teenager and the Hub had raw oysters directly imported from France and then we had a marvelous dinner buffet in a lovely dining hall with a panoramic view of the snow-covered mountains outside. The food was very good. Every evening, they have a different theme for dinner and ours was "Susa Valley". There was a good mix and choice of French and Italian food and everything was nicely done and of a good quality. The desserts were mainly French : Opéra, Paris-Brest, Méringue, Tarte aux fraises...

And yes, most of the clients were French, with pockets of Italians, English, Americans, Taiwanese...The staff (including the cleaning ladies and Chefs) all speak French. We felt really at home.

And the skiing. Fantastic. We were really lucky to have 2 beautiful sunny days to ski in. The slopes had lots of snow and are often wide. However, Sestriere is more for either beginners or good skiers because there are either the easy slopes (they start at blue) where you don't do much real skiing and can be quite boring, or the more difficult red and black ones, not to forget the Olympic runs. Though after a week, you'll probably run out of slopes to ski in and will have to ski in the other villages in the Via Lattea.

View of Sestriere village from another slope

I am not a strong skier as I tire very easily (due to bad skiing technique and no exercise the rest of the year), but I can now ski down almost any slope, I just take my time. In fact, I prefer the steep red slopes to the easier blue ones. I just need to conquer my fear (having started to learn how to ski only in my 30s) and then I'm quite fine. The Hub and the Teenager are strong and good skiers and the Babies are starting to ski very well - they go down most red slopes fast and fearlessly. Baby Boy wanted to go on the Olympic run and we had to restrain him. Soon, the rest of the family may have to ski without me or they'll get really bored always having to wait for me.

Hub and the Babies arriving at the village

The equipment in the village is quite up-to-date and the village itself is modern yet charming. I was told that the Dolomites are even more beautiful and probably even better organised. So unlike the rest of Italy.

We will try to ski at Sestriere and the rest of the Via Lattea again, though it is a bit too far from our house. The Dolomites are nearer and even nearer is Monte Cimone. In fact, the weather forecast says that it will snow there in the week and then it'll be sunny on Sunday. I think we'll ski at Cimone next Sunday.

Club Med Sestriere

Via Possetto 5

10058 Sestriere

Italy

Tel : +39 0122 799800

My Blog's 4th Birthday

My first blog entry four years ago only had a few lines. Since then I have moved on. I only got started because my Portuguese friend Last Frontier started one and I thought then that it seemed like an interesting idea. I really enjoy the way it accompanies me daily, allowing me to archive bits of my life and thoughts, communicate with family, friends and people I do not know but will soon get to know.

There are days when I wonder how I will survive if Blogger ceases to exist. I hope not. I still haven't backed up anything in my blog. I have four years of my life in it.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have accompanied me part or all of the way in my blogging life thus far. On the one day of 13th Feb 2010, I had 157 visits with 197 pages read. And that's the lowest traffic in the week since it was the weekend. I do not get many comments in my blog, but there seemed to be quite a number of people out there reading it. Hello!

And I thank whoever's up there that in the last four years, nobody has been poisoned by my food or killed by my words. And no, I didn't bake that cupcake though I actually have the same candle. I took it off Google.

No-Bake Mango Jelly Cheesecake

No-bake Mango Jelly Cheesecake on Matcha Sponge base

Had some mango puree left. And Philadelphia cream cheese. Also Matcha sponge cake. Decided to make a No-Bake Mango Jelly Cheesecake.

Kids are off school early today and I am still trying to figure out what in the fridge to liquidate first since we will be away the whole weekend. I have pork filet and I think that if I make it sweet and spicy it should go down quite well with Chinese steamed buns. So that's the kids' dinner settled. For Hub and myself, since I have fresh seafood, I'll make us Seafood Spaghetti.

Honey and 5-Spice Pork in Chinese Steamed Bun

Meanwhile, the main ring on the gas stove is no longer working. The geometra came with 3 catalogues yesterday and I have to choose a new stove from one of them. It's honestly not easy - because I know nothing about them. Anyway, this means that I wouldn't be able to do lunch or dinner parties for a while.

Walnut Butter Cake

Walnut Butter Cake

You do not see the walnuts in the photos, but they are somewhere inside. I have decided to bake a Walnut Butter Cake for our lunch picnic tomorrow. It'll take us minimum 4 hours to drive to Sestriere, and we would like to ski at least the whole afternoon - so we figured that we wouldn't be able to stop for lunch in a restaurant. We'll have baguette ham sandwiches, potato chips, cheese, fruit and cake. I was thinking of making noodles too - but then Club Med = buffets, snacks and free-flow cocktails, so it wouldn't hurt to not overeat before we arrive.

I still remember how I used to bake butter cakes when I was a teenager because they are so easy to bake, with their equal portions of butter, sugar, eggs and flour. And they keep quite well. Though I did have some doubt this afternoon about how many eggs I should use, so I resorted to weighing them. With my lousy kitchen scale. I'll have to get a good digital one soon. Hub said that I'm such a baking disaster because to start with I do not have a proper kitchen scale.

Walnut Butter Cake :

250g Butter

250g Sugar

4 Eggs (room temperature)

220g Cake flour

2 Tbsp Cocoa powder

1 Tsp Baking powder

1 Tsp Vanilla extract

A handful of chopped walnuts

Cream softened butter and sugar together till really creamy. The idea is to introduce air into the batter so as to obtain a fluffy cake. When I want a moist cake, I mix the dry and wet ingredients together and just bake everything like that.

Beat in the eggs one by one. Add the vanilla extract.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together. Gently fold the flour into the batter, but do not over do it or you'll get too much gluten formation. However, I am not sure I do it right, truth be told, I get the impression that I still have pockets of flour in my batter because of that. Wish I had paid more attention to the scientific explanations during Home Economics.

Stir in the choppped walnuts and scrap batter into a greased baking tin. Bake in a hot 180°C oven for 40-60 minutes depending on how tall your cake tin is.

Risotto ai Moscardini (White Octopus Risotto)

Risotto ai Moscardini

I was lucky it snowed yesterday but not so much that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere today. I had to drive to Formigine to buy the most edible baguette in Modena and then to Esselunga to buy some ham - for tomorrow's trip to Sestriere. We're going to stay at Club Med and ski where they had held the alpine skiing events in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

This is very last minute no thanks to the Hub. Other wives could plan their vacations months ahead but never me. Everyone I know is going to ski in the Dolomites this week, but I think we've left it too late to manage any decent booking there. To make things worse, our friend doesn't have leave. So it'll just have to be a ski weekend. And a very expensive one.

My comfort is that we'll be together as a family tomorrow evening. This is important because the Chinese have to eat together on the eve of the Chinese New Year (which falls on Sunday, 14th of February this year) to symbolise that we will be united and always together in the new year. And I wouldn't need to clean, chop and cook on the day itself - which would normally bring bad luck.

Moscardino

At the supermarket, they were selling Moscardino or White Octopus. I have never bought any before and was curious about it - so voilà today's lunch : Risotto al Moscardino.

It tasted like a cross between the octopus and the squid.

Matcha Sponge

Basic Matcha Sponge

I have attended baking classes where they teach you how to bake a basic sponge cake and then cut it into 2 or 3 layers using toothpicks to guide you. I've also bought one of those special wires that help you saw your sponge into layers. Mais cela me fatigue and I often just divide my batter into 2 or 3 and bake 2 or 3 thin sponge cakes in a silicon mould.

This morning I had the geometra visiting to check with me which model and brand I would like to have for a new stove. The current one is not working very well. I've also been up since 4:30 so as to drive the Teenager to the train station for his Venice trip - and trying to keep myself busy and not to give in to the temptation to take a nap. Spent all morning looking at weekend ski trips and realising that everything seemed to be fully booked for the most popular ski week in the season.

With Chocolate whipped cream

To take my mind off sleep for a while, I baked 2 sponge cake layers with matcha green tea powder. Used one of them for a Mango Jelly Cheesecake and the other I cut into squares and sandwiched chocolate whipped cream in between.

Basic Matcha Sponge :

4 large Eggs
120g Sugar
2 Tbsp Matcha powder
A few drops of green food colouring
1/2 Tsp Vanilla extract
90g Cake flour (sifted twice)

Whisk the eggs and sugar till light and frothy. Add the food colouring and vanilla extract.

Sift the flour with the matcha powder. Gently stir in the flour.

Spoon into a silicon cake mould.

Bake in a preheated oven, middle shelf at 190°C for 10-15 minutes.

Ristorante Cavallino, Maranello

Ristorante Il Cavallino

In 1984, Enzo Ferrari appointed Giuseppe Neri to manage the Cavallino restaurant in the image of the company. The restaurant is opposite the Ferrari Store and the historical entrance to the Ferrari factory. It serves vaguely creative Modenese fare and also sells food products and other souvenirs carrying the prancing horse logo. The place to eat in for all Ferrari fans. Carloads of them dine in the restaurant actually.

Salami, cured ham etc (I don't eat stuff like that)

Vegetable soufflé with salad, parmesan and balsamic vinegar

Mushroom and Culatello salad (I don't eat this either)

Artichoke salad (non plus)

Once again, I've never eaten there before this afternoon. Hub eats there often enough through his work, but as he doesn't like to mix business with pleasure, he never thought of bringing me there. So I took things into my own hands and called up Jan and from there it snowballed till we were actually 11 ladies lunching there this afternoon.

Gnocco di patate on Parmesan crust

What was this, Mu?

Unlike the Montana, the staff runs Il Cavallino. As such it's a little more impersonal. But the food is quite fine and I think that we've all enjoyed our meal. There was a nice mix of ladies from the school and ladies who do not have children at the school. But as LS pointed out, some of them have young children who may end up going to our school if they see us often enough and enjoy our company.

Tagliolini ai gamberi e asparagi

We shared a few antipasti to start and then everyone ordered their own primo piatto. I had Tagliolini with Gamberi and Asparagi. And for dessert, Crème brûlée al Café. Quality is good, better than average, I will return to try the main courses another day.

Crème brûlée al Café

As we were leaving, I tried my luck and asked if they didn't give discounts to people connected to the company. After all, 6 of us are wives of Ferrari employees. They told me that they knew Hub and kindly offered us a Prancing Horse candle each instead. A nice end to a lovely lunch, don't you agree?

Ristorante Il Cavallino

via Abetone inferiore, 1
41053 Maranello (MO)
Tel : 0536 941160

Chicken Balti

Chicken Balti

I was in Birmingham a few months ago and learnt that it was the city of Balti houses and Balti curries. Apparently it is home to a sizeable Pakistani population and they have introduced fast-food curries served in Balti dishes to the city and later to all over England.

The Balti is a flat-bottomed wok made of pressed steel. So a curry cooked and served in a balti is a Balti curry. I cooked my curry in my wok (for high heat and fast cooking) and served it in a small Balti. Though traditionally, these curries are cooked in heavy-bottomed iron pots for slow and long simmering. Anyway, here's my Chicken Balti.

Chicken Balti :

10 Chicken skinless upper-thigh pieces

1 Tbsp ground Turmeric

1 Tsp Salt

1 Onion (sliced)

3 Tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste

2 fresh Chillies (sliced)

1 Tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 Tsp Mustard seeds

1 Tsp ground Paprika

1 Tsp ground Coriander

1/2 Tsp ground Cinnamon

A pinch of ground Cloves

2-3 Tbsp T0mato purée

10 Curry leaves

4 Green or black Cardamoms

1 Bay leaf

1 Green pepper (cut into pieces)

1 Tomato (chopped)

2 Tsp Sugar or Palm sugar

Juice from half a lemon

Fresh coriander leaves

Marinate the chicken pieces with the salt and turmeric for at least 30 minutes.

Heat some peanut oil in a wok and fry the chicken pieces till almost cooked. Remove and set aside.

Add the onions in the oil and fry till softened. Add the cumin and mustard seeds, the ground spices and the ginger-garlic paste.

Add the peppers, chillies and fresh tomatoes. Stir in the curry leaves, tomato paste, bay leaf and cardamoms.

Pour some hot water into the wok. Stir well, add the sugar, lower the heat and cover the wok for a few minutes.

Return the chicken pieces to the curry to finish the cooking. Squeeze some lemon juice over the curry. Transfer to a small balti dish, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with naans or chapatis.

This curry is for dinner this evening. At noon, I have 10 women waiting for me at the mythic Ristorante Cavallino in Maranello. I have organised a lunch there for those who would like to try out the restaurant or just join us for the company.

Riso Venere Pudding with Coconut Milk (Pulut Hitam 2)

Riso Venere Pudding with Coconut Milk

We make Bubur/Pulut Hitam with black glutinous rice. I said last week that I would try making it with the riso venere that we find here in Italy (it has Chinese origins though), and so I did.

As the (250g of) black rice is pre-cooked, I made a caramel with 4 tablespoons of sugar and then stirred in the rice. Followed by enough hot water to cover the rice, a pinch of salt and a pandan leaf.

Then I let it simmer till the rice becomes soft (more than an hour) and has given out its starch. Needless to say, one has to stir quite often and adjust the water. Served it with some cold coconut milk.

Verdict : Texture-wise the riso venere is chewier and nuttier than the black glutinous rice that we use back home. Now I am sure that it is not glutinous. When you eat it, the husk stays behind after the grain has been eaten, making you chew more to finish everything. But it's better than no Pulut hitam at all, the Babies and the Hub ate up whatever there was to eat.

This morning the kids walked in Montale with the rest of the school for a good cause : Haiti. Not just to raise funds, but also to raise awareness within and outside of the school community. It was organised by the Student Council and the kids walked around with signs and were individually sponsored by their families and whoever else wanted to sponsor them. I asked the Hub nicely if he wouldn't want to bring the sponsor forms to the office. He freaked out, asking me if I thought that he had nothing better to do than to stand in the office corridor asking for donations. Shouldn't the kids be doing that themselves? Sigh, we don't have relatives here and we only frequent the school community. Who else could we ask? As usual, he was uncooperative and lacked altruism and was not nice.

Couscous de Soles (à la Meunière)

Couscous de Soles

I get bored easily. Many people I know love the comfort of driving on the same roads to reach a well-visited destination. I sometimes take a new road when I'm not in a hurry, and get myself horribly lost - until I put on the GPS again. This way I discover new parts of Modena, I am reminded that like in our lives, there are many parallel itineraries, many different ways to reach the same or similar places. This morning, at one point, I reached a crossroad and had absolutely no idea whether I should turn right or left. But I didn't hesitate, I turned right and then put on my GPS. Surprisingly, it didn't ask me to make a U-Turn.

Coming back from my weekly grocery shopping, I decided to prepare dinner in advance. This evening, we will have a Couscous de Soles. A simple couscous in vegetable and fish broth served with pan-fried lightly-floured Sole fish filets (à la meunière). Catholics eat fish on Fridays. We eat fish on Tuesdays.

Couscous de Soles :

The Soles :

500g Sole Fish filets

Flour

Salt

Fennel seeds (optional)

Lemon wedges

The Couscous broth :

Olive oil

1 Onion

5 Garlic cloves

1 piece Ginger

1 Celery stalk

1 Fennel bulb

5 Carrots

1 Turnip

2 Zucchinis

1 Red Pepper

1 Yellow Pepper

2-3 fresh green or red Chillies

1 small tin of Chickpeas

7-8 Cherry Tomatoes

1 small tin chopped Tomatoes or 3 Tbsp concentrated Tomato paste

1 Cinnamon bark

2 Tsp ground Cumin

6 whole Cloves

1 Tbsp Ras al Hanout

Fish broth

Harissa to taste

Fresh Coriander leaves

Couscous grains

Butter

Add salt (and eventually fennel seeds) to the flour and lightly flour the cleaned and dried sole filets. Heat up some olive oil or butter in a non-stick frying pan and fry the filets on both sides. Be gentle so as not to break them. Drain on kitchen towels and set aside.

Prick the onion with the whole cloves. Heat up some olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot and fry the garlic, ginger, cinnamon bark, cumin and ras al hanout till aromatic. Add the onion, celery, fresh chillies, fennel bulb and raw vegetables chopped into large pieces.

Stir in the tins of chickpeas and tomatoes. Pour in the hot fish broth - enough to cover the vegetables in the pot.

Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or till the vegetables are cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Prepare the couscous grains by putting them in a bowl together with some salt. Add hot water and let the grains soak in it. I use one cup of hot water for one cup of couscous. Then just before serving, microwave the grains for 2 minutes, take out, add butter and fluff the grains immediately.

Serve together with the vegetable and fish broth and pan-fried sole filets. Squeeze lemon juice over the fish and add harissa to the broth if desired. You could also simply cook your sole fish in the broth instead of frying it, but trust me, the crispy and tender sole fish filets à la meunière provide a nice contrast to the broth and couscous.

Petite Fleur's Banana Cake Recipe

Petite Fleur's Banana Cake

Hjalmar, one of Baby Boy's best friends is coming for a playdate. This calls for a cake. I have decided to try Petite Fleur's Banana Cake recipe that she posted quite a while ago. Have not forgotten it as you can see. I have a few banana cake recipes of my own, but we all know that there are lots of different banana cakes out there and they are all waiting for us to try them out.

Petite Fleur's Banana Cake :

250g Butter (watch out for the arteries)

300g Sugar

4 Eggs

1 Tsp Vanilla extract

4 Tbsp Milk

4-5 ripe Bananas (mashed)

300g Flour

1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 Tsp Baking powder

Dark Chocolate

You will see that this is the kind of recipe that I like - easy and good. Minimum effort.

You start by creaming the butter and sugar together. Then you beat in the eggs, vanilla and milk.

Add the mashed bananas. Fold in the flour that has been sifted with the bicarb and baking powder. I also added dark chocolate pieces because I like it that way.

1st 25 minutes in the oven

Bake for 1-1.5 hours in a hot 160°C oven or till a toothpick comes out clean.

Hub will be upset. Because he just told me this morning that we have to seriously go on a diet. And I baked this moist banana cake which he wouldn't be able to resist.

Claypot (-like) Chicken Rice

Claypot Chicken Rice

I have started my morning angry. Because that idiotic son of mine has once again forgotten his pencil box - just minutes after I've reminded him not to forget it. Did he do it on purpose? There's his USB key in it and he has his homework saved inside.

Then the cleaning lady came and I gave her her 48th birthday present. She has told me before that she loved leather (so do I). I got her a lovely full-length leather jacket from Germany a few months back that I've had to hide (she goes through my things freely). It's a little too small as I had been a little too optimistic about her size, but otherwise it looked great on her. Long leather jackets always look better on those blond Slavic types that were born to the cold. She was really excited about it and started kissing me and phoning her partner to tell him about it etc. I told her to calm down and concentrate on the spider webs and dust. It has set me back a few hundred euros, but at least I've made somebody's day.

To finish her birthday treat, I made her Claypot Chicken Rice for lunch. Without the claypot. Because I haven't had the time to soak my new claypot (mom gave it to me) with rice water first. And I didn't have the heart to dig through my things to find the small old one. If I still have it, that is.

But I managed to get the crispy, slightly burnt rice at the bottom. By combining stir-frying and steaming methods. Anyway, without a charcoal stove, the claypot loses its allure.

Claypot Chicken Rice (for 2 persons) :

200g Chicken filet (sliced) or skinless chicken upper thighs (chopped into large pieces)

2 Tsp Light soy sauce

2 Tsp Dark Soy sauce

1 Tbsp Oyster sauce

1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine

1 Tsp concentrated Tomato paste

2 Tsp minced Ginger

1/2 Tsp Sesame Oil

1 Tbsp Sugar

1/4 Tsp ground 5-spice

1 Tsp Cornstarch

Half an onion (sliced)

1 Garlic clove (minced)

1 Chinese sausage (sliced)

Small piece of Salted Fish

1 cup cooked Jasmine rice

1 cup cooked Chicken rice (or use another cup of white rice with some chicken stock)

2 Eggs

Dark soy sauce and Pepper to taste

Scallions and coriander leaves (optional)

Marinate the chicken pieces overnight with the sauces, wine, ginger, sesame oil, tomato paste, sugar, 5-spice powder and cornstarch.

I had leftover white rice and chicken rice and so combined them for this dish. Didn't use Chinese mushrooms as I've run out of them.

Used a large frying pan. Heated up a little peanut oil to fry the onion and garlic, at the same time I also fried the marinated chicken pieces, salted fish and the chinese sausage.

Add the rice and mix well with the ingredients. Pour the leftover marinade (if necessary add some hot water to clean out the bowl) onto the rice. Stir-fry for a few minutes.

Break the eggs onto the rice, dribble dark soy sauce and pepper over the rice, cover the frying pan and let the eggs cook in the steam. At the same time, the rice will start to burn a little at the bottom. When the eggs are cooked, turn off the heat, serve hot.

Ikan Pepes

Ikan Pepes

I still have banana leaves. This calls for an Ikan Pepes, don't you think so? Ikan means fish in Malay and this fish is marinated in spices and chillies and then wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over a fire or in the oven. The banana leaves impart their aroma to the fish upon contact with the heat and the fish is also cooked in its own steam wrapped in the leaves. Even though it's still very cold, I set up my outdoor gas BBQ for the fish (shared it with the cleaning lady). With only the pigeons to admire me at work.

Ikan Pepes (for 1 person) :

1 Thick Codfish filet steak

1/2 Tsp ground Turmeric

Salt to taste

2 Fresh red chillies

1 Shallot

1 Garlic

1 small piece fresh Ginger

2-3 Candlenuts (I didn't have any)

1 small Tomato or 2 Tbsp concentrated Tomato paste

1/2 Tsp toasted shrimp paste

1 Tsp Palm sugar

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 Lemongrass stalk (bashed)

1 Kaffir lime leaf (shredded)

Basil leaves (optional)

Banana leaves

Toothpicks or stapler

Rub the fish all over with the turmeric and salt.

Ground the chillies, shallot, garlic, ginger, tomato, shrimp paste, sugar and lemon juice into a paste. Spread it all over the fish. Marinate overnight.

Place the bashed lemongrass on a piece of banana leaf, put the marinated fish on top of it and cover with kaffir lime and basil leaves. Fold the banana leaf into a neat parcel and secure it with a few toothpicks or stapler pins.

Before being grilled

OK, I made a bit of a mess of my banana leaves. Normally, we blanch the leaves to soften them and wrap the fish along the veins so as not to tear them. I had the cleaning lady working in the kitchen (and I didn't want to get in the way) so I had to take a few shortcuts. I used aluminium foil to line my banana leaf and grilled the fish like that.

Grilled Ikan Pepes

Grill over a hot fire till the fish is cooked (around 15-20 minutes for a thick filet). Best if your BBQ has a cover, it encourages the fish to cook in its own steam better. You can smell the banana leaf and it gives you an idea as to whether the fish is cooked or not. This is best eaten with freshly steamed white rice.