Malabar Trevally with Spices en Papillote #FishFridayFoodies

En papillote (French for "in parchment"), or al cartoccio in Italian, is a method of cooking in which the food is put into a folded pouch or parcel and then baked. The parcel is typically made from folded parchment paper, but other material, such as a paper bag or aluminium foil, may be used. (source:Wikepedia)

March's Fish Friday Foodies event  is 'Fish en Papillote' hosted by the lovely Karen of Karen's Kitchen stories. Thank you Karen. I chose Malabar Trevally or Malabar Kingfish which we commonly consume here.

Although I have always made Fish En Papillote in aluminium foil, I always wanted to try making it in parchment paper. Unfortunately I could not try it with parchment paper since we are on Lent, we are abstaining from Fish, Meat and Eggs. Although these days it is being said that Fish was never meant to be on the list of food items to abstain from as Fish is synonymous with a lot of events in the Holy Bible. I had made this dish before Lent. So although initially I had not committed to this event, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had not posted this recipe yet on my blog.

There are a lot of interesting recipes today. Can't wait to see them. You can find the link of the recipes below this recipe post.  This is a simple recipe. So hope you get to try it soon.

Usually as I understand Fish En Papillote is usually done with boneless fish or shellfish like prawns but without the shells and is mostly fish in full. However, as I mentioned earlier, I prefer Fish with bone on. You can choose to fillet your fish before you make this. Since my fish was cut up when bought from the fish vendor I just cooked it all together in one big pouch.

My dad for health reasons cannot take spicy food and my little girl dislikes spicy food of any kind. The max she can take is pepper. This is why I made it two ways, one slightly spicier and the other less with just pepper. Mum taught me how to make fish for my Dad and my daughter has always loved her version of fish made especially for Dad.

Thanks to Mummy, I was making Fish En Papillote long before I knew the term. 

For this recipe, 

You need:

• 1 kg Malabar Trevally
• 6-8 cloves of garlic
• 1" garlic
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika powder
• A whole lemon, juice extracted
• A small drizzle of olive oil
• A little drinking water (optional)
• 2-3 whole tomatoes, slit around it (I just made little crosses)

The Make:
Serves 3-4 adults  |  Marinating time: 1 hour | Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Baking Time: 20 minutes

1. Make a paste of the garlic and ginger using very little water. You can also use some of the olive oil to marinate the same. 
2. Marinate all of the fish with salt, lime juice, ginger-garlic paste and pepper. Divide the fish pieces as desired and add the paprika powder to the one set of fish. 
3. Place an aluminium foil (slightly longer sheet than the required quantity of fish to allow to make a pouch) over a baking tray or sheet and place the fish carefully over the aluminium foil. You can choose to have two separate pouches for each fish set (spicy and non-spicy). For want of time, I just divided them separately on the tray and placed them in the same pouch. Allow it to marinate for at least an hour. As with most marinades, remember the more time you marinate it, the better flavoured it will turn out.
3. Place the tomatoes around the fish and sprinkle some salt over it. Next drizzle some olive oil over the fish and cover the fish with the extra length of foil and loosely fold the sides of the foil on three sides to look like a little purse/pouch. Make sure to create a slit to allow the steam to escape (this is only for the foil not the parchment paper).
4. Bake for 20 minutes until nice and flaky. If you have excess stock you can make a gravy out of it or use it as a drizzle while serving.

Serve with your favourite veggies on the side or choice of rice.

Bon Appetit!

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies?  We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month.  To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.

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The fabulous list of recipes from our awesome #FishFridayFoodies:

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