Pepes Ikan

Pepes ikan is a whole fish rubbed with a ground turmeric and chile paste, wrapped tight in banana leaf with lemongrass, tomato and shallot, and steamed until the parcel is fragrant enough to open at the table. It belongs to Sundanese cooking in West Java, where wrapping food in banana leaf before it meets any heat is the region's signature move, applied to fish, tofu and minced meat alike.

What it really is

The fish — usually a firm white fish or gourami — is scored and rubbed inside and out with a wet paste of shallot, garlic, turmeric, ginger, candlenut and chile, then layered with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf and a few slices of tomato. The whole thing is folded into a rectangle of banana leaf, pinned shut with a toothpick, and steamed until the fish is cooked through and the leaf has gone dark and soft. Nothing browns; nothing needs to. The parcel holds in what would otherwise escape into a pan — the fish cooks in its own juices and the paste's oils, not in steam rising off an open pot.

Opening the parcel is part of the dish, not a step before it. The leaf is slit at the table or just before it leaves the kitchen, and the smell that escapes — turmeric, citrus leaf, warm fish — is a large part of what a diner is paying for. A pepes ikan served without its leaf loses that moment along with it.

How it is served

• Still folded in its banana leaf, opened at the table or just before it leaves the kitchen.
• With steamed rice and a wedge of lime on the side.
• Often alongside sambal and a plate of raw vegetables, in the Sundanese lalapan style of eating.
• As one of several fish or vegetable dishes on a shared table, rather than a single plated main.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the fish — gourami, mackerel and catfish all appear under this name, and guests may have a preference.
• Say that it's wrapped in banana leaf; the presentation is part of what's being ordered.
• Check your own recipe for shrimp paste, since some versions carry it and it changes the allergen picture.