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Otah Croquettes

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Otah Croquettes by Chef Mickaël.

What is an Otah?

Many of you may not be familiar about Otah. It is a dish commonly found in countries across Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. This spicy grilled fish cake is usually made with ground Mackerel fish blended with a variety of ingredients such as chilli, turmeric, shallot, garlic, candlenut, and coconut milk. Traditionally they are wrapped inside a banana leaf or coconut leaf before being grilled over a charcoal flame. There are also steamed or baked versions.

I was very excited when Chef Mickaël and I decided on using our underrated – Traditional Otah Spice Blend. It is one dish I remember snacking a lot as a child, always choosing the “red” one – the spicy one, as opposed to the “white” one which are non-spicy. Otah can be eaten on its own as a snack, or with coconut rice – Nasi Lemak.

Chef Mickaël loves the Japanese cuisine, he loves exploring recipes with Japanese ingredients. As we were working on this recipe, we wanted to do something almost completely different from the usual traditional Otah we know. We wanted to include texture and crunch, almost like the tempura or potato croquettes with the filling being juicy and packed with flavours, just like a party in the mouth.

These Otah Croquettes is an excellent choice as an appetizer or snack for your guests as they dip them in a light and refreshing sauce with fresh herbs and with beautiful salad on the side.

Ingredients

Makes about 12 croquettes.

A. Otah Croquettes

  • Traditional Otah Spice Blend 75g
  • Onions finely chopped 100g
  • Water 60ml
  • Shrimps minced 700g
  • Coconut milk 200ml
  • Eggs 5 large
  • Plain flour 1 cup
  • Breadcrumbs/ Panko 1 cup
  • Cooking oil
  • Sugar 1 tbsp

B. Dipping Sauce

  • Greek yoghurt 200g
  • Kaffir Lime Leaf finely chopped 1 tbsp
  • Mint Leaf finely chopped 1 tbsp
  • Lime zest 1 tbsp
  • Olive oil 1 tbsp
  • Lime juice 1 tbsp
  • Sugar to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • Black pepper crushed to taste.

Featured Ingredients

ATSM Traditional Otah Spice Blend.
Japanese breadcrumbs – Panko.
Fresh herbs of Kaffir Lime leaves and Mint Leaves with lime.
Greek yoghurt or any plain yoghurt to make a dipping sauce.
Instead of using Mackerel fish, we have decided to use shrimps for the bite and sweetness. Chop and mince the shrimps into small bite-sized.

We have simplified the cooking steps in making the Otah Croquettes with dipping sauce into 4 parts –

  • Stir-Frying of Spice Paste
  • Making the Otah Croquettes
  • Deep-Frying the Otah Croquettes
  • Making the Dipping Sauce

1. Stir-Frying of Spice Paste

1. Mix spice blend, chopped onions and 60ml of water to turn it into a paste-like consistency.
2. Mix well, and this is your rempah/spice paste,
3. With 6 tbsp of cooking oil, stir-fry spice paste on medium-low heat.
4. Using a spatula, stir-fry the spice paste until fragrant for about 15mins.
5. Turn off heat when spice paste has turned dark red and the chili oil separates from the paste.
6. Set aside the spice paste and allow it to cool before mixing them with other ingredients.

2. Making The Otah Croquettes

  • 1. Once the spice paste are fully cooled, add it to the minced shrimps.
  • 2. Then add coconut milk.
  • 3. Crack 2 large eggs.
  • 3, Mix well to bind everything together.
  • If you like, you may add some chopped kaffir lime leaf in the otah mixture and add 1 tbsp sugar to taste.
5. Using a mould, add the otah paste and try to shape them as round as possible.
6. Carefully wrap the mould with clingwrap and store them in the freezer overnight so as to keep them in shape for deep-frying.
Bring the croquettes out from the freezer to thaw a little before carefully removing them from the mould.

3. Deep-Frying the Otah Croquettes

Prepare frozen otah croquettes, plain flour, 3 beaten eggs and breadcrumbs.
  • 1. Add frozen otah croquette into a bowl of plain flour and coat it evenly.
  • 2. Next, add it into the egg mixture and coat it evenly.
  • 3. Lastly, put it into the bowl of breadcrumbs and coat it evenly.
  • 4. Repeat these steps one more time for each otah croquette.
They should remain round and evenly coated with panko.
  • 5. Heat oil on low-heat. It is ready for deep-frying when there are bubbles forming around a wooden chopstick/spoon when dipped.
  • 6. Deep-fry otah croquette until golden brown.
Set aside on kitchen napkin and allow it to cool a little before serving.

4. Making the Dipping Sauce

  • 1. Break apart the pairs and remove the thick stem running centrally down the petiole of the kaffir lime leave.
  • 2. Discard the stems and finely chop the kaffir lime leaves and mint leaves.
  • Grated lime zest
  • Finely chopped kaffir lime leaves.
  • Finely chopped mint leaves.
3. With a bowl, add Greek yoghurt for mixing.
4. Add lime zest, kaffir lime leaves, mint leaves olive oil and lime juice into the yoghurt.
  • 5. Mix well!
  • 6. Season with salt, sugar and black pepper crushed to taste..

Cooking Notes

Filling – You may replace the prawns with fish meat such as Spanish mackerel, white fish or squid.

Cooking – An alternative for deep-frying is air-frying. Let us know if it works!

Garnish – We have garnished with edible flowers and pickled beetroot and carrot as a feast for the eyes.

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