Muar Otak (麻坡乌挞)

http://annieliciousfood.blogspot.com/2013/03/muar-otak-mff-johor-1.html

Ingredient 
(Recipe Source : Y3K Free Recipe with modification) 

450g Fish meat from Spanish Mackerel or Ikan Tenggiri
250ml Coconut Milk
100ml Water (or more)... However, this is optional.

For Seasoning : 
3 tbsp Corn Flour
3 tbsp Curry Powder

1½ tsp Turmeric Powder

1½ tsp Chilli Powder
3 tbsp Blended Chilli Paste (shop-bought chilli paste is fine)

2 tsp Salt
1½ tsp Sugar
2 tsp Minced Garlic
2 tsp Minced Shallot

For Wrapping : 
If you are using banana leaves : Grab a bunch of banana leaves from the wet market.  
If you are using coconut leaves : About 40 to 50 finds of coconut leaves (est. 8" in length), and staples.

Method 

1. Prepare your banana leaves - Wilt the banana leaves by either steam them, blanch them or over open fire. I did it open fire. And then, trim it into your preferred size. Mine is about 6" x 10" big. 
2. Debone fish. Use a spoon, scrape the fish meat out. I did this a day in advance. Freeze it. The day after, thaw it before use. Separate my work load. 
3. Set aside 150g of fish meat. Place the remaining 300g fish meat into a food processor (I used blender. So, my work is tougher). Add in coconut milk. Blend it into a smooth paste. 
4. Scrape the fish paste mixture into a big bowl, add in all the seasoning. Mix until everything is incorporated. And then, add in the 150g fish meat chunk.
5. If you find the fish paste too dry (which I think you will), this is the time you add 100g water. Mix again. If you are not confident about the texture, put a dollop of  fish paste on a frying pan, pan-fry it. Give the texture a try. If the otak is soft enough to your liking when it is cooked, then, proceed to wrap your otak paste with banana leaves. If you want your otak to have softer texture, add more water, mix, pan-fry it, try again. Until you achieve your preferred soft texture.  
6. Wrap otak paste using prepared banana leaves. I wrap mine at about 100g otak paste each. How big you want your otak to be? It's up to you.
7. Steam the wrapped otak under high flame. My otak is bigger and thicker, hence, I steam it for 5 mins, and then grill it to perfection. The 5 mins steaming is to set it's shape too.  
8. Grill the otak over charcoal fire until slightly charred. Serve hot. 
9. If you are not able to finish all the grilled otak, wrap them well and keep it in the freezer. When you want to eat again, just re-steam it.

Note : 

1. Get fish monger to debone the fish for you. Like that, it save your trouble from doing it yourself.
2. Fresh fish meat tends to be more bouncy, and gives otak firmer texture, scrape the fish meat out, and freeze the fish meat for next day use, fish meat will be less bouncy and otak will have less firm texture.
3. Set aside 150g fish meat chunks and add them into the fish paste later. This is because I want my otak to have some chunky bite. Unfortunately, mine doesn't looks obvious in my photo. I think my fish chunks not big enough. Sigh!
4. If you can't setup charcoal fire at home but still want to grill it, use oven. Bake it at 200 degree till it achieve the grilling result you want. 
5. If you find it too troublesome to do both steaming and grilling like me, you could just steam it and skip the grilling part. Although  grilling makes significant difference in overall fragrance.