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Crispy Ikan Bakar-Inspired Fish with ABC Original Chilli Butter Sauce
Crisp-skinned fish with silky ABC Original Chilli Sauce butter makes a fiery, fragrant centrepiece for your next dinner with friends: glossy, generous and far easier than it looks.
In partnership with ABC Sauces, we’re bringing Indonesian-inspired coastal cooking into the home kitchen with a crisp-skinned take on ikan bakar, finished with a glossy ABC Original Chilli Sauce butter. Fiery, fragrant and built for the centre of the table, it’s an entertaining dish with serious impact.
Ikan bakar means grilled fish, but its place in Indonesian food culture runs deeper than the translation. Across the archipelago, where fish and seafood have long shaped daily cooking, it is the dish of beachside grills, seafood warungs, charcoal smoke and tables set with rice, lime, herbs and chilli. The details shift from region to region: whole fish cooked over coals, seafood wrapped with banana leaf, spice pastes brushed over the skin, and sauces that bring heat, tang and depth.
This version takes that spirit and makes it simple enough for home cooking, with enough gloss, heat and table drama to earn its place at your next dinner with friends. White fish is scored, seasoned and pan-fried until the skin turns deeply golden, then finished with an ABC Original Chilli butter sauce that is rich, silky, and lifted with garlic, shallot, ginger and lime. ABC Original Chilli Sauce, known as Sambal Asli, brings chilli heat, tang and sweet-savoury depth to the sauce, cutting through the butter and clinging beautifully to the fish.
Set it down with steamed rice, lime wedges and a fresh herb salad, and you have a fiery, shareable centrepiece that draws the whole table in while looking far more impressive than the effort required.
Crispy Ikan Bakar-Inspired Fish with ABC Original Chilli Butter Sauce
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
For the fish
2 large white fish fillets, such as barramundi or snapper, skin on and scored
Salt, to season
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp ABC Sweet Soy Sauce
¼ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp grated ginger
For the ABC Original Chilli Butter Sauce
1 to 2 tbsp coconut oil
1 shallot, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tsp grated ginger
⅓ cup ABC Original Chilli Sauce
¼ cup fish stock or water
60g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp fish sauce, optional
2 tbsp lime juice
Salt, to taste
For the herb salad
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
Fresh coriander leaves
Shallots, finely sliced
Fresh chilli, thinly sliced
Deep-fried curry leaves, optional
Lime wedges
Method
1. Prepare the fish
Pat the fish dry and score the skin with shallow incisions. Season generously with salt.
2. Make the marinade
In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, ABC Sweet Soy Sauce, turmeric and grated ginger.
3. Cook the fish
Heat a pan over medium-high heat with a little oil. Place the fish skin-side down, using a fish press or spatula to gently press it against the pan. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the skin is deep golden and crisp.
Flip briefly, baste with the marinade, then turn once more and cook for a final 1 to 2 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Remove from the heat and rest.
4. Make the ABC Original Chilli butter sauce
Heat the coconut oil in a small pan over low to medium heat. Add the shallot and cook until softened. Add the garlic and ginger, then cook gently for 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant. Do not let them brown.
Stir in the ABC Original Chilli Sauce and fish stock or water. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until slightly reduced and cohesive. Remove from the heat and blend until smooth.
5. Finish the sauce
Return the sauce to very low heat. Gradually whisk in the cold butter, a few cubes at a time, allowing it to emulsify before adding more. Finish with fish sauce, if using, a pinch of salt and lime juice.
Note: Keep the sauce below a simmer once the butter is added to stop it from splitting. If the sauce begins to split, whisk in a little extra lime juice to bring it back together.
6. Serve
Spoon the ABC Original Chilli butter sauce onto a plate and place the crispy fish on top. Finish with the herb salad and serve immediately with steamed rice or simple greens, such as snake beans.
Ikan bakar is food shaped by fire, coast and appetite. This version keeps the pleasure of that tradition close, with crisp fish, fragrant aromatics, lime, herbs and a sauce that brings heat without overwhelming the plate.
Savour the flavour at home with ABC Sauces. ABC Original Chilli Sauce gives this butter sauce its bold kick and tangy depth, bringing warmth, gloss and a little Indonesian-inspired fire to seafood dinners made for sharing.
