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Ikan Pepes (Spice-Paste Fish Steamed and Grilled in Banana Leaf)
East Timor's national dish: fish coated in pounded spice paste, wrapped in banana leaf, steamed, then put on the coals still wrapped. Steaming cooks the fish and fixes the paste but leaves it wet; grilling dries it while the scorching leaf sends smoke inward. Grilled from raw, the leaf burns first.
