Asam Pedas Ikan Bawal Style Orang Johor | Pomfret Fish Asam Pedas Recipe
Since we both are not a fan of spicy foods, particularly the sensitive tongue of my hubby, but still, moderate spiciness is our best preference especially when enjoying Malay dishes.
Asam pedas is one of Malay's crowd-pleasing dish, usually cooked with fish.
We have asam pedas Johor, asam pedas Melaka and asam pedas Nyonya - with each type of asam pedas is slightly differ from each other in terms of the way it is prepared and it's taste.
Actually, I seldom eat asam pedas Melaka and asam pedas Nyonya, so I can't really tell the differences.
But since I was a Johorean before I'm married, I used to cook Johor style asam pedas before.
Quite a number of fish are actually suited to be cooked in asam pedas.
The most common fish usually used to cook asam pedas are ikan kembung (mackerel), ikan pari ( stingray fish), ikan parang (wolf herring) and ikan bawal (pomfret).
In fact, even meat and chicken are also perfect for asam pedas.
For those who aren't familiar with asam pedas dish, this dish has a mixed of sourness and spiciness from the dried chili paste and tamarind juice added into it's gravy.
You'll need onion, shallots, garlic, turmeric, ginger and a little bit of belacan (shrimp paste) to make the asam pedas spices.
It can be make ahead of time, where all the ingredients are blended and cooked until you can see oil starts to separate from the asam pedas paste.
The asam pedas paste can be refrigerated or frozen to prolong it's shelf life until ready to be used.
Asam pedas will be more delicious when added with laksa's main herbs, which are bunga kantan (torch ginger) and daun kesum (laksa leaves).
But since these two herbs were nowhere to be seen in the groceries stores nearby my home during my last groceries shopping, I have to omit these two ingredients in my asam pedas.
If you're a fan of veggies, you may add lady's fingers, tomatoes and brinjals in your asam pedas.
I like to have veggies in my asam pedas, because to me, it'll look appetizing.
Plus, those veggies can add variety of textures and colors into your asam pedas 😂.
Asam pedas, like any other gravy-based dishes, it tastes more scrumptious after the dish is reheated.
The gravy can be slightly thickens or diluted, but for me, I prefer to enjoy asam pedas with slightly thickened gravy.
Alright, let's get to the main point of this entry.
ASAM PEDAS IKAN BAWAL(POMFRET FISH ASAM PEDAS)
Category : Lauk paukServe : 2 to 4
Ingredients to be Blended:
1.5 cm of turmeric
1.5 cm of ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion - 1 if smaller in size
4 to 6 shallots
15 to 20 stalks of dried chili
1 cm of shrimp paste (belacan)
Water as needed for blending
Other Ingredients:
2 medium size pomfret fish - cut in halves
1 tablespoon of tamarind paste - mix with 1/4 cup of water
Water as needed
8 lady's fingers - stem removed
1 tomato - cut into 4
5 to 6 tablespoons of cooking oil
1 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds (halba)
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Instructions:
Clean the fish thoroughly and place in a bowl.
Mix tamarind paste with 1/4 cup of water. Pour tamarind mixture into the bowl containing cleaned fish. Add more water enough to cover the fish. Set aside.
Cut each dried chili in half lengthwise to split it open. Use scissor to do the cutting. Remove some the seeds to reduce spiciness. Boil the dried chilies until they softened. Strain and rinse the chilies with running tap water.
Put all the ingredients to be blended in a blender and add water sufficiently. Blend until it forms a smooth-textured mixture.
Heat oil in a wok. Once hot, pour in blended ingredients and cook over medium heat until mixture is dry, the color is darker and you can see the oil separates from the paste.
Add the tamarind juice and fenugreek seeds. Allows the gravy to boil over medium heat. Once the gravy starts bubbling, add in the fish, lady's fingers and tomato. Allows to simmer over medium heat for a few minutes, until the fish is opaque and the lady's fingers are tender crisp. Slide a spatula underneath the fish to flip it to cook on the other side. Don't overdo it since the fish flesh is delicate, unlike chicken flesh or meat.
Ready to be served!
#TIPS#
As I mentioned earlier, asam pedas will be more delicious when added with ginger torch (bunga kantan) and laksa leaves (daun kesum). 1 ginger torch is sufficient for this recipe. You can cut in halves or slice it diagonally. If you have laksa leaves, you can add about a small handful of laksa leaves.
I would recommend to use a wide, shallow cooking utensils such as wok rather than a pot to cook fish asam pedas, so that flipping the fish would be easier without destroying it's flesh.
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