Ikan Keli Masak Lemak Cili Padi Dengan Daun Selasih

Ikan Keli Masak Lemak Cili Padi Dengan Daun Selasih

   June 16, 2020       Lyn Alina

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This is the dish that made me crave to have cat fish more and more!

I wasn't a fan of cat fish until I ate ikan keli masak lemak cili padi (cat fish cooked spicy coconut milk) for the first time in my college's cafateria in PASUM a few years ago.

It was so delicious, with the thick coconut milk and the refreshing citrusy of the lemongrass and intense heat of the bird's eye chilies added into the dish.

I didn't expect that my previous post of ikan masak lemak cili padi is listed among the top five in the google's search engine result despite it was my first time cooking ikan keli masak lemak.

From my reading online, you can't add onion into your ikan keli masak lemak as onion will intensify the fishy smell of the cat fish.

The cat fish is first fried until it turned crisp on the outside and then added to the prepared masak lemak gravy and simmer for a few minutes, to get the flavors of the cat fish diffuse into the gravy.

Since you're not going to add onion in the masak lemak, you'll need to add a lot of lemon grass, bird's eye chilies and coconut milk to have your ikan keli masak lemak rich and intense in the flavors.

You can add turmeric leaf, bilimbi (belimbing buluh), kaempheria galanga (daun cekur), basil (daun selasih) or cassava leaves (daun pucuk ubi) into your ikan keli masak lemak to make it more appetizing and additional aroma from the leaves.

This was my first fish-based dish that I cooked ever since MCO is implemented three months ago.

I bought six medium sized of cat fish and initially I intended to cook only 4 of the them and the remaining two I wanted to make ikan keli penyet.

Since the fish weren't so fresh when I removed them out of the freezer to defrost, I decided to cook all of them in one batch.

The masak lemak was still yummy, despite it was prepared with "not so fresh" cat fish.

I had to fry the cat fish until it was really crisp at the outside,to ensure it's flesh didn't fall apart of it's center bone when cooked in the gravy.

It is a must to use bird's eye chili when cooking ikan keli masak lemak since the chili has a distinct flavor that make the masak lemak really delicious.

But, if you can't handle it's spiciness, you may opt for red chilies to replace the bird's eye chili.

When it comes to cooking, it is always flexible and adjustable as long as the end result is yummy and the most important thing is; eatable. 😅😅

This time, I had both the red and green bird's eye chilies combined to prepare my ikan keli masak lemak.

Aside from it's more intense spicinies, the addition of red bird's eye chilies enhanced the color of the masak lemak gravy.

Alright! Lets dive in further into the recipe. 

IKAN KELI MASAK LEMAK DENGAN DAUN SELASIH

Category : Lauk Pauk

Serving Size : 4 to 6

Ingredients:

Ingredients For Fried Cat Fish:

6 medium sized cat fish

3 to 4 tablespoons of rice flour

1 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon of fine salt

Oil for frying

1 small box (200 ml) of coconut cream/thick coconut milk (I used KARA brand)

500 ml of water

1 or 2 pieces of tamarind slice

A few sprigs of basil 

2 lemon grass  - bruised

Salt to taste

Sugar if needed

Ingredients to be finely ground:

10 bird's eye chilies

3 inches of turmeric

Instructions:

Clean the fish thoroughly first by removing it's mouth.  You can do this by using a sharp scissor.  Cut open the abdomen and remove the internal organs.  You can wash the catfish in salt water to remove the fishy smell.  I used food wash liquid from CNI to wash my meats and vegetables.  Make a few slices on each side of the fish.

Lay cleaned cat fish onto a board or a wide plate.  Pad dry with kitchen paper.  Combine turmeric powder, salt and rice flour in a bowl and coat the cat fish with the mixture.

Heat oil in a large pan, with the diameter greater than the length of the fish.  Once hot, fry the fish until it brown and crisp on each side.  Do not overcrowd the pan as this will make the flipping process difficult.  Transfer the fried fish onto a plate layered with kitchen paper.  Set aside.

Bring water to boil in a wok.  Add finely ground ingredients, bruised lemon grass, tamarind slice, basil leaves and coconut milk.  Season with salt and sugar if needed.  Allow the gravy to simmer for a few minutes.

Lastly, add fried cat fish.  Simmer for a few minutes to let the fish flavor diffuse into the gravy.  

The keli masak lemak is ready to be served!  Enjoy!