Ikan Cencaru Sumbat Sambal. Delicious!
Torpedo scad or it's more familiar name among Malaysian, cencaru is easily identified by it's "torpedo" shaped body and of course the row of hard scutes at both sides of the tail.
I have a traumatic experience while I was still learning on how to clean this fish. My index finger got injured while I was removing the hard scutes with a knife. If you're not an expert at removing the scutes, please don't use a knife.
Since that incident, I have never make any attempt to remove the hard scutes with a knife, instead, I use a sharp pointed scissors to make a small cut at the center of the both sides of the fish and now you can easily insert the scissors in between the hard scutes and the flesh. Then, you can remove the hard scutes by cutting it through all the way around the edges, so it is now loose from the fins and keel. Hold the loose hard scutes with a piece of paper/newpaper/kitchen paper, pull it towards the tail. After that, use a knife, with the blade pointing away from your hand, slice the hard scutes at the tail part.
Because there might be difficulty in removing the hard scutes and most often people don't dare to remove it by themselves (unless they're used to it), next time, whenever you buy the fish in the market, you can always ask the the worker who is in charged of cleaning the fish to remove the hard scutes for you.
Torpedo scad has stronger fishy smelling than other mackerel types, that's why the fish is not suitable for making fish soup or for steamed fish. Usually, people will grill the fish (with the hard scutes unremoved) to be eaten with spicy tamarind dip, or my favorite, which is sweet soy sauce dip with just ingredients - soy sauce, sliced onion and green chilies.
Sounds pretty boring, isn't it? Like you don't have any other option to cook the fish.
But, if you like spicy and savory torpedo scad dishes, in Malay culture, we do actually have pretty much varieties of ways of cooking the torpedo scad. We have
- Cencaru goreng berlada - fried torpedo scad cooked in spicy spices made with coarsely ground onion, garlic, chilies, shrimp paste and anchovies.
- Cencaru masak asam rebus - torpedo scad cooked in sweet, sour and spicy gravy made with blended onion, red chilies and shrimp paste with added laksa leaves, sugar and tamarind slices.
- Cencaru masak kicap - fried torpedo scad cooked in thick soy sauce gravy made with onion, ginger, garlic, peppers, chilies, some herbs and soy sauce.
- Cencaru masak sambal - fried torpedo scad cooked in spicy sambal gravy.
Watch My Video For Visual Instructions Here 👇
I wrapped the fish with pandan leaves for additional fragrant aroma for my stuffed fish. My sambal is moderately spicy, since my hubby can't tolerate intensely spicy food. The dish is sooo good to be enjoyed with warm rice.
Enjoy!
SAMBAL STUFFED TORPEDO SCAD
Category : Lauk Pauk
Preparation Time : 15 minutes
Cooking Time : 20 minutes
Serving Size : 3
INGREDIENTS
Marinated fish :
3 torpedo scads
Salt to taste
1-1.5 teaspoons turmeric powder
Spicy Sambal :
4 shallots
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 inch galangal
2 cm ginger
2 cm shrimp paste (you can substitute with a small handful anchovies)
Water for blending
5 tablespoons dried chili paste (you can use 15 to 20 pieces red dried chilies - boiled, deseeded & blend)
1 pandan leaf (knotted)
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
1/4 cup tamarind juice (mix 1/4 cup water with 1 teaspoon tamarind paste)
1/4 cup cooking oil
Other Ingredients :
Pandan leaves for wrapping
About 1/4 cup cooking oil for frying fish
INSTRUCTIONS
Marinated Fish :
- Clean the fish thoroughly and remove the hard scutes (I have mentioned earlier how I remove it) Then, make a slit (like a pocket) on both sides of the back of the fish. Wash with lime water or tamarind juice to remove fishy smelling.
- Pat dry the fish with kitchen papers.
- Coat the fish evenly with turmeric powder and salt. Cover and set aside while you prepare the spicy sambal.
Spicy Sambal :
- Blend onion, shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal and shrimp paste with some water to a smooth paste.
- Heat up cooking oil in a frying pan/ a wok.
- Once oil is hot, pour in blended spices and stir briefly over medium heat.
- Add in dried red chili paste and knotted pandan leaf, stir and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add in sugar and cook sambal until the oil is separating and the color changed to dark red.
- Add in tamarind juice and season with salt to taste. Cook until sambal has thick consistency, about 5 to 8 minutes over medium heat while stirring occasionally.
Preparing Stuffed Fish :
- When the sambal has cooled slightly (you don't want to burn your hand by touching the hot sambal), spoon some sambal into the slits. You may want to stuff more sambal but please do not overstuffing the fish, because some of it will leak out when you fry the fish later on.
- Then, wrap each fish with pandan leaves to secure the filling. Use a toothpick or bamboo skewer cut into 3 to 4 inches long to secure the wrapping.
Frying Stuffed Fish :
- Heat about 1/4 cup cooking oil in a non-stick flat frying pan.
- Once oil is hot, put in stuffed fish and fry over medium heat until golden and crispy on both sides.
- Dish out and serve immediately with warm rice and the rest of the spicy sambal. Enjoy!
CENCARU SUMBAT SAMBAL
- Siang bersih ikan dan buang kulit yang keras (saya dah jelaskan di atas caranya). Kemudian, hiris kedua sisi ikan bahagian atas menjadi seperti poket. Cuci bersih ikan dengan air kapur atau air asam jawa untuk menghilangkan bau hanyir.
- Lap kering ikan tadi dengan kertas tisu dapur.
- Lumur ikan dengan serbuk kunyit dan garam kemudian ketepikan dahulu sementara sediakan sambal.
- Kisar halus bawang merah, halia, bawang putih, bawang besar, lengkuas dan belacan bersama air.
- Panaskan minyak di dalam kuali, setelah panas, masukkan bahan kisar dan tumis sebentar.
- Masukkan pes cili kering dan daun pandan dan tumis sebentar.
- Masukkan gula secukupnya dan tumis lagi sehingga rempah garing dan pecah minyak.
- Masukkan air asam jawa dan perasakan dengan garam secukupnya.
- Tumis sehingga sambal pekat.
- Setelah sambal agak sejuk, sumbat poket ikan dengan sambal secukupnya. Jangan sumbat terlalu banyak sebab takut lebihan sambal akan terkeluar sewaktu menggoreng ikan nanti.
- Balut ikan dengan daun pandan secukupnya dan cucuk dengan pencungkil gigi atau lidi pencucuk yang telah dipotong sepanjang 3 ke 4 inci dan ditiriskan hujungnya supaya daun pandan tidak terbuka sewaktu menggoreng.
- Panaskan anggaran 1/4 cawan minyak di dalam kuali leper anti lekat.
- Setelah minyak panas, goreng ikan dengan api sederhana sehingga kedua-dua belah berwarna keemasan dan garing.
- Angkat dan hidang sementara panas bersama nasi hangat dan baki sambal tadi. Selamat menjamu selera!
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