Monday, July 6, 2009

Asam Pedas Bawal Hitam ( Hot/Spicy and Sour Black Pomfret )

Asam Pedas is a well known dish both in Malacca and Johore.
Different culture has got a different interpretation of this particular dish. As for the one i've prepared over here, i'm not too sure bout its origin because i was told that there's the Malay-style and the Nyonya style of Asam Pedas. But one thing i know and very sure of is that i'm loving this dish!

This dish alone , got my bro goin for 3 servings of rice and for my mom, 2 servings! So i'd take this as a compliment from my bro since he's pretty fusy with fish. He loves his fish to be fried. Typical of him.

INGREDIENTS

* 800gm black pomfret
* 12 okras
* 2 tomatoes ( cut into wedges )
* 1 tbsp fish curry powder
* 5 springs daun kesum (Vietnamese coriander )
* 1 bunga kantan ( torch ginger)
* Oil
* Salt and sugar to taste
* 2 medium shallots (pound)
* 4-5 cups tamarind juice

Spice Paste (pound)
* 2 cloves garlic
* 2 stalks lemon grass (white part only)
* 15 shallots (small)
* 20 dried chillies (soaked )
* 2 tsp shrimp paste powder
* 4cm fresh ginger
* 3cm fresh turmeric

Method:
1) Stir fry the pounded shallots until fragrant and add in the spice paste and stir further until aromatic.
2) Pour in the tamarind juice and let it simmer.
3) Add in daun kesum and simmer a while and add in bunga kantan and okras.
4) Put in the pieces of fish and let it simmer further. Add in the tomato wedges.
5) Season with salt and sugar to taste.

Note:

You can replace the dried chillies with chilli paste to speed up the cooking process.

Its best to use fresh ginger and turmeric instead of the powdered form.

Halved or quartered the bunga kantan. If you like, you can slice it finely.

Add in more tamarind juice for those who wants more gravy to this dish. To make the tamarind juice : 1 1/4 cups water with tamarind pulp the size of small ping pong ball. To make this dish more savoury, always add in tamarind juice, be it thick or thin but never add in water.

Usually stingray will be used to prepare this dish but since my granny dont take stingray , therefore i've replaced it with a black pomfret. You can basically replace it with any type of fish you fancy.

In order to have a less oily asam pedas, be sure to cut down the oil use to fry the pounded shallots and spice paste. Start off with a lil and add more oil if you need to. I used a deep non stick to cook this dish therefore i only needed very little oil.

If you do not like your okras and tomatoes to be to cooked, add the okra at the same time you add your fish pieces and let it simmer and add in the tomato wedges. I added the okra first so that it will be soft enough for my granny.

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