Asian

Asam Pedas

Name: Asam Pedas
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 180 g mackerel steaks; 6 dried red chillies; 3 shallots; 2 cloves garlic; 15 g galangal; 1 stalk lemongrass; 1 tsp belacan; 20 g tamarind pulp; 300 ml water; 1 tbsp vegetable oil; 0.5 torch ginger bud; 1 sprig daun kesum; 3 okra; 1 tomato; 1 tsp sugar; 0.5 tsp salt; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric

A fiery, sour Malay and Minangkabau fish stew: mackerel poached in a chilli-shallot rempah loosened with tamarind water, perfumed with torch ginger bud and daun kesum, with okra and tomato in the gravy.

Lunch & dinner 25g+ protein 8g+ fibre

50 min20 prep · 30 cookMedium1002 kcalper serving

Method

Cover 6 dried chillies with hot water and leave to soften for 15 minutes, then drain. At the same time, put 20 g of tamarind pulp in a bowl with 150 ml of warm water, leave 10 minutes, then mash it with your fingers and strain, pressing the pulp to get all the sour liquid out. Discard the seeds and fibres and keep the tamarind water.
Pound the drained chillies in a mortar, or blitz in a small blender, with 3 shallots, 2 garlic cloves, 15 g of sliced galangal, 1 tsp of belacan and 0.5 tsp of ground turmeric to a smooth rempah, adding a spoonful of water only if the blades stall.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a small saucepan or claypot over medium heat and fry the rempah for 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until it darkens, smells sweet rather than raw and the oil separates at the edges. Add 1 stalk bruised lemongrass stalk and 0.5 torch ginger bud and fry 1 minute more.