assam fish

Delicious Assam Pedas with Sambal Hijau

This is a quick and easy Assam Pedas Ikan recipe using snapper fish head, and two very basic ingredients, Sambal Hijau (bottle) and tamarind seeds (Assam). Only takes about 10 minutes to cook. I know most people would cook the red sambal version. But I love sambal hijau a lot.

First you stir fry the Sambal Hijau (green chilli paste) in a little olive oil until fragrant. About 3 tablespoons of the chilli paste. Careful to not let it burn too much. You only want the slight smokey flavour. Add 500 ml of water into the wok. Then add 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste (directly from the packet). Let it simmer until the tamarind paste is well combined with the sambal broth.

Add the fish heads in and add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Cover the lid and turn on full fire and cook the fish for about ten minutes. Add cilantro leaves and you can serve with white rice.

Bon Appetit!

Market Tales

Market Tales

Met a market Aunty aka fellow home cook.. And she was so excited to see this fish.. Immediately she asked the fishmonger uncle for a bigger one..

It was already huge as anything about a kilo each.. And she asked for it to be gutted but to have the scales remained..

I being the curious home cook,  asked her how she would eat it.. “plenty of bones, very oily fish, but I love it.” exclaimed the lady in Teochew.. “steam with pandan leaves, lemon grass.. Or cook in assam.. Must dip in lime and blacan chilli or cut chilli and black soy sauce..”

It was as if she had the entire road map for the fish painted out already.. I could see the conviction in her eyes and saliva glands reacting..

Must be damn nice..