Asam Pedas Fish! Today’s recipe might sound alien to a lot of you. I was initially a bit apprehensive as to how should I describe this dish. I will simply start by saying, you are looking at one of my favorite dishes right here. To be honest, this dish is dangerous for me. Reason? I like it so much that I overeat and I would always end up eating 2 plates of rice. For those of you asam pedas virgins, let’s just say if you love Tom Yam, you are going to love this one too.
Asam Pedas Fish is a classic Malay dish that is spicy with a tang. It can either be mild or fiery hot, according to your preference. Malay cuisines have a lot of similarities with Thai cuisines. They use a lot of ingredients like garlic, lemongrass and ginger. Tamarind is also used in this dish and that is where you get the sourness from. Although laksa leaves are not a necessity in this dish but it does bring this dish from a 9 to a full on 10. Yes, a level up and it makes the dish perfect!!
This dish starts with a sambal paste made from dried chilies, onion and garlic. Ginger and galangal are also added. You can choose to either blend these or just slice them up. I have used red snapper here but pomfret, tilapia and stingray work beautifully too. In fact I believe it would work with cod and salmon too!
For those of you who prefer chicken over fish, feel free to use chicken instead. Just brown the chicken pieces for a bit before adding them to the gravy. Pair it with steaming hot rice and watch how magically your rice disappears!!!
If you love spicy food and enjoy a good Asian dish, give this Asam Pedas Fish Recipe a try. Have a look at the video below if you are slightly unsure of the preparation steps.
- Ingredients
- 1kg fish, cleaned and cut into slices
- 1 brinjal, cut into 5cm length (You can use okra too)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 4-5 tbsp cooking oil
- 4 lemongrass, bruised
- 3 cm ginger, sliced
- 3 cm galangal, sliced
- 1 tsp shrimp paste
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 6 kaffir lime leaves
- 5 sprigs of laksa leaves/daun kesum/ Vietnamese mint
- Tamarind (size of a small ping pong ball)
- Salt to taste
- To be blended into a paste
- 20-30 dried chilies (Depending on how spicy you prefer)
- 2 large onion
- 8 cloves garlic
- Mix 1 cup of water to the tamarind. Squeeze well, strain and set aside.
- In a wok, place oil and sauté blended paste. Add lemongrass, ginger, galangal, turmeric powder, shrimp paste, kaffir lime leaves and salt.
- Sauté for about 20 minutes or till the oil is afloat.
- Add tomatoes, tamarind juice and another cup of water.
- Add in fish and eggplant. Simmer on low heat until the fish and vegetables are cooked.
- Once the fish is cooked, add in the laksa leaves.
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