Passport & Plate - Gulai Ikan (Hot and Sour Fish)
Singapore | Monday, February 17, 2014 | 5 photos
Ingredients
Spice Paste:
2 sticks of lemongrass, sliced finely
1 inch of fresh tumeric, peeled and cut roughly
4 slices of galangal, peeled
8-15 dried chillies (depending on level of heat required), soaked in hot water for 10 mins
12-16 shallots (small purple onions)
1/2 teaspoon of belachan, dry roasted (a dried shrimp paste, roast by placing the half teaspoon of belachan over an open flame)
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp tamarind (asam) soaked in 2 cups of water for 5 mins (discard seeds and pulp)
1 tbsp gula melaka (palm sugar, shave off the required amount with a knife))
1 large or 2 small whole white fish (any type), cleaned, gutted and cut into even portions
2 sprig laksa leaves
coriander leaves and edible pink torch flower to garnish
How to prepare this recipe1. Using a large mortar and pestle, pound the spice paste ingredients until a smooth paste is made. This will take several minutes.
2. heat oil in a wok on medium heat and fry the pounded paste for 5-8 mins until it is fragrant. You may cough and choke with the smell of the spices.
3. Add the tamarind juice, palm sugar and salt and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the fish and laksa leaves and simmer for 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Now for the magic. Taste the sauce. Season to your taste for - hot (if not hot enough, add chilli, if too hot add more palm sugar, tamarind or water), sweet (add more palm sugar or dilute), salt (add more salt or dilute). Simmer and taste until the sauce is perfect for you.
5. Ladle into a serving bowl and garnish with fresh coriander leaves and very finely sliced edible pink torch flower
The story behind this recipeThe recipe is Peranakan. Peranakan means "child of" in Malay and refers to people of mixed ethnicity. In Singapore, where I live, Chinese Peranakans are common. But other communities come under the Peranakan banner like Indian or Arab.
I learnt this recipe with my mother and daughter at a cooking class in Singapore with the delightful chef, Ruqxana from Cookery Magic. Her recipes are from her mother and as she sprinkled salt and palm sugar to our sauce and entreated us to taste and season it, she sprinkled stories of traditional Peranakan culture. A woman to be married would present some pounded spices to her prospective in laws to prove she was a good cook. Or, all of these ingredients (as I discovered) can be sourced at my local wet market, including the utensils such as the wok and the mortar and pestle.
Food is discussed in Singapore like real estate in Sydney or the traffic in Dubai, it is the most important aspect of life here. Peranakan dishes blend Chinese, Malay and other Southeast Asian influences into a dish that tastes like Asia. The food is served in porcelain of pink and green. When you eat it you can taste the humidity, the vibrancy, the colour, the mystery and the allure of Asia.
The dish is special to me because it represents generations of people and the coming together of spices around the region to create a delicious meal shared and owned by all. As the chef learnt it from her mother, so the three generations that day at that cooking class, mother, daughter, granddaughter, learnt the kitchen secrets and we too now share another special bond through food.
What a joy it was to discover these foreign to me flavours. The sourness of tamarind, the sweetness of palm sugar, like caramel, the smell of bachan and the bitterness of galangal. To cook with these ingredients as I do so often now, to buy a handful of chillies or a nugget or two of fresh tumeric and to know what to do with them makes me feel part of this place I call home for the present.
