Asam pedas ikan pari recipe by Hed Chef
Hedy Khoo | The New Paper | Tue Jul 10 2012
Singapore, July 10, 2012
He’s a mixologist who loves to cook as much as he enjoys stirring up exotic cocktails.
In his leisure time, Mr Mohamad Riezal often rustles up classic favourites for his family – dishes such as asam pedas ikan pari, or stingray in spicy tamarind stew.
The 33-year-old shares his recipe, originally taught to him by his stepmother.
Says Mr Riezal: “This is a dish that I must eat at least once a week.
“Three years ago, my stepmother went to Mecca on a pilgrimage for almost a month.
“Before she left, I asked her to teach me how to cook asam pedas or I would have missed the dish.”
Although Mr Riezal lives with his stepmother, who usually does the cooking, he now cooks the dish for their extended family whenever they have gatherings.
So what does his stepmother think of his rendition of this family favourite?
He says, chuckling: “She’s very supportive of my cooking.
But of course, she says my asam pedas is good, but not as good as hers.”
Mr Riezal usually chooses to use stingray in his asam pedas as it’s convenient to eat and because he doesn’t need to pick through it for fine bones.
But one can also opt for catfish or snapper as good and popular alternatives for the recipe, he says.
The bachelor jokes: “It’s a good dish to be able to cook during emergencies.
“Should my future wife run away, I wouldn’t miss her as I can cook asam pedas on my own.”
There’s no hard and fast rule when it comes to the quantity of ingredients used.
It’s very much up to you however much chilli you want to add.
Mr Riezal, who cooks mostly based on estimation, says you can use the base recipe to cook with chicken too.
His key piece of advice for cooking the dish is not to add too much water.
You don’t want to turn the dish into a soup, he says.
Using Mr Riezal’s recipe as a base, I amplified the flavours with belacan and sharpened the sour notes by adding two slices of asam gelugor, also called asam keping and colloquially known as tamarind slices.
If you don’t have any on hand, just use more tamarind juice for added sourness.
And instead of using large onions, I used shallots. I also added two stalks of lemon grass and lengkuas to the spice paste.
INGREDIENTS
1kg ikan pari (stingray)
100g daun kesum (laksa leaves)
2 stalks of lemon grass
6-8 lady’s fingers
2 tomatoes, sectioned
Enough water to cover fish (about 1.2l)
Oil for frying
Salt and sugar to taste
FOR TAMARIND JUICE
2 tbsp asam jawa (tamarind paste)
300ml water
CHILLI PASTE
200g dried red chillies
3-4 large purple onions
3-4 garlic cloves
2.5cm-thick piece of old ginger
METHOD
1. Soak the tamarind paste in 300ml of water. Strain and discard the seeds.
Put aside tamarind juice for later use. Soak the dried chilli in hot water until soft.
2. Grind the chilli, garlic, onion and ginger into a fine paste.
3. Fry the chilli paste in oil until fragrant (about half an hour). Add the tamarind juice.
Allow it to boil, then add the fish.
4. Add water to cover the fish. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.
Add lady’s fingers, tomatoes and the laksa leaves and simmer for another 5 minutes until fish is cooked.
Season with salt and sugar before serving.