A video recipe on how to make Singaporean Assam Fish from SBS Food Safari show. A tangy tamarind based sauce is sweetened with many shallots. It is the perfect match for thick cutlets of any oily fish such as mackerel, which is dusted in turmeric-laced flour, fried and added to the sauce.
Serves 4 as part of a meal accompanied by rice.
Ingredients
Rempah
10 eschallots
2 fresh red chillies
½ head garlic peeled
1½ cm knob of young ginger
½ tsp blachan
400-500g tail end of mackerel or other strong flavoured oily fish
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised with the back of a knife or cleaver
1½ tbsp tamarind pulp mixed with 500ml water, strained through sieve once reconstituted
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and quartered
2 large red chillies, split lengthwise in half and seeded
2 large green chillies, split lengthwise in half and seeded
Sugar, salt to taste
Directions
1. Chop fish into segments cross-wise through the backbone around 5cm thick.
2. Coat fish pieces in a mixture of all purpose flour mixed with a little ground turmeric and lightly fry in oil. Set aside.
3. Grind rempah in mortar and pestle or food processor into a fine paste.
4. Fry rempah in heavy base non-reactive metal pan over high heat, with couple of tablespoons of neutral flavoured oil, until fragrant.
5. Add lemon grass, chillies tomatoes and tamarind juice
6. Bring mixture to boil. Season. It should be a mixture of hot, sweet, sour and salty.
7. Add the fish to and let it poach slowly over lower heat.
Possible accompaniments:Pineapple sambal with belacan, Kangkong lemak.