Pempek

Pempek, mpek-mpek or empek-empek is a savoury fishcake delicacy from Palembang, Indonesia, made of fish and tapioca. Pempek is served with yellow noodles and a dark, rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuka or kuah cuko (lit. vinegar sauce).

Pempek is the best-known of Palembang's dishes. Its origin is undoubtly Palembang, however the history behind the creation of this savoury dish is unclear. According to local tradition, around the 16th century there was an old Chinese immigrant who lived near the Musi river. He noticed an abundance of fish caught by the local fishermen. In the Sumatran tropical climate, before the invention of refrigeration technology, most of these unsold leftover fish decayed and were wasted. The indigenous people, however had limited knowledge and techniques for processing fish. During that period, most of the indigenous people simply grilled, fried or boiled their fish instead of adding other ingredients to make new dishes. The old Chinese man mixed in some tapioca and other spices, which he then sold around the village on his cart. The people referred to this old man as 'pek-apek, where apek is a Chinese slang word to call an old man. The food is known today as empek-empek or pempek.

Another theory suggests that pempek was a Palembang adaptation of Southern Chinese ngo hiang or kekkian (fish slice) as a surimi (yújiāng) based food. But instead of being served in soup or plainly fried, pempek is notable for its spicy palm sugar-vinegar based sauce.

Dough

Pempek dough is made from a mixture of boneless ground fish meat, most commonly tenggiri (wahoo), with water, salt and tapioca. Ikan gabus (snakehead) is also commonly made as pempek. Numerous pempek sellers and producers in Palembang use a cheap combination of fish, which has a strong scent. According to tradition, the best tasting pempek are made of belida or belido (Chitala lopis), but due to its rarity and superior taste, pempek made from this fish are usually more expensive. Pempek in Bangka Island are made from mackerel (ikan kembung) and its sauce is red chilli based, while in Jakarta or other cities they could be made from gourami fish. The latest variant is pempek udang, pempek made of minced shrimp originated from Sungsang area in Banyuasin near the Musi river estuary, it is noticeable with its pinkish color.

The dough is boiled in hot water or steamed until hardened as partly cooked dumplings, and stored to be fried later just before serving.

Sauce

Kuah cuko is produced by adding palm sugar, chili pepper, garlic, vinegar, and salt to boiling water. The color of this sauce is dark brown. This sweet, sour and spicy sauce is essential for flavouring the pempek, since the pempek dough is very mildly savoury. The sauce of Bangka pempek is chili based, made from the mixture of ground red chili and vinegar and its color is bright red. Traditionally all pempek sauces are served hot and spicy, the ground chilies are mixed in the sauce. However since some people desire unspicy sauce, or cannot eat hot and spicy sauce, the ground chillis were often separated as sambals. In some pempek restaurants, the bottled kuah cuko sauce is left on customers' tables and they are welcome to pour on the amount of sauce they desire. There are two kind of sauces available, spicy hot and plain.

Serving

The boiled or steamed pempek dumplings are deep fried in cooking oil until light pale brown right before serving. They are cutted in bite-size, served with yellow noodles or rice vermicelli, showered in kuah cuko, and sprinkled with chopped cucumber and ebi (ground dried shrimp) powder. The additional fish krupuk crackers might be offered.

Sources: wikipedia & berburukuliner

Siomay

Siomay (also Somay), is an Indonesian steamed fish dumpling with vegetables served in peanut sauce. It is derived from Chinese Shumai. It is considered a light meal that is similar to the Chinese Dim Sum, but is cone shaped. It is traditionally made from tenggiri (wahoo) fish meat. Sometimes other types of seafood such as tuna, mackerel, and prawn also can be used to make siomay. Other complements to siomay are steamed cabbage, potatoes, bitter gourd and tofu. Siomay is cut into bite size pieces and topped with peanut sauce, sweet soy sauce, chili sauce and a dash of lime juice.

Siomay is ubiquitous in Indonesian cities. It can be found in street-side foodstalls, travelling carts, bicycle vendors, and restaurants. Just like bakso, lumpia, and pempek, siomay was influenced by Chinese Indonesian cuisine. However Chinese Indonesian siomay usually served not with peanut sauce, but in sweet-sour and spicy chili sauce. Siomay has been incorporated into Indonesian cuisine for a long time, and the most famous variety is Siomay Bandung. It has been adapted into local Sundanese cuisine. Today, most of Siomay sellers are Sundanese. Another variety of siomay is called Batagor, also originated from Bandung. It is an abbreviation that stands for Baso Tahu Goreng. Batagor is very similar to siomay, except that it is fried instead of steamed.

Ingredients

200 g fish fillet
150 gr minced shrimp
150 g squash, finely grated
250 gr sago
1 tablespoon salt
100 g egg whites
10 pcs red onion, finely
6 cloves garlic, finely
beancurd

Complement:

pare
know
potato
cabbage
eggs

Directions:

1. Mix the fish meat, shrimp, and salt and stir well. Enter the squash, egg whites, onion, and garlic, stirring until blended.
2. Enter the sago flour, stirring until blended.
3. Spread batter on the fish, tofu, eggs, cabbage and melon, and enter. The rest, make a round shape.
4. Steamed dumplings in a steamer and all supplementary heat until cooked.
5. Serve dumplings with complementary and peanut sauce.

Peanut Sauce Ingredients:

500 g roasted peanuts, remove skin
milled until smooth.
150 gr large red chili
50 g onion
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 pcs lemon juice

How to Make:

1. Fried red peppers and red onion. Remove and puree.
2. Mix the ground spices with ground nuts, sugar, salt, and a little water, stir until blended.
3. Heat the peanut sauce to a boil. Lift. Give the lemon lime.

Source: wikipedia & tabloid nova