Assam Pedas Fish Recipe
January 15th, 2007 | Malaysian Recipes, Nyonya Recipes | 45 Comments
Assam Pedas, or literally “sour spicy,” is a classic Malaysian dish. Ask any home cooks in Malaysia–Malay, Chinese, or Indian–and you are bound to get various recipes for Assam Pedas. Everyone has their own interpretation for this favorite dish and there are endless adaptations; suffice it to say, it’s sour, fiery hot, and tastes extraordinarily satisfying.
When I made my sambal for nasi lemak last weekend, I made a point to prepare some extra spice paste for this Assam Pedas dish. While traditional Assam Pedas calls for ikan tenggiri (Spanish mackerel) or ikan pari (stingray), I used pomfret instead. (In the United States, even in California, it’s almost impossible to find fish commonly found in Malaysia.) I love pomfret and it’s a good substitute for Assam Pedas.
Much like nasi lemak, if you haven’t tried Assam Pedas, it’s very hard to describe just how wonderful this is. I hope my pictures and recipe do it justice.
Ingredients:
1 pomfret (1/2 pound to 1 pound)
10 small okras
1 tomato (cut into wedges)
1 teaspoon of fish curry powder
2 sprigs of daun kesum (Vietnamese mint/Vietnames coriander)
5 tablespoons of cooking oil
1 tablespoon of palm sugar/sugar
Salt to taste
Spice Paste:
1 clove garlic
1 stalk of lemon grass (white part only)
4 shallots
8-10 dried chillies (depends how spicy you like)
1/2 tablespoon of belacan (prawn paste)
Tamarind Juice:
1 1/4 cup of water
Tamarind pulp (size of a small ping pong ball)
Method:
- Pound the spice paste with mortar and pestle or grind them in a food processor. Set aside.
- Soak the tamarind pulp in warm water for 15 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind pulp constantly to extract the flavor into the water. Drain the pulp and save the tamarind juice.
- Heat oil and fry the spice paste for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Add the tamarind juice, fish curry powder and bring to boil.
- Add the tomato wedges and okras and bring to boil.
- Add the fish, salt, and palm sugar/sugar.
- Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked.
- Serve hot.
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There is definitely something funny going on here. I know a saw a post from you earlier about a soup with lotus root and dried dates – I am sure of this, because it caused me to pick up some dried honey dates when I was out for dim sum earlier today.
I was in my way back to thank you for the inspiration (and to tell you that reading your blog is awfully dangerous for me, always making me buy new ingredients and try new things), when I found that the post had disappeared and been replaced with this one.
Ah well. This post looks great, too. Especially since I know where to find spanish mackerel and stingray around here.
This literally made my mouth water! Looks so much like my mom’s cooking. Great job!
This looks like the fish head curry dish I ate yesterday at Prima Taste Restaurant! They used salmon fish head. It was damn shiok. *tastebuds frolicking*
By the way, I made lotus root soup after your post. Wah… very very sweet. I must make it again with honey dates of course!
For what other types of soups can you use honey dates?
i love this dish because of its combination of hot/spicy and sour. fish seems to be a favourite of many people. you know, at the chinese course dinner, the fish dish (no matter how it is prepared) is always not enough!
i love okras. :) this looks delicious. i can just taste the tamarind from your pictures. It reminds me of my mom’s home cooking.
I like Assam anything…coz it’s sour. This assam fish head, I love too. I can just scoop and scoop the gravy and soak all the steaming plain rice with the gravy….oh my gravy!
Usual servings of rice x 3, when I see and have this dish! Yum Yum!
Danielle – My RSS feeds are not reliable…I republished everything. If you subscribe to my feeds, please update it to atom.xml. By the way, trying new things are great; I look forward to reading your posts. :)
Stefanie – exactly. This is my mother’s recipe. Hers is so much better than mine.
Lucia – yeah, I love the Chinese 8-course banquet. And yes, you are correct, the fish is always good.
Simcooks – yes, those honey dates are very sweet. You can use one (if you boil your soup for a long time), or two if you serve it faster. Other than Lotus Root Soup, you can also use it in water cress soup (a tip from my Hong Kong friend!)
Buddingcook – oh no, I am reminding everyone of their mom.
:-O
Tigerfish – Ric x 3 sounds about right…the gravy is damn shiokalicios with plain white rice.
I love the ladies fingers! Or Okra. I can just taste the asam pedas from your delicious looking photo!!!
I realize something, the few of you all from US, even the veg names I used have changed! I am saying cilantro instead of coriander. okra instead of ladies finger. oh no! my brains confused! haha…
Aiyo, over here usually use black pomfret to cook curry, right? White ones very expensive and people wil say it is very ’sayang’ (means kind of like a waste) to cover its sweet taste with the strong aroma of curry and asam. But those pix, arrgghhh torturous-lor when can see but cannot taste!
gosh i’m salivating now… you know the kind when u smell sour dishes hahaha
Wow, me too, drooling all over my keyboard! RM, I had the impression that the fish is usually fried before being put into the assam pedas gravy. Or is that a different dish altogether?
Hi,
Everytime I surf on you blog, I discover a new beautiful recipe !!!! It looks great, the picture is nice with all these colors!!! I should try once ;-)
Have a nice day
Claude
Aiyo! sometimes I secretly wish I live next to you… ya know sometimes when the cooking bug dissapears :D
you mean you can get pomfret in irvine? pomfret assam nice what, i wouldnt even have thought of it as a substitute per se. spanish mackerel is tenggiri is it? actually, in fact, i think my favourite assam fish WOULD be pomfret.
audrey cooks, long time no see leh. how u been? wah, have to meet in america hor.
We just had assam pedas ( in noodles) 3 weeks ago in PJ compliments of d Chef BSG ( aka Pg food King).
Its time v set up a final countdown (lovey dovey & delicious one) to combine the tastes and flavors of Pg at a single shot !
Audrey Cooks plse take note…..
Asam fish, my favorite. Sometimes I would buy some kepala ikan or here in Perth, Aussie, they called it fish cheek to make asam fish. Yummy…. The fish cheeks is quite cheap as only the Asian likes to eat it. Its usually from ikan merah, red snapper….
Keropok – Ladies Fingers / Okras are the best. I love them too. I know what you mean; sometimes I am still confused even though I have been in the US for over 10 years!
Tummythoz – yes, but I don’t like Black Pomfret. Here the pomfret very cheap…I got mine for 1/2 lb for only $2.00, not bad huh?
Babe_KL – I know what you mean…like suddenly your saliva gland got very active and your mouth watering. LOL!!!!
Shilpa – Oh no, another one drooling, LOL. As I said, there are many different variations of Assam Pedas, mine is my mother’s version (she doesn’t fry the fish).
Claude – yes you should try this and I want to see it on your website. :)
Audrey – Good idea…then we can play masak-masak together, ala Penang style. You cook one day I cook one day…deal?
FBB – pomfret in assam pedas is good, and yes, spanish mackerel is tenggiri.
Tonixe – I thought you are also the Chef BSG? No? I am confused with all your nicknames??
Pesky – correct, the fish head especially red snapper is super shiokalicious. Good choice!
FBB, yeh I disappeared for a while but now I’m back!
Tonixe, okay will go marketing tomorrow and hopefully u will see a virtual dish by end of this week!
BY, I still secretly wish I stay next door to u.
Looks really delicious..the perfect meal for cold days, like this one. I can almost taste the asam..sigh
awesome pic and I’m sure it taste great…thumbs up for PENANG food and cooking style..
u should think about writing a Rasa Malaysia book : )
….*shy* I usually just buy instant curry mix and add assam jawa to make my asam pedas with “pak chong” fish.
alamak! I was just thinking about assam pedas yesterday so rang a malaysian friend for the recipe but she rattles on abit of this and a bit of that …typical!
terima kaseh. I’ll cook it at my next malaysian potluck.
Thanks for the nice post!
n1ezSp The best blog you have!
This is not asam pedas. This is gulai tumis or kari tumis.
Gulai tumis or kari tumis is so called because you tumis (saute) the spices.
In asam pedas, there is no oil and no frying at all. Penang asam laksa is an example of asam pedas and so is kong asam (another fish soup flavoured strongly with shallots and lemongrass).
Hope this clears up the confusion for many people!!
I’ve been surfing looking for a good asam pedas recipe and I keep finding ones for gulai tumis instead!!
Jefferyseow,
You are right, Mom do asam pedas and kong a sam also but this pic look more in asam tumis. saya orang penang you also lo?
hye, in johor or melaka, we still call this ASAM PEDAS.
well..i come from melaka…and we make the best asam pedas!! and my family has the best recipe..and its ‘THE’ original recipe..
everything is the same, except for the curry part.
we don’t add curry powder in it. (it has other name if u put curry powder in it if im not mistaken..but ive forgotten what its called)
Alamak!! Jeffrey Assam pedas has always had it’s spice base fried first, I think you may have got confuggled with a few cultural differences in recipes.Lol I’ve been cooking Assam pedas for over 40 years and that is how it was taught to me, and is generally how most other people cook it too. The taste is a lot different if you do not fry the spice/onion/garlic base first.
Other than Daun Kesum have you tried Daun kunyit or Bunga Kantan in the assam recipe? as they go very well and so does a combination of two herbs such as D kunyit and D. kesum. I am very glad that I have stumbled onto this site, as it has all my favourite recipes plus a true cooks interpretation. A marvellous place that is now firmly entrenched in my favourites section of my browser. Thank you xxx
yep..daun kantan and daun kesum…
it makes asam pedas ALOT better…Tastier..
just awesome…damn..i have asam pedas craving for days now..
too bad i live in germany and its really difficult for me to travel to go to asia market to find ingredients..
i really miss my grandmas asam pedas.. its the best!!
OOps forgot to add that I also love the Kuah assam pedas the following morning, reheated and eaten by dipping very fresh bread into it and munching with the occasional slurp mmmmmmmmmmm
damn…u really do it my style..seriously!!
fresh bread/toast into it…divine!!
I have been reading your blog for months. You did an excellent job in terms of the recipes and the photographs. You might want to think about publishing a magazine online for yourself and people can buy it online too. Check out http://magcloud.com/home.
I love my assam pedas fish to have fish roe but thts impossible in the US so il just stick to your assam pedas fish recipe. ;)
its 0740 here. i can’t sleep due to my morning sickness and i am craving for food that is impossible to get in here. In europe normally its difficult to get a fresh fish like this but i really craving for it, i don’t know what to do and all the igredients some i can get but not all.. So sad and depressed. how i wish my mom is here and cook for me. Honestly i hate my own cooking. I just don’t know why…
your assam pedas really looks good. i really can’t wait to try your recipe. I am living in irvine ca, and i am new to this place. Do you mind if i were to ask, where can i get vietnamese mint from?
Anonymous, you can find the Vietnamese mint leaves or daun kesum at little Saigon in Westmister. All the Vietnamese food stores have them.
while surfing the net, i came across this site…. do u know Assam is a state in the North-East of India? That’s why the name brought me curiosity. The recipe n pix look tempting n I am definitely going to try it out, definitely with Pomfret as I am presently living in Goa. Keep it up with more such recipes.
This looks tantalising…and i love okras and sour spicy food. Now living away from home, I really miss all the assam-assam variety of dishes…Thanks for sharing this recipe. I can’t wait to try my hands on cooking it this weekend ! Thankfully I can find pomfret, okras and spices in Bamgkok :)
Love the recipes and the photos of the dishes are AWESOME!! Fit for a cookbook!
Thank you so much for sharing – keep up the great work :)
Mona – thanks. :)
once again, another dish i desperately want to try! (: thanks so much for all these recipes. i’ve been missing good assam dishes for awhile now! (:
was wondering, based on the quantities above, what’s the servings like? (:
thanks once again!! your site is a regular on my internet history.
Serving is for two. :)
Thanks for the recipe!
Can’t find daun kesum here, cant it be subtituted or do without?
also, silly question…..i have a small packet of mild curry powder will that do too?
Thanks!
You can do without the daun kesom. Well, you can try the curry powder, I don’t know really know it without knowing it.