Ingredients
- 1 cleaned common snakehead
- Cooking oil
- Water
Spice Paste
- 10 peeled football fruit (keluak fruit from kelayang tree)
- 18 shallots
- 15 cloves garlic
- 5 red curly chilies
- 2 thumb-sized pieces turmeric
- 18 candlenuts
- 2 tbsp tamarind
- ½ tsp salt
Additional Spices
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 lemongrass stalks, smashed and knotted
This is a specific Betawi (indigenous Jakartan) dish that is generally only prepared for family gatherings. This is my recipe, but everyone in my house pitches in to prepare it for special occasions.
Steps
- Soak football fruit in warm water for 1 hour.
- Smash lemongrass and knot it. Dissolve tamarind in warm water. Set aside.
- Cut fish into 3 pieces. Soak in salt water for 10 mins.
- Fry fish on medium heat until the color changes, but does not become too white. Remove from oil, drain, and set aside.
- Drain football fruit and grind with other spices with pestle in a large mortar. Stir-fry resulting spice paste in a pan until fragrant. Add bay leaves and lemongrass. Keep cooking on low heat until fragrant. Pour water into the pan and let it boil.
- Add fish and cook until tender. Add tamarind juice. Stir until boiling. Remove from heat. Serve.
