Cooking Abroad

Pempek Still Possible Without Fish

pempek-still-possible-without-fish

As a small nation surround by vast seas, New Zealand has ample fishing grounds. Yet, for some reason, the price of fish in Kiwi land is not low. In fact, according to one survey, the price of fish has gone up 18.6% in the past four years.

Take salmon for example; it sells for $23.95/kg (Rp238,974). Or gurnard fish that sells for $18.40/kg (Rp183,583) and hoki fish that goes for $12.12/kg (Rp 120,925).

The most expensive fish of all is snapper, or tamure fish in the Maori tongue. According to The Price of Fish, a collection of surveys done of supermarkets and seafood shops since 2006, published by the New Zealand Department of Statistic, snapper is one of the most popular fish. Snapper prices reached a peak at $40.95/kg (Rp407,496) in 2009 at well known New Zealand supermarkets like Foodtown, Countdown, and Woolworths. Even when sold at special prices, this fish is far from cheap. The NZ Herald explained in a headline article that the retail prices hikes for this fish are due to materials, transportation, and packaging for export.

So, I told myself, “Forget snapper.” I will make pempek without fish.

Pempek has been one of my favorite snacks since childhood. The kind I like most is pempek pistel, the dough of which is made from tapioca starch, while the filling is stir fried unripe papaya, which is rich, soft and juicy, and tasty dried shrimp.

If I cannot get the ingredients for pempek pistel, I make pempek dos, which is made without fish, from a mix of tapioca starch and fish or chicken bouillon or stock. The pliability and softness of the dough depends on a balance between the amount of tapioca starch and liquid.

Pempek dos is easy to make. I always keep the ingredients, especially bouillon cubes, on hand in my pantry, so I can make it any time, even when I don’t have fresh fish or chicken stock on hand.

I like to use tapioca starch imported from Thailand that I get as the Asian food shop in Pukekohe. Sometimes, when I particularly miss the taste of Indonesian tapioca starch, I order it by telephone from the Tofu Shop in North Shore, Auckland, which sells Indonesian cooking ingredients.

Some people have advised me to use sagu tani (farmer’s tapioca starch) for pempek to ensure the filling, especially eggs, would not leak out. However, I have frequently made pempek without it and the results are the same as with it; same texture, same chewiness, and no leaks.

The secret to successfully making pempek is not in what kind of starch is used, but in the balance between the solid and liquid ingredients in the production of the dough. Leaks in the pempek dough occur when too much liquid is used in the dough so that it is not firm enough to hold in the egg or other filling.

Wheat flour can also be used to make a satisfactory quality of pempek dos dough. Just mix the flour with stock in the flavor of your choice and a little salt. This mixture provides a good starter base, just like tangzhong, which is a well-known starter in the bakery world. The difference is that pempek dos starter dough does not contain yeast, but also acts as a tenderizing element.

Once the starter dough is soft (at a temperature of 65 degrees Celsius as is the case with tangzhong), tapioca starch can be mixed in little by little until the resulting dough is of kneading consistency. Once the dough is ready, it can be shaped into little balls, which are then made into bowl shapes for the whisked egg filling seasoned with garlic salt and/or flavor enhancer. Once this is done, the edges of the dough bowl are pressed together to seal the egg mixture inside for cooking.

Pempek dos is just as tasty as pempek ikan; especially when it is served with a vinegar based sauce that is at once sour, sweet and spicy hot. Pempek dos always hits the spot when served with a cup of tea on a beautiful evening. No matter if snapper prices are sky high, pempek dos is there for a tasty snack!