Recipe Blog

Pekasam (Fermented Fish)

                                       

Pekasam is the Malay term for fermented food. In Malay cookery, pekasam usually refers to freshwater fish fermented with salt, palm sugar, toasted rice grains and pieces of asamgelugur. It is a famous traditional food in Malaysia, making it to be easily found in the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia and Easy Coast as it is very popular in the area. There are many different styles in preparing ikanpekasam due to the influence of different culture in Malaysia. However, ikanpekasam is most commonly prepared by Malays.

MsYumi, whom I interviewed is 50 years old and has a real passion for cooking. She is my neighbor and thankfully she is willing to help me out in preparing the ikanpekasam. MsYumi has been preparing the food for her family everyday for the past 20 years and she always try to prepare different type of cuisines for her family.

As preparing ikan pekasam requires the fish to be salted and stored for one week, the ingredients are purchased one week before the fermentation of the fish.

Ingredients required to prepare Ms Yumi’s recipe:

-          1 cup of white rice

-          1 Freshwater fish

-          3 spoonful of salt

Method :

Step 1: Wash the fish with clean water.

Step 2: Remove the skin, scales and inner organs of the fish. Cut off the head of the fish and cut the remaining body into smaller pieces. 

Step 3: Mix the fish together with the rice and salt and stir for 3 minutes. 

Step 4: Place the mixture into a container and store it for one week. Remember to seal the container tightly to ensure that no air is inside the container. 

Step 5: After one week, place the fish on to a cooking pot and fry it with oil for 10 minutes.

Step 6: After 10 minutes, the fish is ready to be serve!

One of the most notable difference between Ms Yumi's recipe and the online recipe is that  Ms Yumi's recipe only requires the fish to be mixed with rice and salt whereas the online recipe uses more ingredient to mix with the fish such as whey, black pepper corns, bay leaves and coriander seeds. By mixing it with different ingredients, the fish is able to have different taste varieties such as sweetness and saltiness.  Other than that, the online recipe only requires it to be ferment for 3 to 5 days compared to one week from Ms Yumi's recipe. Based on Ms Yumi's recipe, leaving the fish to ferment longer will enrich the taste of the fish more.

Online recipe : http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/FERMENTED-FISH-52351871

All in all, the process of preparing fermented fish is might be different, but the taste of the fish will be roughly the same. Some people prefer to leave it longer to ferment while other prefer to leave it for a shorter duration. It all depends on personal preference since there are many different type of cooking style. Lastly, I'm really thankful that i was given the opportunity by Taylor's University to prepare this dish with the guidance of Ms Yumi.