How to make this classic Malay dish, Asam Pedas, or spicy tamarind fish curry.

Asam Pedas is a traditional Malay dish, consisting of a fish stewed in a spicy and tangy gravy. Asam Pedas literally translates as “sour spicy”, both flavour profiles that complement fish so well.

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The Sour in Asam Pedas – Tamarind

The sour comes from tamarind, which is an essential ingredient in this dish. You really cannot replace this with anything else, it is a unique sourness that’s a lot more mellow and sweeter than say, your limes and lemons.

These days you can find seedless tamarind paste concentrate at the supermarkets. That is also what I’m using in this recipe. This is the exact brand I use, but this is a good alternative. If you are using the more traditional tamarind pulp with seeds, then you need x3 the amount used for tamarind paste. This means a teaspoon of tamarind paste is equivalent to three teaspoons of tamarind pulp.

To prepare tamarind pulp, simply add warm water and work the pulp with your fingers. The pulp should come off the seeds and sort of dissolve into the water. The water will turn a brownish shade, and there you have it, tamarind juice. Discard the seeds.

While this is the general base recipe, tamarind in general have varying levels of sourness. This is more so if you are using tamarind pulp. I would keep some extra tamarind juice on side while cooking so I can easily add more if needed. Always give your gravy a taste test, and add more if required.

The Spicy in Asam Pedas – Dried Chillies

The spicy, of course, comes from the dried chillies. If you have ready-made Dried Chilli Paste in the fridge, then skip this ingredient and simply use that. I use the typical Asian dried chillies available widely in our markets, and these can be Spur, Byadgi or Kashmiri variety. For the purposes of this recipe (and most of the recipes on this blog), they are all the same and easily interchangeable.

Dried chillies are easily available in most Asian stores, but they can also be interchangeable with dried Fresno and Serrano chillies. Make sure to adjust the amount according to your spice tolerance. 10 dried chillies yields a medium level of hotness that is generally tolerable by most Asians.

If you can’t find dried chillies, then yes, you can also use fresh chillies in this recipe, but it will not have the depth and richness of dried chillies.

For those who want even more spice, either add more dried chillies, or a couple stalks of Thai Bird’s Eye Chillies.

Daun Kesum or Vietnamese Mint Leaves

Traditionally, daun kesum or Vietnamese Mint Leaves are used. They are not so easy to come by, even in Singapore, and when you do come across it, it doesn’t keep fresh for long.

Anyway, in place of daun kesum, I’m using curry leaves. Another alternative is Makrut Lime Leaves (limau purut). These herbs all add a herby, minty, citrusy accent to the fish dish and complements it extremely well. If you have none of these leafy herbs on hand, then simply omit. It will still taste amazing.

Type of Fish to use for Asam Pedas

The fish I used here is Tenggiri, a quite standard type of fish used for this dish. Other types of fish include pomfrets and stingrays or ikan pari. You can, however use pretty any fish you fancy. As a salmon lover, I love using salmon to make Asam Pedas. If there’s a slight difference, I would go the extra step of pan frying the salmon before adding to the gravy… because crispy salmon skin is one of my biggest weaknesses.

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Asam Pedas Singapore Recipe | Spicy Tamarind Fish

Recipe by Sha

4.6 from 5 votes

Course: Eats, Recipes

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

300g of Mackerel or Tenggiri
3 stalks of Okra
1-2 Tomato
1/4 cup Cooking Oil
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Tamarind or Asam Paste + 100ml of water to create a juice*
1 stalk of Curry Leaves (Or Vietnamese Mint Leaves or Daun Kesum, or Kaffir Lime Leaves)
2 cups Water
Blended Base Paste
2 tbsps of Dried Chilli Paste or 10 stalks of Dried Chillies, soaked in boiling water**
1 Onion
2 Garlic
1 inch Ginger
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Belachan or Dried Shrimp Paste
1/4 Cup Water for easier blending

Directions

Blend spice base paste.
In a pot, add oil. Once hot, add the blended spice base. Saute over low heat until oil splits. For more information on this, see my post on “how to properly cook dried chilli paste.”
Add in the tamarind juice, water, salt and sugar. Stir through, and let it come to a boil.
Once it boils, add okras, tomatoes and the curry leaves or vietnamese mint leaves.
Let it boil again, before adding in the fish. Cover pot and let it simmer until the fish cooks through. Done!

Notes

*Or Juice extracted from 1-2 tbsps of Tamarind Pulp and 100ml of warm water.

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