Last Sunday I decided to put into action what I meant to do for a long time. Of course it made good sense to act on it because my best friend, Rosie Chong, came over last weekend from K.K. with a bundle of amazingly fresh fish straight from a trawler! So I chose 4 white promfrets and work on remembering as much as I can of my late mum's recipe.
6 red onions (shallots),4 cloves garlic, 6 large red chillies, 6 red dried chillies (soak in warm water and clean), 5 chillie Bangladesh (if you have chillie (rice)padi is best),2 inches of ginger,1/2 cm belacan (prawn paste)2 cubes chicken stock, 1 tbspn chillie powder,1 sachet saffron and 3 x 3 inch stalks lemon grass. You may blend,process,pound or giling everything into a paste.
Meanwhile, soak 4 finger size tamarind paste in 1 cup lukewarm water, squeeze tamarind in water, strain and put aside on standby.
Use enough olive oil, fry 2 x 3inch broken stalks lemon grass till aroma fills kitchen, bring fire to low then fry the paste.
When the paste is done,(you know when it's done when you start to feel hungry or when the folks watching DVD visits you in the kitchen)pour in tamarind juice, gently place fish in pot, close with lid and turn fire high. It should be done in 8 to 10 minutes or when fish eyes pop.
You may also deep fry some brinjals and ocra, spread on serving plate, when ready to serve, place fish on vegetables and pour over with sauce.
This is a very delicious recipe and I can tell you frankly it is no where near any assam pedas you've tried before and I think you can ask Ben about that. If you want to substitute fish with meat, say 2 kilos of oxtail, simply triple ingredients. Make sure however that you should crush about 4 cloves of garlic and fry oxtail till 3/4 cook and brown.
We were very hungry so we didn't get to take any photos.
