Mpek Mpek Kapal Selam

One of  our family favourite food :). My entry for Indonesian Food Party arranged by Tata Bonita Rais and Monica.

Pempek, mpek-mpek or empek-empek is a savoury fishcake delicacy from Palembang,Indonesia, made of fish and tapioca. Pempek is served with yellow noodles or rice vermicelly and a dark, rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuka or kuah cuko also ebi (ground dried shrimp) powder. Kuah cuko is produced by adding palm sugar, chili pepper, garlic, vinegar, and salt to boiling water.

Pempek dough is made from a mixture of boneless ground fish meat, most commonly tenggiri (wahoo), with water, salt and tapioca. Ikan gabus (snakehead) and Mackerel  are  also commonly made as pempek.  According to tradition, the best tasting pempek are made of belida orbelido (Chitala lopis), but due to its rarity and superior taste, pempek made from this fish are usually more expensive. (Source: Wikipedia)

Recipe



Dough I:
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 tablespoons cooking oil
3 cloves of garlic, grinded
1 teaspoon salt
150 ml water
combine flour, garlic paste, salt and water in a small pan. Cook until thicken. Remove from the heat then stir  oil into the pan. Keep it in refrigerator.

Dough II:
800 fish paste ( ikan belida), or Pangasius,  or you can mix it with mackerel or spanish mackerel fish.
1 egg white (only) or you can skip this
400 g tapioca flour
8-10 eggs
salt

In a bowl, combine dough I and dough II, knead until  mix well, add a little bit tapioca flour if necessary.
divide the dough into 10 pieces, fill inside the dough with egg. Boil Mpek Mpek in water. Fry Mpek Mpek in deep hot cooking oil before served with Cuko, noodle, cucumber. 

Cuko (sauce) Recipe:
1 litre water
5 cloves garlic
300 g palm sugar + 200 g sugar
2-3 bird´s eye chillies
2 tbsp salted soya sauce
2 tbsp vinegar (optional)
100 g tamarind
1 tbsp dried shrimp

in a sauce pan, cook all ingredients for cuko.

See another variation Mpek Mpek (Mpek Mpek Lenjer)