Disclaimer: Asam padeh tongkol comes with medium amount of reddish mixture liquid. Don't do what I have done, mine was too dry. I left the kitchen and almost forgot with my cooking. :)

A whole of skipjack tuna (Indonesian: ikan tongkol) had been sitting in the fridge for a day. First time, before thawing it, I was thinking to make balado tongkol, the easy peasy food that I used to make if I don't have lots time to cook. I came home from work and I changed my plan, but still didin't know what to do. I made fish with rica (the Manado style) spices and another style with sambal dabu-dabu before. Googling is one of ways to get an idea and ended up at Uni Dewi Anwar's blog, Kitchen Craft with Asam Padeh Tongkol.

With the richness of spice and bright red colour, asam padeh is one of typical Western Sumatran (Minangese) dishes that I relish. Thanks Uni. The recipe has the same taste as I had the last time while I was still at my parent's house.

Asam kandis (Garcinia xanthochymus) and turmeric leaves are types of spices in Minangese dish. Due to the lack of ingredients, I modified this recipe by using kokum or kokam (Garcinia indica) which is popular in Western India culinary. For some people who familiar with South India culinary such as Kerala, kodampuli (Garcinia gummi-gutta) can be used as substitution. Asam kandis, kokum/kokam, kodampuli Kokum or kokam Kokum are belong to the same family of Garcinia or mangoosteen family, so they can be used interchangeably.

Asam Padeh Tongkol
recipe by Dewi Anwar, modified by me

Ingredients
a whole skipjack tuna (about 500 g) ==> this had been scaled
3 tbsp squeezed calamansi juice*original recipe used lime juice
olive oil for stir frying
water

Spices (non-grinding)
3 pieces kokam/kokum *original recipe used asam kandis
2 bilimbi (Indonesian: belimbing sayur) *original recipe didn't add ones
5 cm long galangal, bruised
2 lemongrasses, take the white parts and bruised
3 Indonesian bay (salam) leaves
3 kaffir lime leaves, teared
1 turmeric leaf, teared ==> can be substituted for curry leaves (Indonesian: daun salam koja or daun kari)
2 cardamom

Spices grind into a paste:
300 g ground red chili peppers ==> can be substituted for sambal ulek
8 shallots
5 cloves garlic
5 cm long ginger
2 candlenuts
salt as desired


Directions:
1. Clean the stomach cavity, remove the gills and surrounding tissue. Cut into pieces. Drizzle calamnsi over and set aside.

2. In a medium-hight heat, stir fry non-grinding ingredients and paste spices until fragrant. Add water and cool until boiling and the liquid thicken.

3. Add skipjack tuna, reduce the heat to low and cook until fish done and the liquid has evaporated. Taste to perfection and remove from heat.

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Lontong sayur was one of the breakfast routine dishes when I lived in Bogor. A kind of breakfast that we can get from street food vendors with less price where you can add a protein choice such as boiled egg, beef or chicken. Due to the geographic area where I live now, it is impossible to get lontong sayur from street food vendors. Hence, it took me a while to make it.

In Indonesia, most vegetables that people use for lontong sayur are chayote, green long bean, green bean, young jackfruit, green pepaya, bamboo shoot and etc. In this recipe, I enhanced with bamboo shoot strips, petai (stink beans), shrimps, pieces of tempe and tofu.

Lontong is an Indonesian style of rice cake with log form. It is usually served at room temperature as an accompaniment sauce or curry-based dishes such as sate, gado-gado, opor ayam (braised chicken in coconut milk) or cooked vegetables in coconut milk. It very popular carbohydrate source for breakfast and usually accompany with cooked vegetables/meat in coconut milk. Do not be confused with ketupat. Though, it is made from rice but ketupat has a different form and wrapping materials. While lontong is wrapped in banana leaves, ketupat is wrapped in woven palm leaf pouches.

Traditionally, lontong is made by partly cooking or soaking raw rice, draining and packing tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf packaging is fastened with bamboo picks and cooked in boiling water about 90 minutes or so. Once, lontong is cooled and solid, you can cut lontong into bite-sized pieces.

Ingredients:
500 g bamboo shoot strips
10 petai, sliced
250 g shrimps, peeled
1 tofus, cut each into 20 smaller pieces
1 block tempe, cut into small bite-sized pieces
2 lemongrass, bruised
3 cm galangal, bruised
2 Indonesian bay leaves
1 tsp ground dried shrimp (Indonesian: ebi)
2 pkgs cream coconut powder
1.5 L homemade shrimp stock*
lontongs, cut into bite-sized pieces
oil to stir fry

Spices to grind into a paste
6 shallots
3 cloves garlics
3 red chillies
3 candlenuts (Indonesian: kemiri)
1 tsp dried shrimp paste (Indonesian: terasi, Malay: belachan), roasted

Directions:
Preparation
*Homemade shrimp stock can be made ahead from shrimp heads and skins
1. In a pot, combine water, 1 tbsp sugar and bamboo shoots, cook until boiling, and drain.
2. Deep fry or bake tempe and tofu until done.
3. Combine shrimp stock and 1 package of coconut cream powder; stir occasionally. Bring to a boil and set aside.

Cooking
1. Stir fry spices paste/ground ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, add salam leaves, galangals, and lemongrasses, cook for another 1 minutes until fragrant.

2. Add stink beans, bamboo shoot, tempe, tofu and another package of coconut cream powder, stir until mixed.

3. Add shrimp stock and shrimp, stir and boil for another 5-10 minutes or until the shrimps are done.

4. Serve with lontong, sambal and kerupuks (any kind of kerupuks, either tapioca or shrimp ones).

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