Indonesia – Eungkot Keumamah

by Fauzan Anandika

Indonesia, the biggest country in Southeast Asia were known for its spice for centuries. The European Kingdom like Spain and the Portuguese, make a long journey to find this hidden treasure. Enrich with various spices and herb makes Indonesian food have an authentic taste that cannot be found anywhere else. Those spice spread from east to the west of the country.

Aceh, the Easternmost province in Indonesia, has a unique culinary history. Influenced by Hinduism that brought by the Indian trader, fused the local. Aceh food tastes similar to Indian food. This kind of taste is easy to create because of the availability of local ingredients. It makes a sour and spicy taste to their food. Aceh has various types of food, start from curry, soup, and sautéed. They use beef, chicken, and fish as their protein choice. But don’t expect to eat pork in Aceh because they use Islamic sharia as their social life guidance. For those who love to eat fish, Eungkot Keumamah is the best choice.

Eungkot Keumamah is a dish that has become a local meal for a long time ago. The kingdom soldier consumes Eungkot Keumamah during the war with the colonial army. The food is easy to bring as a food stock and can last for several weeks without Eungkot Keumamah can be kept for a long time without being stale. The uniqueness of this dish is it becomes tastier when you reheat it every day.

To cook Eungkot Keumamah, the local people use sun-dried fish. They use mackerel, tuna, or cob fish. The first step to cook Eungkot Keumamah is to prepare the keumamah (dried fish). But you can use other ready to cook dried fish. With the recipe below, you can cook Eungkot Keumamah most simple way. So what are you waiting for? Grab your cookware and make some Eungkot Keumamah.

Keumamah ingredient

• 12 pieces whole cob fish
• 3 piece of lime
• Salt
• 1 liter of water
• 10 pieces of tree sorrel leaves

Keumamah preparation

1. Wash clean cob fish.
2. Pour the fish with lime juice.
3. Rub with salt and add tree sorrel.
4. Boil with water until the water dried.
5. Dry the fish under the sun for two days.
6. Keumamah fish is ready to use.

Eungkot Keumamah ingredient

• 12 piece of keumamah fish
• 2 sheet of curry leaves
• 2 sheet of bay leaves
• 4 pieces of green chili, sliced
• 4 pieces of shallot, sliced
• Salt
• 4 pieces of lime
• 100 ml of instant coconut milk

Ground spice

• 13 piece of tamarind
• 5 pieces of red chili
• 3 piece of shallot
• 2 clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 5 pieces of bird eyes chili

How to cook

1. Rub keumamah fish with salt and lime.
2. Boil the fish in 200 ml of water.
3. Add one sheet of curry leaves and two sheets of bay leaves.
4. Cook for 10 minutes.
5. Shred the fish and place it on a plate.
6. Stir fry shallot and curry leave until fragrant.
7. Add grounded spice and 100 ml of water.
8. Add coconut milk, stir until mixed.
9. Add green chili, wait until fragrant.
10. Add the shredded fish and finely mix in the curry.
11. Wait until the spice soaks into the fish and a little bit dry.
12. Adjust the taste with salt.
13. Eungkot Keumamah is ready to be served with a side of warm rice.