Sambal Black Pomfret

I remember that whenever my mum were to whip up this dish, she'll need to cook extra rice.  Why?  Because all my siblings would definitely want more and more rice...... to whack up this sambal fish.

Another way of cooking this dish is to slit open the fish belly, clean it and stuff the sambal ingredients inside, then fry the fish.  Instead of black pomfret, you can use hardtail mackerel (ikan cincaru) for this purpose.

the sambal for this black pomfret will also go well with stingray or other types of fish fillet.  I didn't blend the ingredients to make them fine because I love to bite into the moist sambal ..... belachan, shallots and all!  Mmm......

Recipe for Sambal Black Pomfret

Ingredients

330 gm Black Pomfret, seasoned with a bit of salt

150 gm Shallots

4 pips Garlic

10 gm Tumeric or fresh Kunyit

20 gm Belachan/Shrimp paste

2 Lemon Grass

2 fresh red chillies

1/2  Tsp Salt

1/2  Tsp Brown Sugar

Oil for frying

Garnishing

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

Preparation

Pound together the shallots, garlic, turmeric,

belachan, red chillies and lemon grass, set aside

Pan fry the black pomfret with 2 Tbsp oil,

not too crispy, cooked, and slightly brown,

dish out and set aside

With the remaining oil, fry all the pounded ingredients

till aromatic, adding in the salt and sugar.

You may need to add more oil if the sambal

is too dry, do so sparingly

The sambal is ready when it has shrunk

to half the amount prior to frying

Dish out the sambal and place on top of the fried fish

Garnish with the sliced cucumber

Serve