Asam Pedas Ikan Pari – Spicy & Sour Stingray
Spicy, sour, tantalizing and super fragrant – this Asam Pedas Ikan Pari takes a lot of effort (and a slightly longer cooking time, due to the homemade paste), but is worth it. Roughly translated to “Spicy and Sour Stingray”, it’s a curry-esque dish that is very popular in Malaysia. Often served in Malay and Nyonya restaurants, this fragrant and appetizing curry often features fish or seafood.
For this recipe, I used fresh stingray, which is meaty and very tasty. It’s perfect for rich, lightly spicy and sour gravy. Toss in some non-leafy vegetables, and you have a complete meal with fluffy white rice.
Serves 6 to 8 adults.
Ingredients
Stingray – I recommend using the freshest stingray you can find. As they tend to shrink slightly once cooked, try getting large to medium-sized ones. If stingrays are not available, they can be substituted with steak-cut spanish mackerels as well. I have also shared my tips on choosing and cleaning stingrays if you are not familiar with this fish.
Salt to marinate and season the gravy.
The vegetables – Tomatoes, Four Angled Beans and Okras. I used non-leafy vegetables as they do not release as much liquid as leafy ones. This enables us to enjoy a rich, concentrated asam pedas gravy. Other vegetables that can be added are brinjals and long beans.
Vietnamese Basil Leaves is a mandatory ingredient for its unique fragrance and taste. Without it, the asam pedas would be too similar to a normal curry.
The herbs to make the paste – young galangal, lemongrass, torch ginger flower, red onions, turmeric, red chillies, garlic and shallots. Each of them adds a distinctive fragrance, freshness and taste to the asam pedas paste, making it a rich and delicious gravy. You can also use store-bought paste, just be sure to adjust the salt and tamarind water to taste.
Chilli paste – for added colour and spiciness.
Palm Sugar – adds a light smokey fragrance and balances the spiciness of the gravy, so it is not too strong.
Shrimp paste – for extra umami-ness and a source of saltiness.
Cooking oil, which is used to cook the paste.
Concentrated Tamarind Water – gives the Asam Pedas Ikan Pari a sour kick, making it both tantalizing and appetising. The sourness also helps to mask the fishiness of the stingray, if any.
Water – to make it easier for the blender to blend all the herbs, combine both the tamarind water and paste together, and cook the stingray by boiling. Adding water also makes it easier to control the desired consistency of the gravy,
Steps
Here are the brief steps to make Asam Pedas Ikan Pari (Spicy & Sour Stringray):
- Marinate the stingray with salt and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Cut the tomatoes, four angles beans, and okra and pluck the Vietnamese Basil Leaves.
- Chop the herbs to blend into smaller pieces.
- Blend the herbs, chilli paste, shrimp paste and water into a paste for 1 minute.
- Fry the paste and palm sugar with some oil until slightly dry and fragrant.
- Add the cut lemongrass, onions and Torch Ginger flower for the curry and fry until very dry.
- Add tamarind water and water to the curry. Stir until combined and let it boil.
- Taste and adjust. Increase the heat to high.
- Add the stingray, okra, four angled beans, tomatoes and 1/2 of the Vietnamese Basil Leaves. Boil for 8 minutes.
- Submerge the rest of the Vietnamese Basil Leaves and Torch Ginger Flower.
- Dish it out.
- Serve with white rice.
Tips
- Marinating the stingray with salt for 20-30 minutes in the fridge slows the deterioration rate, and allows the salt to be absorbed into the flesh.
- Pluck the matured Vietnamese Basil leaves and the young stems with leaves.
- Marinating the stingray with salt for 20-30 minutes in the fridge slows the deterioration rate, and allows the salt to be absorbed into the flesh.
- Pluck the matured Vietnamese Basil leaves and the young stems with leaves.
- For the lemongrass used to cook with the paste, smash it lightly for a stronger fragrance and citrusy flavour.
- Lightly break the turmeric with the skin on to prevent it from staining the chopping board.
- Scrape all the asam pedas paste stuck to the blender when pouring it into the pan.
- Stir the asam pedas paste continuously to reduce splattering and prevent burning at the bottom of the pan.
- This is the recipe for concentrated Tamarind Water.
- Adjust the gravy based on the saltiness of the shrimp paste – as mine was not very salty, I added more salt to the gravy.
- The heat is increased to high to quickly cook the stingray in boiling asam pedas gravy. This reduces the released fishiness from the stingray.
- Once the stingray is submerged into the gravy, avoid stirring until they are completely cooked. This also reduces the fishiness from being released into the gravy.
- Allow the asam pedas gravy to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes for the flavours to mature and combine well before serving.
- Make sure to watch the full video to see how I made it exactly!
Storage Instructions
Once fully cooled, this Asam Pedas Ikan Pari can be kept refrigerated for 2-3 days, to be reheated until the gravy is boiling to consume. In fact, as the paste is homemade, the longer it is kept and matured, the tastier and more flavourful it will become.
While I do not recommend freezing the stingrays and vegetables as-is, the asam pedas gravy can be kept frozen for 1-2 weeks. If you happen to have leftover gravy, it can be re-used to make another batch of asam pedas with fresh fish and vegetables too! This technique can be used for any leftover fish curry gravy.
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Asam Pedas Ikan Pari – Spicy & Sour Stingray Curry
Equipment
- Sharp Kitchen Knife
- Chopping Board
- Mixing Bowl
- Blender/ Food Processor
- Stainless Steel Pan
- Turner
Ingredients
Marination
- 950 g stingray fish, cut and cleaned
- 1/2 tbsp salt
Vegetables
- 120 g tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 70 g four angled beans, cut into 1.5-2 inches
- 50 g Vietnamese Basil, "Daun Kesom", leaves plucked and stems discarded
- 170 g okra, lady's fingers, top removed
Blend into a Paste
- 15 g galangal, young, chopped roughly
- 1 stalk lemongrass, chopped roughly
- 1/2 torch ginger flower, chopped roughly
- 1 red onion, small, chopped roughly
- 80 g red chilli
- 1 thumb-sized turmeric, cut roughly with skin on
- 35 g garlic, peeled & washed
- 110 g shallots, peeled & washed
- 100 g chilli paste
- 20 g shrimp paste, belacan, less salty type
- 200 ml water
Cook with the Paste
- 1 stalk lemongrass, cut into half (3 inches), smashed lightly
- 1/2 torch ginger flower, cut into quarters vertically
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 50 ml cooking oil, unscented
- 40 g palm sugar, cut to cubes
- 300 ml tamarind water, concentrated
- 600 ml water
- 1/4 tbsp salt, optional, to taste
Instructions
- Prepare all the ingredients.
- Marinate the stingray with salt, rubbing them to evenly distribute the salt evenly. Cover with cling wrap, or transfer to an air tight container and let them rest in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes.
- Cut the tomatoes into wedges. Remove the tips from the four angled beans, and cut them into 1.5-2 inches pieces. Remove the stalks and heads of the okra. Pluck the Vietnamese basil leaves and set them all aside.
- Chop the ingredients for blending into small pieces: galangal, lemongrass, 1/2 the torch ginger flower, red onion, red chilli and turmeric. Place them all into the blender.
- Add the garlic, shallots, chilli paste, shrimp paste (belacan) and 200ml of water to the blender. Blend all the ingredients for about 1 minute, or until a rough asam pedas paste is formed.
- Heat the cooking oil in a stainless steel pan over medium heat. Add the asam pedas paste while the oil is still cool, and stir for about 30 seconds, or until just combined.
- Add the palm sugar and stir for 10 minutes, or until the sugar has fully melted.
- Add the cut lemongrass, onions, and torch ginger flower. Stir continuously for 5 minutes, or until the paste clumps together and sticks lightly to the spatula.
- Add the concentrated tamarind water and 600ml of water to the paste, and stir until well-combined. Cover the pan and let it cook for 5 minutes, or until it comes to a rolling boil.
- Remove the stingray from the fridge and discard the cling wrap.
- After 5 minutes, stir the gravy lightly. Taste and adjust. I added 1/4 tbsp of salt as my shrimp paste was not very salty.
- Increase the heat to high, and wait a little until the gravy is bubbling vigorously.
- Add the stingray one-by-one, being careful not to move the ones already submerged in the pan. Distribute the okra, four angled beans, tomatoes and 1/2 of the Vietnamese Basil leaves on top of the gravy. Cover the pan and let it boil for 8 minutes.
- Open the cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir the gravy a little before tasting to adjust.
- Add some cut torch ginger flower and the rest of the Vietnamese Basil Leaves. Pour the gravy over them and switch off the heat.
- Cover the pan and let the Asam Pedas Ikan Pari rest for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- Dish it out and serve with fluffy white rice.
Video
Notes
- Marinating the stingray with salt for 20-30 minutes in the fridge slows the deterioration rate, and allows the salt to be absorbed into the flesh.
- Pluck the matured Vietnamese Basil leaves and the young stems with leaves.
- Marinating the stingray with salt for 20-30 minutes in the fridge slows the deterioration rate, and allows the salt to be absorbed into the flesh.
- Pluck the matured Vietnamese Basil leaves and the young stems with leaves.
- For the lemongrass used to cook with the paste, smash it lightly for a stronger fragrance and citrusy flavour.
- Lightly break the turmeric with the skin on to prevent it from staining the chopping board.
- Scrape all the asam pedas paste stuck to the blender when pouring it into the pan.
- Stir the asam pedas paste continuously to reduce splattering and to prevent burning at the bottom of the pan.
- Adjust the gravy based on the saltiness of the shrimp paste – as mine was not very salty, I added more salt to the gravy.
- The heat is increased to high to quickly cook the stingray in boiling asam pedas gravy. This reduces the released fishiness from the stingray.
- Once the stingray is submerged into the gravy, avoid stirring until they are completely cooked. This also reduces the fishiness from being released into the gravy.
- Allow the asam pedas gravy to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes for the flavours to mature and combine well before serving.
- This Asam Pedas Ikan Pari can be refrigerated for 2 – 3 days.
- Once the stingray and vegetables have finished, the gravy can be used to cook another batch of fish and vegetables. Leftover gravy can also be kept frozen for 1-2 weeks.
- Make sure to watch the full video to see how I made it exactly!