isithalal.food · Recipes
Ikan assam pedas
Abby Lee's ikan assam pedas, the classic Malaysian hot and sour fish stew: mackerel poached in a fried chilli and lemongrass rempah with tamarind, aubergine, tomato and okra, with a note on the shrimp paste for Hanafi readers.
Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.
Why Halal checks matter here
The fish is mackerel, which all schools accept, but the rempah has 6 g of belacan (shrimp paste), and many Hanafi authorities do not treat shrimp as fish.
Halal-critical ingredients
- Belacan (shrimp paste): Shrimp is permitted by many scholars, especially in Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali practice, but many Hanafi authorities do not treat shrimp as fish. Use it if your school accepts shrimp; otherwise leave it out of the rempah. See Shrimp.
Ingredients
Rempah (spice paste)
- 90 g red onion, roughly chopped
- 80 g lemongrass, green tops removed about halfway, roughly chopped
- 90 g red chillies, roughly chopped
- 6 g belacan (shrimp paste), if your school accepts shrimp
- 8 whole dried Kashmiri chillies
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
Stew
- 100 g vegetable oil
- 20 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 140 g aubergine, in chunks
- 500 ml water, or homemade fish stock
- 1 plum tomato, halved
- 50 g tamarind concentrate, ideally a Southeast Asian brand
- 120 g okra, left whole
- 30 g Vietnamese coriander, plus more to serve
- 2 whole mackerel (or 4 × 140 g fillets; skate wing or sea bass also work)
- to serve mint, to garnish
Method
- Make the rempah. Blend the rempah ingredients until smooth.
- Fry the rempah. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan over a medium heat and fry the rempah, stirring regularly, until the oil separates; this takes patience, around 20 minutes. Add the sugar and salt and let it caramelise for a couple of minutes.
- Simmer the vegetables. Add the aubergine, water or stock, tomato and tamarind and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the okra and Vietnamese coriander and simmer for 5 minutes more.
- Poach the fish. Turn the heat down to low so no bubbles break the surface, and gently poach the mackerel in the stew for 5 to 7 minutes, until the flesh flakes easily.
- Season and serve. Season with extra tamarind, salt and sugar if you like it more sour, salty or sweet. Serve with rice and extra mint and coriander.
Allergens
fish, crustaceans (shrimp paste)
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from Great British Chefs' 'Ikan assam pedas (hot and sour fish stew)' by Abby Lee, which calls it a classic Malaysian dish (serves 4; easy; 1 hour 15 minutes in total. Rempah: 90 g roughly chopped red onion, 80 g lemongrass, 90 g red chillies, 6 g belacan (shrimp paste), 8 dried Kashmiri chillies and ½ tsp turmeric, blended smooth; fried in 100 g vegetable oil for about 20 minutes until the oil separates, then 20 g sugar and 1 tsp salt caramelised a couple of minutes. Stew: 140 g aubergine chunks, 500 ml water or homemade fish stock, a halved plum tomato and 50 g tamarind concentrate simmered 15 minutes; 120 g whole okra and 30 g Vietnamese coriander simmered 5 minutes; 2 whole mackerel or 4 × 140 g fillets (or skate wing or sea bass) poached 5 to 7 minutes over a low heat; seasoned with more tamarind, salt and sugar to taste and served with rice, mint and coriander). We flagged the belacan by school; nothing else needed changing. The source gives only the total time; we split it from the method into 50 minutes of cooking and 25 of preparation. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Photograph from our ingredient library: whole grilled fish, not the finished dish from this recipe.