Ingredients:
300 g coarse rice vermicelli
100 g wolf herring (Ikan Parang) or mackerel
250 ml water
2 Tbsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp salt
½ tsp salt
25 g polygonum (daun kesom)
Ingredients for spice paste:
4 pips garlic
10 shallots
5 fresh red chillies
5 dried chillies
2 stalks lemon grass (serai)
1 tsp tumeric powder
1 Tbsp shrimp paste (belacan)
Garnishing Ingredients:
1 fresh red chilli
1 fresh green chilli
1 onion
1 cucumber
½ pineapple
½ can pickled leeks
25 g mint leaves
1 Tbsp prawn paste (hae ko) Preparation of Ingredients:
Nip polygonum, leaf by leaf. Discard centre stalk, wash and drain.
Nip mint leaf by leaf. Discard stalk, wash and drain.
Finely shred the cucumber and onion.
Remove pineapple skin, eyes and core. Cut into 6 pieces lengthwise and slice into little pieces.
Finely slice the chillies and pickled leeks.
Grind the spice ingredients to form a smooth paste.
Method:
Boil rice vermicelli for 10 minutes. Rinse in cold water, drain and set aside.
In a pot, boil 500 ml of water with polygonum.
Add 250 ml of water to tamarind pulp to extract tamarind juice. Strain and discard the seeds. Pour tamarind juice into the pot of boiling water.
Add fish. When cooked, remove and leave to cool. Allow fish stock to simmer. With wet hands, pick out the fish bones. Flake fish meat for later use.
Take 50 ml of fish stock and reheat in a separate saucepan. When boiling, add spice paste and stir well. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring at all times. Pour mixture back into the main pot.
Discard polygonum from fish stock. Add in fish meat and turn off fire as soon as mixture begins to boil. Add sugar to taste.
Place required amount of vermicelli in a bowl. Garnish with pineapple pieces, shredded cucumber and onion, sliced chillies and pickled leeks, mint leaves and prawn paste to taste. Pour 2 ladlefuls of gravy and fish meat over it.