Little fish, big taste
WHEN it comes to my favourite Malaysian food, I am as unoriginal as it gets – it’s nasi lemak I want for breakfast on weekends, and nasi lemak I want for late night suppers. And nasi lemak I want on flights home from anywhere.
The best are the ready-packed ones, topped with only sambal ikan bilis, hard-boiled egg and cucumber. I don’t need rendang or fried chicken with my nasi lemak, just the sambal ikan bilis. Maybe it’s not nasi lemak I like, maybe it’s ikan bilis.
Then again, what’s not to like about fried ikan bilis – it’s crunchy, salty and so tasty. When I visited my friend abroad recently, she asked me to buy her ikan bilis which we then fried in her kitchen one cold evening. The next morning, her Mat Salleh husband entered the kitchen and scrunched up his nose. But when her two young daughters walked in, they took a deep breath and said it was so aromatic. That’s how we know they are Malaysian kids for sure.
Of course we take ikan bilis for granted; it’s almost always a side dish. But all Malaysians eat fried ikan bilis in one form or another.
Malay cooks have the best repertoire of ikan bilis dishes. They fry the ikan bilis with onions and chillies to make a dry sambal. Some add tempeh, or potatoes or groundnuts and even long beans.
Another favourite is the sambal hitam, which is ikan bilis fried with onions, chillies and belimbing jeruk. That’s small starfruit cooked till they are black and dry, concentrating their sourness. These preserves are only available from the market in Raub, Pahang, but they make for a most appetising ikan bilis dish.
At Teochew porridge shops, there will always be a fried ikan bilis and groundnut dish – it’d have been fried with thick dark soya sauce and lots of sugar. In less health-concious bygone days, my aunt used to make jars of this ikan bilis- groundnut condiment, and we’d snack on them.
Fried ikan bilis snacks are of course also common in pubs for they go well with drinks.
At an economy rice stall last weekend, I came across this kerabu ikan bilis. It was the most crunchy ikan bilis with sour-spicy-sweet kerabu dressing, with loads of tomatoes and coriander. I took to it immediately, and added it to my list of fried ikan bilis recipes. That’s all the more reason I almost always have a jar of fried ikan bilis in my kitchen, and I too love the smell of fried ikan bilis (after the aroma of fried salted fish).
Kerabu Ikan Bilis
Serves 4 5-6 shallots, sliced thinly 5-6 bird’s eye chillies, sliced Juice from 8-10 kalamansi lime 2 tbsp sugar, or according to taste 150g of ikan bilis, fried till crispy A tomato, diced A small stalk of coriander
Make the dressing by combining the shallots, chillies, lime juice and sugar. Leave aside for about five minutes. Taste, and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
To make the kerabu, mix the fried ikan bilis, tomato, coriander and dressing. More recipes at www.hungryc. com