Asam pedas goes global

By MOHD BAKRI DARUS  

MALACCA: Asam pedas is onedish synonymous with Malaccaand it is so popular that it’s said“a trip to Melaka is incompletewithout savouring it”. 

Asam pedas literally meanshot and sour and is basically adish of fish or beef in lightgravy. 

The ingredients are driedchillies, shallots, garlic, belacan(prawn paste), ginger, galangal,fresh turmeric, lemon grass,daun kesum (Vietnamese mint),bunga kantan (torch gingerflower), tamarind juice, asamgelugor (Garcinia atroviridis)and daun limau purut (kaffirlime leaves). 

To make asam pedas, thedried chillies, shallots, garlic,ginger and belacan are groundtogether, the bunga kantanquartered and the lemon grassand galangal crushed.The blended ingredients aresautéed with the galangal andlemon grass in a pot until thepaste becomes aromatic. 

Fauziah with her asam pedaspackages in Malacca recently.

Tamarind juice is then added.Next, the beef or fish is addedwith the daun kesum, bungakantan, asam gelugor and limaupurut leaves and water. 

Simmer until the fish or beefis cooked and the dish is readyto be served. 

Seeing its popularity amongforeigners who have had a tastefor the dish, a family living nearJambatan Duyung here hastaken the initiative to commercialiseMalacca’s asam pedasand spread the tantalising tasteto the rest of the world. 

At the outset, Fauziah Karimwould only serve her asampedas to her family but now herrecipe is not only widespreadthroughout Malaysia, but hasreached the shores ofSingapore, Indonesia, HongKong, Ireland, England andSouth Africa. 

Syarikat Fauziah Karim SdnBhd, established in 2004, is currentlyselling three types ofasam pedas mixture in powderform for fish, beef and the regularasam pedas. 

Fauziah, 47, the company’smanaging director, said herinterest in preparing asampedas was first nurtured by hermother but soon led to a blossomingenterprise.” 

Initially, I would cook it formy children at home. Becausethey have always been business-minded, they convincedme to market my asam pedasas the taste is different fromothers,” said the mother offive. 

Consequently, Fauziah decidedto share her asam pedasrecipe not only among her familymembers and neighbours,but with everyone else as well. 

She said: “Malaysians may bemore familiar with curry dishesbut essentially these are notMalay dishes but of Indian origin.“Hence, I thought, why notintroduce asam pedas to theworld, especially since it is aMalay heritage. 

“If curry and tom yam readymadecondiments are doingwell in the market, then whynot the asam pedas.” 

Before establishing her company,Fauziah had been makingconfectionery such as dodol, asticky sweetmeat made fromglutinous rice flour, coconutmilk and palm sugar, to passtime and supplement the family’sincome. 

During the early stages,Fauziah only sold her confectionsto her neighbours and relatives.However, from 1981, themarket for her confections hadspread throughout Malacca andother states. 

Because of the good packagingand quality of her products,Syarikat Fauziah Karim’s AsamPedas Powder and DodolMelaka successfully penetratedthe market via well-knownsupermarkets and hypermarkets. 

Fauziah entrusted her eldestson, Halim Samsuddin, 27, agraduate of UniversitiTeknologi Mara (UiTM), withthe task of developing the marketfor her products both in thecountry and outside. 

Halim, the company’s executivedirector, said at least 5,000packets of asam pedas condimentswere distributed domesticallyeach month. 

While the main target marketis Malaysia and other Aseancountries, Halim said: “In July,we transported a quarter of acontainer of our asam pedaspowder and dodol to Dublin,Ireland.” 

“The demand from foreigncountries is a result of promotionalevents such as asampedas cooking demonstrationsthat the company organisesmonthly in the respectivecountries.” 

Consumers need not doubtwhether Fauziah’s asam pedasis a real deal, as her companyspent one year researching consumerpreferences and otherfactors before the productswere sold.” 

“We let the public sample ourproducts and asked them ifthey were satisfied. When theysaid our asam pedas fell short ofthe authentic taste, werevamped our recipe repeatedlyuntil we struck the perfectformula. 

“Sure, we might havealready had a recipe in handthat fit our preference, but wealso wanted to get feedbackfrom the public so that wecould improve on our asampedas to make it as tasty aspossible,” said Halim. 

He disclosed that the companywas contemplating buildinga bigger factory to accommodateincreasing demand for theproducts. 

In addition, it will open anagro-tourism restaurant thatemphasises asam pedas to promotethe dish to tourists. 

The restaurant will be builtwith the rumah Melaka designand will have an area wherepatrons can choose their freshfish for the asam pedas, as wellas a room to promote cottageindustry products, fresh fruitsand vegetables. 

“We have requested from theMalacca government a site at astrategic location for therestaurant. 

Hopefully, it will become amust-patronise restaurant forpeople who want to savourasam pedas,” said Halim.Besides this, patrons will getto take home a packet or two ofthe delicious asam pedas fromthe restaurant. — Bernama