Mouth-watering: Zainab squeezing the asam gelugur leaves to extract its flavour that will be infused with the freshly prepared fish for the dish. — Bernama
KUALA LIPIS: Housewife Zainab Idris is willing to slave over the stove, painstakingly layering the fish and herbs into a pot for a rare traditional dish that will take up to eight hours to cook.
At her home at Kampung Melayu Jerkoh here recently, she demonstrated to Bernama the steps of making gulai kering daun asam gelugur.
She first placed finely chopped daun asam gelugur (Garcinia atroviridis leaves) at the bottom of a pot, before setting ikan selayang (Japanese scad) on top of the leaves.
She then repeated the process layer by layer until all 4kg of the fish was used up before topping more of the leaves in the pot.
The 58-year-old then proceeded to set the pot, which was filled with the leaves, fish, coconut milk and other condiments over a small fire and waits patiently for the gravy to dry about eight hours later.
“This is a traditional food and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find those who can cook it,” she said.
Zainab said it was a special dish among the residents of the neighbouring villages including Kampung Ulu Atok and Kampung Jenud.
On the best types of fish that can be used to make the dish, Zainab said besides ikan selayang, they would normally use ikan pelaling (Indian mackerel) and tenggiri (Spanish mackerel) to be combined with coconut milk, cili padi (bird’s eye chilli), fresh turmeric and salt.
Zainab said she learned about the recipe from her mother and mother-in-law who told her to mix the leaves with salt water to ensure that the sour taste of the leaves would not overpower the dish.
She said the dish is best eaten with white rice, glutinous rice, ketupat or lemang, adding that it was normally served during festivities and special occasions such as wedding receptions and events attended by “important people”.
