As 'appetizers', we will talk about pempek from Palembang, South Sumatra. It can be found in almost every street of town.
Pempek or mpek-mpek / empek-empek as the locals call it, is made of fish and tapioca.
It is served with cuko, a dark rich sauce made from brown sugar, chili pepper, garlic, vinegar and salt to boiling water. It can also be eaten with yellow noodles.
Simply, it is fish paste with sweet and sour sauce.
Pempek comes in a lot of varieties. The most famous is called Pempek Kapal Selam.
The main dinstinction that Pempek Kapal Selam has is it has a chicken egg wrapped within the dough and then deep-fried.
Stories have it that pempek was created by an old Chinese man who resided at the banks of Musi river in Palembang since 16th century.
During that time, fish was caught in abundance and the only way to preserve the fish was either fried or grilled it. The Apek (chinese slang for old man) tried to find another alternative to cook the fish and eventually he mixed tapioca flour into the fish meat and deep-fried it. Later on he peddled around the village to sell this new snack and the villagers dubbed the old man "Pek..Apek" and hence the name pempek.
Of course it is not necessary to fly all the way to Palembang to eat pempek (though we recommend you do so for the originality of it haha)
Here and here are some pempek recipes that you can try at home.
Enjoy and have a nice day!
Cheers!
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