Otak-otak is one of dishes of Malaysia Food Heritage. It is a fish cake dish that is common in Malaysia as well as Singapore and Indonesia. Otak-otak is made by mixing fish paste with a mixture of spices. The type of fish used to make otak-otak might vary. Mackerel fish is commonly used in Malaysia, while ikan tenggiri (wahoo) is popular ingredient in Indonesia. The ground fish and starch is seasoned with spices which usually includes garlic, shallot, coconut milk, pepper, salt and sugar. There are different recipes of otak-otak originating from different regions. In Malaysia, otak-otak is made from ground fish meat mixed with some spices such as chili, turmeric, and curry powder to add taste. The bones of fishes are first removed as only the fish meat is used, then blended using machine to make it softer. Chilis, spices, salt, soy sauce and a little bit of flour are then added to the fish meat and are mixed well. Otak-otak is normally being wrapped inside the attap leaves and clipped using stapler or toothpick at both ends before being grilled or roasted on the stove.
To know how otak-otak is cooked nowadays, I have interviewed Miss Eliane for her steamed otak-otak recipe at Saturday, November 16, 2014. She is a lady who loves to cook traditional food during her leisure time. The whole process of preparing this dish is taking around 2 hours.
Steamed Otak-otak Recipe from Miss Eliane
Banana Leaf
Custard Ingredients
250g mackerel fish2 eggs
250g prawns
2 kaffir lime leaves, julienned
2 turmeric leaves, julienned
Spice Paste Ingredients
100g shallots peeled
20g garlics
2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, ends removed and leaves trimmed, sliced (about 40g)
1-inch piece of galangal, peeled and cubed (about 15g)
2-inch piece of fresh turmeric, peeled and cubed (about 20g)
4 candlenuts
20g belachan
250ml thick coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Methods:
1) Debone mackerel fish and cut into few blocks.
2) Put the fish blocks and 2 eggs into food processor and blend them into smooth custard.
4) Place the galangal, turmeric, lemongrass, candlenuts, garlics, shallots and belacan in a food processor and grind the ingredients until you get a thick, smooth paste.
5) Add thick coconut milk into a heated pan and add the spice paste. Stir them until they are well-mixed. Add sugar and salt and stir them continuosly until thick paste is formed.
6) Mix the custard and the spice paste well until each piece of fish is well-coated with the paste.
9) Using a toothpick, weave it through the banana leaf at the top until tightly secured. Repeat until all fish paste has been prepared.
10) Put the otak-otak into a wok and steam them for about 15 to 20 minutes.
11) Serve hot with warm rice or bread.
Differences between Actual Recipe and Online Recipe
After interviewed Miss Eliane, I found that there are some differences between actual recipe and online recipe.The first difference of both recipes is the budget. Budget for online recipe is lower compare to actual recipe. This is because the cost of ingredients of actual recipe is higher than online recipe since it uses more ingredients to do this dish. The custard of actual recipe is not only includes fish meat, but also includes prawns; some sliced turmeric leaves and sliced lime leaves. However, online recipe uses ground fish meat only. From the type of ingredients used for both recipes, obviously actual recipe is having higher budget than online recipe.
Apart from this, the availability of ingredients for both recipes is different. The availability of attap leaves is lower than banana leaves. To wrap the fish paste, online recipe is using attap leaves but actual recipe is using banana leaves. Malaysia is growing banana trees and thus, the availability of banana leaves is high. However, attap leaves are not growing in Malaysia and they need to be imported from foreign country. Thus, it is harder to get attap leaves in Malaysia than banana leaves.
Another difference between both recipes is the skill level of preparing this dish. Actual recipe requires higher skill of cutting while online skill requires higher skill of cooking. Since actual recipe is using more types of ingredients than online recipe, it requires higher skill of cutting in order to shorten the time of preparing ingredients. However, actual recipe doesn’t require higher skill of cooking since it is using steam method to cook this dish. Online recipe is using grilling method to cook and higher skill of cooking is required to prevent otak-otak overcooked or burnt.
Lastly, one of the differences between actual recipe and online recipe is time constraints. Since the online recipe is simple and easy to prepare, it takes a shorter time to prepare than actual recipe. Actual recipe consumes longer time to cook since it is using many ingredients.
Since there are few differences between actual recipe and online recipe, these do change this food heritage in positive and negative way. The taste of otak-otak is enhanced due to the changes in ingredients used. Besides, the way in cooking this dish increases and this is easier for households to cook in home since it is using steam method instead of grilling on the stove. However, preparing actual recipe is consuming more time and not suitable for people who are busy. Higher skill of cutting in preparing actual recipe is required too for the purpose of saving time. Due to this reason, actual recipe is not so suitable for cooking beginners. If they wish to cook otak-otak by using actual recipe, they will consume longer time in cutting works.
