South East Asia Well deserves its fame as probably the best place on earth to travel for those who love hot food.

Among the best Uses of chili pepper I have been blessed to eat needs to be an amazing Malaysian food referred to as’Asam Pedas.’

This Is Essential Eat food in Malaysia, and I recommend you to try it in Melaka — frankly, I think that its worth a visit here just to eat this food.

A wonderfully simple title, both words meaning only’sour,’ and’spicy.’

The sourness Traditionally stems from sour tamarind (boiled until tender, then squeezed to earn juice), and hot, needless to say, the from use of fresh chili peppers.

Two easy Ingredients as a base for an entire world of taste possibilities.

The version of Asam Pedas we’d today, in English I would call something like a sour curry soup soup.

The most common Way I notice locals prefer to have this food really is a plate of white rice, the soup containing some kind of saltwater fish, and a side dish of fresh herbs using a spoonful of chili dip (sambal belecan, very similar to Thai nam prik kapi)

In Malaysia this Recipe appears in cities along the South East coastal area (like Melaka), and among the greatest restaurants to possess Asam Pedas is directly near Melaka’s downtown area.

The restaurant’s Title is’Asam Pedas Pak Man.’

Walk over to the Big and colorful menu, and try to control yourself from ordering over a couple of things (only for now, you can always order more).

The foods might Simply take a few minutes to prepareyourself, as this is not a pre-made meal. But if you want to consume both today and after, the fried roti section next to the candy table is also rather famous in this restaurant as well (and people come instantly, but more about this later).

Choose your fish, A number of them have to be weighed first, and then inform the counter the number of plates of rice you would love to consume.

Many restaurants In Malaysia offer rice as a self explanatory thing, but at Asam Pedas Pak Man they’ll serve rice to you at your table.

The rice generally Comes as you see from the photo above, with a salted egg along with a simple and crispy sidekick (usually cucumber).

Attempt with Tuna (‘Ikan Tongol’)

Order here’s a type of tuna (I believe that it is skipjack tuna), a fish commonly eaten in Malaysia and around South East Asia.

You can order a Couple dozen distinct meat options to go with Asam Pedas, however as neighborhood Malay often get this curry with fish, we all had to try it with fish too.

This tuna is one That will give you a fantastic foundation of comparison of tastes as you start the meal. It’s a firm meat, one which it is simple to hold with a few fingers, and also stable enough to sweep through a curry sauce like that (‘scoop’), dipping a maximum amount of flavor.

Grab a chunk from The back region, and revel in your first taste of the Asam Pedas sour and hot, curry chili soup.

Baramundi (‘Ikan Siakap)

The Precise origins Of those Asam Pedas are uncertain, but its clearly a dish that perfectly accepts whatever ingredients a locale has readily available.

Only the Type of Recipe which any traveling fisherman would fall in love with, and you can clearly see that in how Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, have their own variations of sour hot soup.

Continue reading your Own explorations of those flavorful depths of Asam Pedas with one of the biggest fish in the menu — a baramundi — a saltwater fish. You can see from the cross-section the massive size of the fish’s body.

By the way, the Soup always cooks with vegetables, and the one from the photo is like those most commonly cooking around Malaysia.

The okra is Cooked for so long that it doesn’t actually have any of its own flavor left, but it certainly adds its gooey sap into the soup, giving it much more body and thickness of texture than if the soup has been made using just a chili paste.

Before moving on To another bowl of Asam Pedas (yes, it is so delicious that even two bowls will not be enough), yet another food that you have to attempt here is that this special sambal with blossoms.

Most restaurants I see in Malaysia have sambal prepared on a side table, self-service and free with any meal.

At Asam Pedas Pakman however , they are actually taking some initiative to spend a great deal more time in preparing their sambal (you have to order this by the menu, but it’s so worth the 3RM price).

I Believe I have Yet to find a dipping sauce which was really earthy and sour, so fruity yet barely sweet, and also overall only so well-received by every tastebud in my own tongue.

It was mushy like A roast tomato, however I think the majority of its mass is pure chili pepper — no tomato at all. There’s also a somewhat sweet and ultra-sour peel texture, possibly a fleshy mash of a baby tamarind, or the peel of a water olive.

Describing the Amount of flavor in this, I can only think about the mega umami-ness of SomTam in Thailand, maybe a fruit’salad’ at Central Laos, along with the supreme bursting sourness of an Achar pickle from South India.

This sambal is Incredible, its certainly on my list of’foods so great you would risk smuggling them home.’

For a totally Different feel, but still very much a fish, try a final bowl of Asam Pedas with a section of beef from a stingray.

Melaka is Well-known for using stingray in their own cuisine, and it usually comes from lovely layerings of some type of red curry sauce.

Whether they are Grilling stingray, wrapping it in a banana leaf, marinating it, or just frying first and then bathing it into curry later, stingray is just another fish just perfectly matched, attractively cared for, by the spicy and sour flavors that predominate this amazing Malay cuisine.

Finally, after Trying all the different meats, I am pleased to be able to tell you — it is quite culturally acceptable to lick your palms, and also to drink the soup.

Its so delicious That of course, I was thinking of this — trust me, it is safe to do what you want to do, go right ahead and lick every last drop of curry out of your fingers when your fish are finally gone.

I am not sure of The owners’ precise arrangement indoors, but there are actually two segments of this restaurant.

This brown sign This is not the food we came to consume yet, but you can make sure that you’re still in the ideal location.

Hokkien word composed in English, and its the title for each one of the sweet and savory cakes made out of coconut and flour which are selling to the left (as you walk in).

“Kampong” signifies ‘village’ in English, and thus they are just naming this store in a friendly, inviting manner. ‘Come eat in our tasty food village’

Can see the restaurant hours begin at 8am. Melaka has plenty of other areas we advocate for a breakfast though, why not attempt Kedai Kopi Chung Wah?

Its a’World’s Best Food’ for a Reason

Spicy food will understand, South East Asia is home to a massive variety of the world’s most well known foods such as chili peppers.

The amount of

Learning more About Asam Pedas, also eating more than a few bowls of it, was a fantastic experience for me — even worth the trip to Melaka, simply to have this curry!

Especially Obvious in Malaysia’s cuisine, this single food incorporates whole chilies cooking in soup, a glue with chilies to flavor the food, and eventually a third usage of chilies in sauce that you dip in to when eating.

Now that is a Fantastic way to honor the chili pepper.

Incredible that Chilis are not even indigenous to this region of the world, but Malaysia still works So attractively hard here in order to give the chili pepper a warm and ongoing welcome.