If you have been to Kuantan town in Pahang, or any town in Terengganu, you will noticed that this soupy dish is very common. It’s called singgang. And their famous fish would be the ikan tongkol (some sort of mackerel) or ikan aya as the locals there call it.
It’s so simple to cook, you just throw everything in the pot and let it boil. See the orange slice -that’s turmeric (kunyit) root, and then the yellowish one is galangal rhizome (lengkuas). The black slices should be asam keping. Slice together with the red big onion is a few bird eye chili. Oh, don’t forget a little bit of belacan. Salt and sugar to season.
I don’t use ikan tongkol for this one. I use tenggiri instead, I think it’s one type of mackerel as well.
Thanks you soooooo much for sharing. i tried a recipe for this but the result is not the same , also unattractive so i was wondering why is it even a dish…..till i see it in your cintarasa coloumn. Wonder if there is a story about it’s origin eh?
Liz
I think those people in the east coast concoct this dish because it’s so simple. Plus since most of them are fishermen it’s one way to preserve the leftover fish they caught.
You can try to fry the fish in the singgang, after you cook in the singgang soup, take out the fish and fry. It tastes nicer 🙂
IT’S MORE DELICIOUS IF EAT WITH FISH SAUCE