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The humble ikan selar is not only free from mercury but also delicious when cooked with tamarind.
"Picture provided by SPH"
Afresh fish is a thing of beauty. Its eyes are bright and its scales shimmering. If you press it, the flesh is firm and if you care to look under the collar, its gills are a healthy red.
I love going to the market to look over such good-looking fish. I am often tempted to buy one and, frequently, the dish I cook is determined by the fish I find.
If there is an ikan terubok or tench, which is rare these days, I grill and serve it with black vinegar and ginger to offset its richness. It is extremely bony,
which may put off those who do not want to deal with fish bones.
If I find a catfish or ikan sembilan, poaching it in a masak pedas gravy, sharp with tamarind, would be a good way to go. This fish, though, is also seldom seen.
More plentiful are pomfret, salmon, snapper, threadfin, batang or giant mackerel and, yes, ikan selar or horse mackerel, which we traditionally stuff with chilli and fry.
However, if it is truly fresh, I like to poach it in a light tamarind gravy, spiked with sliced onion and chilli as well as some kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass.
This is a simple but classic peranakan broth called assam puteh for all sorts of seafood – not only fish.
Eating it this way, you get all the flavour but there is no added fat. The small but full-flavoured ikan selar is also a better choice in view of current worries about mercury and over-fishing.
While fish is one of the healthiest foods – it is full of vitamins, minerals and omega 3 fatty acids which studies have shown will lower the risk of a heart attack and ward off dementia and stroke – some of my friends are cutting down on it because they fear it contains mercury.
While you could do some research to find out the levels of mercury in the fish you are buying, another way is to know that the fish that carry the most health risks are also among the most endangered, such as tuna.
Mercury accumulates in fish at the top of the food chain – typically shark and swordfish – so eating fish lower down the food chain is good not only for the planet but also your health.
Some of the best fish, therefore, would be pollock (the fish that goes into crabsticks), salmon, which does not consume other fish, tilapia and most small fish, simply because they are at the bottom of the heap.
Fortunately, ikan selar falls into this category.
Ingredients:
Ikan Assam Puteh (Serves 4)
- 4 medium-sized ikan selar or horse mackerel
- 1 tbs tamarind paste
- 1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised using the back of a knife
- 3 red chillies, slit or sliced
- Half an onion, peeled and sliced into rings
- 4-5 whole kaffir lime leaves
- ½ tsp salt and sugar to taste
Method:
- Make tamarind water by mixing the paste in four to five cups of water.
Strain to rid it of seeds and grit. You need a thin infusion.
- Bring tamarind water to the boil in a pot together with the belacan and lemongrass stalk.
- When boiling, add onion rings, red chilli and kaffir lime leaves. Season with salt and sugar.
- Add the fish and turn off the heat as soon as it begins to boil again.
- Serve at once with hot white rice and some lime quarters on the side.
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