Ikan Pesmol (Indonesian Fish Dish in Yellow Pickled Spices)
Ikan Pesmol
Ikan Pesmol is a spicy fish dish from West Java (Sundanese), Indonesia. It has a pickle flavor as it uses vinegar in its spices.
The word Pesmol itself refers to the type of cooked spices for the dish. And Ikan literally means fish.
Just like any other Sundanese food, this yellow pickling fish dish has a light and fresh flavor with the heat from the fresh chilies and tanginess from the vinegar.
It does not use coconut milk. Instead, it uses Kemiri/ candlenuts, which give the dish a nutty flavor. Sundanese cuisines do not often use coconut milk in their savory meals. Most of their foods use lots of fresh herbs and chilies.
Traditionally, Ikan Pesmol uses Indian Mackerel (which is called Ikan Kembung in Indonesian). However, after experimenting with various types of fish many times, I can safely say that you can cook any fish with this recipe.
Just ensure it’s a fish that cooks well and doesn’t break easily. For example, red mullet, trout, Spanish mackerel (Kingfish), salmon, sea bass, etc. And don’t use fish fillets because they break easily. The only fillets that are good for this dish are tuna and swordfish.
If you’re not keen on fish or can’t get any fish, you can cook the chicken dish. Chicken Pesmol is actually one of our favorites.
Main Ingredients to Make Pesmol Ikan
- Fish: The Sundanese traditionally use Ikan Kembung (Indian mackerel) for this refreshingly flavored fish dish. But you can always use any fish you like. Just make sure you choose whole fish and not fish fillets, as fish fillets will break easily. For this recipe, I used rainbow trout.
- Chilies: This recipe calls for chilies for the spice paste and whole chilies. For convenience, I used chili powder and some whole chilies instead.
- Turmeric: This spice is one of the main ingredients for Pesmol Ikan. It gives the dish a bright yellow color, making it look appetizing.
- Vinegar or lemon juice: The original recipe calls for white vinegar, but I substituted lemon juice.
- Ginger and garlic: I often have ready-crushed/ pasted ginger and garlic in my freezer, so I would take a few cubes out to use for this recipe. However, you can freshly make the paste from 1 inch ginger and 4 garlic cloves. Mince or grind them together with other spices.
- Kemiri (Candlenuts): This spice may not be easy to find. You can replace it with Macadamia nuts or omit it altogether.
- Salam leaf and lemongrass: In West Java, the word Salam Sereh, which literally means Salam leaf and Lemongrass, is common in their culinary recipes. But you may find it hard to get Salam leaf. So, you can either substitute it with curry leaves or just cook the dish without it.
- Galangal: You can use the fresh galangal, the dry one, or the paste one. But please don’t use the powder form. I don’t recommend it. I tried it, and I regretted it.
How to Make the Real Sundanese Yellow Pickling Fish
In essence, you need two things to make this Ikan Pesmol: firstly, you cook the fish, and secondly, you cook the spice, then just put those two things together.
Cook the Fish
Indonesians almost always use whole fish in their fish dishes, not fish fillets. And we have a particular way of cleaning and getting the fish ready.
We scale the fish until it’s free from scale. Then, we gut the fish by cutting the belly from the lower end near the tail to the head. Take all the inside of the fish out. Starting from the guts, the row, the gills, and blood. If you’re not keen on the fish head, chop the head off. Lastly, wash the fish with water until it’s clean and free from any trace of blood.
Afterward, we marinate the fish with either the following combination:
- Tamarind and salt.
- Lime juice and salt.
- Lemon juice and salt.
When you’re ready to cook your fish for this Pesmol recipe, you can grill or deep-fry the fish.
The original recipe calls for deep-frying. And I used to do so as well. But I find that not only grilling the fish is a healthier option, but it is also easier to do. Because I can pop the fish tray in the grill while I get on with the spice. It saves a lot of time.
Make the Pesmol Spice
All you have to do is make the spice paste and fry it with the rest of the ingredients.
When you add the vinegar/ lemon juice and water, you must let it cook until the sauce bubbles and thickens.
Put Them Together
You can assemble your fish and sauce as soon as you cook them. Leave it to cook for about three minutes, or to make sure the fish absorb the flavor of the spice.
Side Dishes to Go with Ikan Pesmol
I personally don’t need anything else when I have this yummy Ikan Pesmol.
But, if you like to, you can serve the dish with simple stir-fried vegetables, some vegetable fritters such as sweetcorn fritters or mung-bean fritters, and prawn crackers.
Like any other dish with spices, this fish dish is tastier when you leave it overnight. Maybe because the fish absorb the flavor over time.
So I suggest that if you want to serve the dish for a gathering, you cook it a day before. Please leave it to cool completely, then store it in the refrigerator/ fridge. You can reheat it on the stove/ cooker when ready to serve. Add a little water before reheating.
Make sure you only reheat the portions that you need. Because I don’t think it’s good to keep reheating the food.
Enjoy the recipe. Drop me a message to let me know what you think of it.
And if you need more recipe ideas for your trout fish, you can check this Russian fish soup.
More Recipes From Indonesian Kitchen
Before you leave, you may want to check my other Indonesian recipes you may like.
- Simply Authentic Indonesian Beef Rendang.
- Ayam Goreng Bumbu – Indonesian spicy fried chicken.
- Lontong Sayur Betawi – Hard-boiled rice with vegetable curry.
- The best Indonesian chicken sweet soy sauce – Ayam Kecap Manis.
I hope you find this Ikan Pesmol recipe good and are now thinking of trying it. When you do, sharing your experience or thoughts about the recipe in the comments below would be great. So others can benefit too.
And please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest to sneak a peek at what’s cooking in my kitchen.
Thank you and all the best.
Ikan Pesmol
Equipment
- Mixing bowls.
- Frying pan or
- Wok.
Ingredients
- 2.2 pounds firm flesh fish.
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste.
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder.
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder.
- 1- inch ginger minced.
- 6 cloves of garlic minced.
- 1 red onion chopped.
- 15 Kemiri/ candlenuts.
- 2 Salam leaves.
- 2 Lemongrass.
- ½ – inch Galangal.
- 1 tablespoon Sugar.
- 1 ½ teaspoons Salt + extra for the marinade.
- 2 teaspoons White vinegar or juice from one lemon.
- 1 cup water.
- 5-7 fresh bird’s eye chillies.
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil
Instructions
- Clean, scale, cut, and wash the fish. Marinate it with tamarind paste and 1 teaspoon of salt. Set aside.
- Using pestle and mortar, or a food processor, pound the ginger, garlic, chopped onion, candlenuts and galangal into a paste. Set aside.
- Grill the fish until it’s thoroughly cooked. Or, if you want to do it traditionally, you can deep fry the fish. Set aside.
- Heat 4 tablespoons of oil on a large cooking pan or a wok. Put the pounded spices, chilli powder, turmeric, Salam leaf, lemongrass, salt, and sugar in. Let it fry until the spices release aroma, and it looks shiny.
- Add in the vinegar or lemon juice. Cook further for a minute.
- Then add the water in, give it a stir and let it cook with a lid on. Until the water is reduced and you have a nice thick sauce.
- Put the fish in the sauce. Stir carefully until all the fish is coated with the spice. Leave it to cook with a lid on for about 3 minutes.
Notes
- If candlenuts are not available, you can substitute them with macadamia nuts. Or you can omit altogether.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.
A relative born in Jakarta was very pleased with the results of this recipe. She grew up in Indonesia and coached me through my first time making this Ikan Pesmol dish. We used salmon with skin on, marinated it in lemon juice and salt, then baked it at 350F for about 30 minutes, because it was a large piece of thick fish. She wanted me to put the whole thing inside an oven-safe bag, the kind used for turkeys. This was intended to reduce mess such as splatters or spills in the oven, but I found that it also kept the fish excellently moist. A meat thermometer confirmed the internal temperature was above 145F. We used a large food processor to combine the ingredients for the paste. She had grated turmeric, grated ginger, and galangal in her freezer. We did not have candlenuts and she preferred that I use almond flour, so I did that instead of subbing macadamia nuts. She told me that candlenuts are about the size of two almonds. I used that information to estimate the amount of almond flour to add. The internet said that bay leaves could be subbed for Salam leaves, however, she told me that U.S. bay leaves are terrible in Indonesian food. She suggested curry leaves, which she also had in her freezer. They’re smaller, so she suggested two curry leaves for each Salam leaf. The internet also said that for Kashmiri chilli powder, I could substitute about 80% or so with paprika for the color, which I did, and the other 20% could be cayenne pepper, or to taste. For personal preference reasons, I kept the heat level low for both the cayenne pepper amount and by using less of the finger length red chili and being careful when stirring on the stove to keep the red chili intact and remove it before serving. We used olive oil for health reasons. Lemon juice instead of vinegar ended up in the spice mixture as well. We didn’t really have much lemongrass on hand, but used what we had. She showed me how to use a hammer on the thick ends of the stalks to crush them before adding them to the dish. Just before serving, I removed the pieces of lemongrass. As I grew up in the United States, my food experiences varied from hers, and I thought the finished dish was a bit too strong on both the salt and sugar content for my personal taste; however, she said that it was right. She seemed thoroughly pleased with the Ikan Pesmol dish, and she was happy to eat it. I was very glad that this foray into making an authentic Indonesian dish came out as well as it did. It took a long time to make it, definitely longer than expected, but it was well worth it, and there are healthy leftovers for us to enjoy. This was one of my first tries, other than gado-gado, at making Indonesian food. Thank you so very, very much for posting this recipe! I’m incredibly glad we found it and could enjoy the results!
Thank you so much for sharing your cooking this Ikan Pesmol. And I’m pleased that the recipe worked and that you and your relative enjoyed it. I actually did mention in my post about subbing the salam leaves with curry leaves. Just like your relative, I find bay leaves are wrong substitute for salam leaves. Take care and hope you’ll try more recipes and share with us again. All the best.