Pempek Palembang

One of the foods typical from Palembang (South Sumatra) Indonesia is Pempek Palembang, which is made of fish and sago. Pempek is eaten together with a dark sauce called cuka or cuko (in Palembang language). Cuko is produced from adding brown sugar, chili pepper, garlic, vinegar, and salt into hot boiling water.

There are many variety of pempek; such Pempek lenggang, Pempek adaan, Pempek keriting, Pempek panggang, and many other names and the most famous pempek is "Pempek kapal selam". Pempek lenggang is the type of pempek which make elongated about 1 to 2 cm.
Pempek adaan is make pempek without boiled to produce the first, but fried directly with added admixture of onions sliced and celery.
Pempek keriting (Pempek curls) is pempek made with shaped small crackers and then stew.
Pempek panggang (pempek baked) is made round-shaped and baked and is filled dried shrimps, a chilli sauce and mashed.
Meanwhile Pempek kapal selam ("kapal selam" means "submarine" in English) is pempek formed as pastels and filled with eggs (usually chicken), wrapped together with the pempek dough and being deep fried. Scientific says that pempek kapal selam is the most nutritious, high in vitamin, protein, mineral, and carbohydrate.

Ways of making the dough Pempek average the same, depending on taste alone whether we will be first boiled or fried directly. But here only discussed for 2 kinds of Pempek, namely Pempek lenggang (Pempek swing) and Pempek kapal selam (pempek submarine), as materials to make is:
- 1 kgs fish of Spanish mackerel
- ½ kgs of sago powder
- Salt adequate
- 1 small cup of Water

Materials for the contents:
- 3 eggs plus little salt and then shaken.

How to make Pempek:

1. Mashed the fish meat of mackerel after the fine mix with sago flour, add the salt then stirred, add water little by little while to poke till in the flat.
2. After mixed then make elongated without stretching the field (for Pempek lenggang) or formed round filled with 1 tsp shake eggs (for Pempek kapal selam).
3. If the dough has been formed, prepare half a pot of water then boiled. After boiling enter the dough was formed into boiling water until cooked.
4. If above Pempek in boiling water has swell, lift and drain.
5. Prepare the pan and fry until pempek slightly brown color (It's better to cut or sliced before fried).

Materials to make dark sauce (Cuka or Cuko):
- 1 pieces of Palm sugar/brown Sugar (250 grams).
- 2 cups of water.
- 1 seed of tamarind
- Dried shrimp, mashed
- According to the taste of red pepper
- 1 clove of Garlic
- Salt
- 1 tsp of the radish mashed
- Tongcai (pickle of China Cabbage)

how to make dark sauce (Cuka or Cuko):

1. Boiled water and palm sugar/brown sugar until boiling, then enter the tamarind. After mixed, turn off the fire and filtered the water until separate from dregs of palm/brown sugar.
2. Mashed the chili (red pepper), salt, garlic and tongcai, after that enter to the above water of brown sugar with dried shrimp mashed, and radish mashed and then mix.
3. Serve dark sauce/cuko with pempek that was fried. If you like you can add noodles with raw cucumber small cut.