Ambuyat with Cacah

Ingredients

• 300g sago starch (ambulung)
• 150ml cold water
• 1.2 litres boiling water
• 3 tbsp dried shrimp
• 6 fresh red chillies
• 3 bird's eye chillies
• 4 shallots, peeled
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp shrimp paste (belacan)
• 3 tbsp tamarind paste
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 400g white fish fillets
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 bunch water spinach or fern tips
• 2 tbsp fermented durian (tempoyak), optional

Before you cook

• Soak the dried shrimp in warm water for 15 minutes, then drain and chop them roughly.
• Toast the shrimp paste in a dry pan over low heat for 2 minutes until it smells sharp and dry.
• Tip the sago starch into a large heatproof bowl and stir in the cold water until it becomes a smooth white slurry with no lumps.
• Set a kettle of water on to boil.

Steps

1. Pound the soaked shrimp, fresh chillies, bird's eye chillies, shallots, garlic and toasted shrimp paste in a mortar to a coarse paste.
2. Heat the oil in a small pan and fry the pounded paste for 5 minutes until it darkens and smells fragrant.
3. Stir in the tamarind paste, lime juice, palm sugar and salt, then simmer for 3 minutes.
4. Stir in the fermented durian if you are using it, then take the cacah off the heat and pour it into a serving bowl.
5. Season the fish fillets with salt and fry them in a hot pan for 3 minutes a side until cooked through, then keep them warm.
6. Blanch the water spinach in boiling salted water for 2 minutes and drain it.
7. Bring the 1.2 litres of water to a hard rolling boil.
8. Pour the boiling water over the sago slurry in a steady stream while stirring hard with a sturdy wooden spoon.
9. Keep stirring vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes as the starch swells and turns from milky white to clear.
10. Continue working the paste until it is glossy, sticky and stretches in thick ropes from the spoon.
11. Serve the ambuyat immediately in its bowl, before it cools and stiffens.
12. Twirl a portion onto a bamboo candas or two chopsticks, dip it deep into the cacah, and swallow it without chewing, with the fish and greens alongside.