Duduh with fish

by Pauline Chavannes de Senerpont Domis · October 26, 2017

What a cute name: duduh with fish. Duduh is Javanese for sauce, gravy or juice. It can also be translated as ‘broth’. I make my duduh with mackerel. According to Beb, tub gurnard can also be used in this recipe. Mackerel and tub gurnard are both fat fish. Delicious.

I am curious how a mackerel will taste in this sauce. I go to the market today to check out the catch of the day.

Duduh with Fish # 232 translated from Beb Vuyk Groot Indonesisch Kookboek.

Ingredients

1 kg of mackerel or tub gurnard
6 tablespoons of oil
1/6 block santen
2 dl water

herbs

3 tablespoons of chopped onions
2 shredded garlic cloves
1 teaspoon sambal ulek
1 teaspoon laos (galangal)
1 teaspoon kunjit (turmeric)
1 teaspoon ketumbar (coriander)
1/2 teaspoon jinten (cumin)
1 teaspoon of Javanese sugar
piece of asem (tamarind) the size of a walnut
salt

Clean the fish, cut it into pieces and rub with asem (tamarind), salt and 2 tablespoons of water. Then fry the fish in the oil. In the meantime rub the onions, garlic, sambal, laos, kunjit, ketumbar, jinten and sugar together. Remove the fish from the oil and fry the herb paste in the remaining oil. Add the water and the block of santen. Simmer the fish in this sauce for a few minutes.

I get about 600 grams of mackerel for my duduh. Not the 1 kilo Beb suggests. We are with 3 in our family. So 600 grams is more than enough. I think they array of delicious herbs will make the sauce full flavored. Most of the herbs I can get at my local supermarket.

Ketumbar is coriander and jinten is cumin. Kunjit is turmeric and laos is galangal. If you can get fresh galangal it’s even nicer. Use a piece of about 2-3 centimeters. Peel and chop it into little pieces before rubbing or blending.

Asem is tamarind. I buy tamarind at my Asian food store. It has already been filtered.

First I marinate the fish. My mackerel is cleaned and cut into filets.

I rub them with the asem and a bit of salt (about 1/2 a teaspoon).

I half the amount of herbs for my bumbu and add them to my plastic jug to blend it with my emersion blender. I like to use the blender with these kind of dishes because the sauce turns deliciously silky.

I fry the fish in the oil. Only for a few minutes. The skins comes off a bit, but that is not too bad because the filets will be covered in sauce anyway ;-).

I leave the skin pieces in the pan after taking the fish out to sauté the herb paste. I sauté until the onions turn yellow.

Now I place the fish back in the pan and add (only 1 dl) water together with the block of santen (coconut cream). I crumble the coconut to let it melt easier.

I let my fish simmer for about 5 minutes. The sauce is pretty thick.

The sauce is full of flavor and creamy in texture. The chili salsa (sambal) gives it a little kick. The flavor of mackerel come right through. This duduh with fish is delicious!