← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 400 g sushi-grade Spanish mackerel (tenggiri) fillet, skinned, cut into thin strips
• 120 ml lime juice (about 8 limes)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 6 Shallot, thinly sliced
• 4 cm piece young ginger, cut into fine matchsticks
• 4 Bird's eye chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 Red chilli, thinly sliced
• ½ Bitter melon (ampalaya), seeded, very thinly sliced (optional)
• ½ tsp Sugar (optional)

Method

1. If using bitter gourd, toss the slices with a pinch of salt, leave for 10 min, then rinse and squeeze dry to tame the bitterness.
2. Put the fish in a glass or ceramic bowl, sprinkle with the salt and pour over the lime juice. Toss and leave for 10–15 min, until the fish turns white and opaque.
3. Drain off about half of the lime juice for a less sharp salad, then add the shallots, ginger, chillies and bitter gourd.
4. Toss well, taste for salt and sugar and chill for 15 min. Serve cold with rice, the same day.

Tips

• Lime juice does not kill parasites: use only very fresh, sushi-grade or previously frozen fish from a trusted fishmonger, and skip it for anyone pregnant, very young, elderly or immunocompromised.
• In Sabah, grated bambangan seed (a wild mango) is added for tang; a little green mango works too.
• Wear gloves to slice the bird’s eye chillies, or wash your hands well straight after and keep them away from your eyes.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Unilever Food Solutions Malaysia MySabah Periuk