http://www.nst.com/ The pungent smell of fermented fish and asam (tamarind) hit my nose as I walked into the small room. Aminah Ismail, 52, was scooping out ikan pekasam on to a plate to show us what she was selling.
Behind her was a row of big plastic jars filled with the pickled fish. Ikan pekasam is a kind of salted fish very much like the partially fermented Chinese mui heong, except that it has the added taste of asam gelugor (dried tamarind slices).
In the old days, when there was no refrigeration, fishermen in rural areas would preserve fish this way. I was among a party of 60 kayakers on an eco-exploration of Tasik Raban, part of the labyrinth of lakes and islands created by the Chenderoh Dam in Perak. Opened in 1927, it was the first dam to be built in Southeast Asia. The side-trip visit to the pekasam cottage industry was one of the highlights of the weekend.
Fifteen years ago, soldier Yusuf Ibrahim saw the potential in producing ikan pekasam. So he resigned from the Army and brought his wife, Aminah, and their nine children to Kampung Cherakoh on the banks of Tasik Raban, near Lenggong. The lake is rich in freshwater fish that is suitable for making ikan pekasam.
To accommodate the large family, a long house of bricks and wood was built 50m from the main jetty where Yusuf, 54, sets off in his boat daily to catch fish. In the evenings, he lays out his pukat (drift/gills nets). In the mornings, the catch is immediately cleaned by Aminah and the older children. Scales and innards must be removed to produce the highest quality pekasam.
Three daughters, aged 11 to 17, say they have been helping their parents do this for as long as they can remember. The elder ones have married and moved out.
Yusuf says that sometimes he cannot meet the high demand for ikan pekasam, especially during Ramadan. He sells the fish from his house, though previously he used to send them to nearby towns like Lenggong and Kuala Kangsar. His customers include politicians and government officers as well as restaurants and wholesalers from as far away as Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Occasionally, large groups of visitors buy up his entire stock. Aminah, 52, rolls the fish in fried rice grains before packing them into bags of three fish each. Each bag costs RM3.
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