Sup Tikam (Ikan Lampan Jawa)

As mentioned and stressed in previous posts, Bidayuh cooking are pretty simple cooking with ingredient that is easily available. One of the simple, quick but delicious meal is Sup Tikam (which literally means a soup where you can throw anything you want inside).


One of the variety of Sup Tikam my mother used to cook was Sup Ikan Lampan Jawa. The ingredients are as following:

Ikan Lampan Jawa (or any other freshwater fish)
Young Ginger (Halia Muda)
Turmeric Leave (Daun Kunyit) or Daun Pegaga Wangi
Terung Assam Kuning (Terung Dayak)
Lemongrass (Serai)
Sambal Belacan
Salt
Fermented Durian (Tempoyak)
Water

Optional:
Saute garlic and shallot
MSG
Chicken stock cube

In fact, with the exception of salt, the other ingredients are pretty optional, you can put all or the combination of some, depended on what you have available and taste that you want to achieve.

How To Prepare:
Boil terung dayak in a pot of water. When it almost soften, put garlic, lemongrass, turmeric. After that add in the sambal belacan, tempoyak, MSG or chicken stock cube and salt to taste. When everything cooked and the fragrance start to come out, put in the fish slowly. Turn off fire when the fish is cooked. Serve it hot.

Note : Please beware of the fine bones of the fish above.