Pempek: Indonesian Fish Cake

Pempek, mpek-mpek or empek-empek is a typical food originating from Palembang made from soft-grind fish meat and starch (mistakenly often referred to as "sago flour"), as well as several other compositions such as eggs, garlic mashed, flavor enhancer and salt. Actually it is difficult to say that pempek center is in Palembang because almost all regions in South Sumatra produce it.

Pempek can be found very easily throughout the city of Palembang; Some are selling it in restaurants, some are on the roadside, and there are also bears. In the 1980s, ordinary sellers bore a basket full of pempek while walking around peddling food.

Pempek is served with rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuka or kuah cuko (lit. vinegar sauce), or just cuko. This food is very easy to find on the roadside and famous as a typical food of Palembang city. There is a round shape and there is also a little oval. It was tasty with a mixture of fish flavors. Inside contains eggs. Slightly brownish black sauce has a sour taste and is also sweet. Usually this food is served comes with pickled cucumber. Foods that become everyday citizens of Palembang has a lot of nutritional content. The content is obtained from marine fish that became the main ingredient of this food making.

There are several types of pempek. The famous pempek type is "pempek kapal selam", which is pempek filled with chicken eggs and fried in hot oil. There are also others such as pempek lenjer, pempek bulat (or famous "ada'an"), pempek kulit ikan, pempek pistel (containing sliced ​​papaya stewed pan and sauce), pempek telur kecil, and pempek keriting.

Pempek dough is made from a mixture of boneless fish meat, most commonly used is mackerel, with water, salt and sago flour. Cuko is made from boiled water, then added brown sugar, ebi (dried shrimp), crushed pepper, garlic, and salt. For the indigenous people of Palembang, cuko from first made spicy to increase appetite. But as the entry of immigrants from outside the island of Sumatra is currently found a lot of cuko with a sweet taste for those who do not like spicy. Another complement to this unique food is a sliced ​​fresh cucumber and can also be added yellow noodles.