Yellow Spicy Fish (Ikan Rica-rica) is the speciality from Manado, North Sulawesi. It's a dish made from fish (basically you can use any kind of fish) with some ingredients. The taste I called it 'nano-nano' means it has spicy, salty, sweet, yet also fresh because of lemongrass. I like it a lot, especially if it's really spicy. Remind me of my auntie back home when she always cooks this dish when they had some celebration with people from her church (even though she is a Javanese, yet she has a lot of friends from Manado). Usually they have it together with cooked cassava leafs. Very delicious! Here's the recipe. - 1/2 kg fish fillet or 1 canned of tuna
- 2 fresh Kaffir Lime leaves (daun Jeruk Purut)
- 1 stalk of spring onion, chopped
- 1 stalk of Lemongrass (Sereh/Serai), take only the white part
- 2 fresh lemon basil leaves (optional)
- 2 red chillies - the more the better! (But if you don't like it spicy you can substitute with paprika powder)
- 1/2 cm of fresh turmeric or 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- A pinch of salt to taste (or you can use 1/2 block beef seasoning mixture)
1. Blend or grind the spice paste
2. Heat the oil, and then fry the fish. Set aside.
3. Sauté the spice paste with leftover oil, together with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, basil leaves and spring onion.
4. Then add the water, salt (or seasoning mixture) and sugar.
5. When the spices already mix well, put the fish inside. Leave it cook for 10 minutes and do not stir it too much because it would make the fish falling apart.
6. Serve with warm plain rice (nasi putih).
Tips: You can have the fish without frying it first if you want to have a low-fat dish.