Ikan tauco Medan, or fish cooked in Medan-style preserved soybean sauce, is a popular dish from the city of Medan in Sumatra. This city, which has a large Chinese population, is said to be the tauco (preserved soy bean) capital of Indonesia, and boasts some of the most varied and interesting tauco dishes.
Tauco, or preserved soy bean, is a paste of fermented soy beans and has its origins in China. Because of the large South Chinese population in Indonesia, as well as in other Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, tauco has spread well beyond China and is a very common product in grocery stores in the region. It consists of soybeans soaked in brine, giving tauco a unique taste that’s hard to describe, but which isn’t sour at all, unlike many other fermented products.
Dory tauco Medan is a version of ikan tauco medan that uses filleted dory, instead of the whole fishes or fish steaks generally used in Indonesia. It is a full-flavoured dish that combines tauco and dark soy sauce with other ingredients to give a slightly tangy, slightly spicy flavour that goes well with seafood. There are many versions of ikan tauco Medan, and some prefer using light soy sauce instead, or sweet soy sauce. Others prefer a runnier sauce, but this recipe is for a thick, glazed sauce.
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Dori Tauco Medan: Medan-Style Sliced Fried Dory in Preserved Soy Bean Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Fish & Seafood
- Method: Stir-fry
- Cuisine: Indonesian
- Diet: Halal
Description
Dori tauco Medan is a Medan-style fish dish consisting of fried dory slices glazed in a sauce of preserved fermented soybeans, dark soy sauce, chillies, and tamarind paste.
Ingredients
- 400 g dory fillet, sliced
- 100 g wheat flour
- 1 large red onion, sliced
- 2 tbsp tauco, rinsed and strained
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 3 green chillies, sliced
- 3 red chillies, sliced
- 2 inches of ginger, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic
- Oil for pan frying
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp tamarind paste, diluted in 100 ml water
- Salt to taste (optional)
- Pinch of sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Lightly coat each slice of the dory in the wheat flour and fine salt.
- In a wok or frying pan, fry the sliced dory until crispy. Set aside.
- Blend the ginger, onion, and garlic into a fine paste.
- In a wok or frying pan, heat the 4 tbsp vegetable oil over medium heat.
- Add the blended paste and stir fry till fragrant, about 3 minutes.
- Add the green and red chillies. Stir fry till fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add the dark soy sauce, tauco, diluted tamarind paste, and a pinch of sugar. Mix well.
- Add the fried dory and mix well. Stir fry until the liquid evaporates and the fish is glazed with the sauce, about 5 minutes.
- Serve with steamed rice.
Notes
- When using tauco, remember to rinse before use – otherwise the dish will be very salty. If you’ve over-rinsed, that’s ok, you can always add salt later on. Taste the dish while cooking it, and adjust accordingly.
Keywords: tamarind, dark soy sauce, chili, spicy
