In the beginning of our journey, we knew part of this expedition was going to be about food. About eating. But it was far from our minds to eat well in Jamursbamedi. In fact, we thought we were going to survive on instant noodles or instant anything, as this was by far the most remote location for this expedition. Well, Mr. Linder proved us wrong. He is, after all, Mr. Fisheries!
Mr. Linder with freshly caught GT - our lunch that day The first time he cooked for us was after he and the local Papuans caught fish by the shores of Warmamedi with a gill net. No fuss. In about half an hour in the early morning of canoe pick-up, they managed to catch good size fish by the shore while waiting for us to pack up and load our stuff on the boat. Of course this is a wait, as we never travel light. With newly caught fish, Mr. Linder got busy. Here is his spectacular recipe for the freshly caught giant trevally.
Ikan Sauce Balado
3 kg GT cut into bite sizes and marinate with salt and lemon (lots of lemon)
Crush with the following with a little salt:
Traditional Indonesian stone mortar and pestle locally called Cobek and Ulek-ulek - 7 garlic cloves
- 6 small red onions
- 1 big brown onion
- 9 bird’s eye chillis
- 1″ ginger
- 1″ glangal root
- 1″ lengkuas
Crush separately:
- 5 lemon grass stalks – grate root crush stalk
- 6 tomatoes
Mr. Linder cooking up a super dish
- Fry fish washed in salt and lemon until desired crunch is achieved. Not too much but not too little. Set fish aside.
- Sauté in oil the crushed garlic, onion, chilli, ginger mixture. Add the grated & crushed lemon grass and crushed tomatoes and fry until well brown.
Mixing in the fried fish to a fantastic sauce - Add fried fish to sauce.
- Add salt to taste
- Add Kecap Manis (about 1 small 140ml. bottle) once fish is well mixed with sauce and fry until nice & brown.
Unbelievably good food in Batu Rumah - Enjoy with newly cooked nasi puti – white steamed rice.