Tag Archives: Pulau Panebangan

Cephalopod, Cooking with Local Ingredients, Crustacean, Fish, Indonesia

Dwayne’s Chilli Seafood

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While cruising Indonesia we were lucky enough to visit a tiny fishing village on the island of Panebangan. The people were exceptionally friendly and welcomed us with huge smiles and a large bunch of bananas! It was at this village, the following morning, that we were invited onto a fishing boat for breakfast. Dwayne watched how the fisherman made chilli fish and it has since become Dwayne’s signature dish! This is great for when I don’t feel like cooking…. i.e. “I’d really love your chilli fish for dinner tonight Dwayne!”

Dwayne has made this a couple of times for dinner. Once he used fish and squid and the other time he used crayfish.

It’s simple and tasty. This is how he does it…

  • fresh chillies, chopped
  • fresh garlic, chopped
  • asian shallots, chopped
  • salt

Dwayne preparing his chilli fish

Blend all the above ingredients with the mortar and pestle.

Blending up the chilli and other ingredients

Add oil to a pan and heat.
Add the spice mix, fry until fragrant.
Add the seafood (fish or what ever you want) and fry it for a while.
Then add some water and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasional.
Season with salt as needed.

Serve with steamed rice.

Fish and squid with chilli sauce

Crayfish and roe in Dwayne's chilli sauce

For the full story of Panebangan check out “Karamata and Surrounding Islands“

Dwayne with his chilli crayfish

Guess what we are having for dinner tonight!

Cooking with Local Ingredients, Indonesia

Creamy Kancil Curry

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KANCIL – bahasa Indonesia pronounced kan-chil. Kancil is a mouse deer.

Kancil
The little kancil. Sorry about the graphic pic.

On the small Indonesian island of Panebangan in the South China Sea we were moored along side a small fishing village. The friendly people at this village welcomed us with open arms, sunny smiles and big hearts. We were given a bunch of bananas and the kancil meat that Rudi shot the night we stayed there and the following morning we were even given breakfast on one of the fishing boats!

The tiny village on Panebangan.
The tiny village on Panebangan.

It was our first time eating kancil so I wanted to make a curry that wasn’t too overpowering. I made a paste with the following

In a mortar, with a pestle I blended;

  • asian shallots
  • lemon grass
  • candlenuts
  • ginger
  • lesser galangal
  • turmeric
  • garlic
  • chilli
  • peppercorns
  • kaffir lime leaves

I heated some oil in a pan and fried the paste for a few minutes, then I added a tin of coconut cream. I simmered if for about five minutes before adding the kancil and simmering uncovered for about 1 and 1/2 hours.

Kancil Curry

Verdict: It was very nice. The kancill was not too gamey and was in fact a delicious meat. I used about five candlenuts… because that is what fell out of the bag! It was too many. Next time I would use two candlenuts.

Curry Kancil