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Tekwan Recipe (Palembang Fish Balls Soup) » Indonesia Eats

HomeIndonesian FoodTekwan Recipe (Palembang Fish Balls Soup)December 19, 2011932ShareFacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsAppLinkedinReddItEmailPrintTelegramMixLINE

Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra is famous for its freshwater fish recipes such as pempek (fishcake with spicy tamarind sauce), otak-otak (grilled fishcake in banana leaves), pindang patin (spicy sour basa fish soup with tempoyak), tekwan (fish balls soup) as well as durian. Tempoyak (fermented durian) is also a popular South Sumatran side which can be made for sambal and thrown into pindang patin.

In the past, during the Hindu-Buddhist civilizations and long before a country of Indonesia was formed, Palembang was a capital of a maritime empire, Srivijaya-an ethnic Malay kingdom on Sumatra which influenced much of the Maritime Southeast Asia. That history has made Palembang one of the oldest cities in Indonesia. Palembang is also the second-largest city in Sumatra after Medan and the seventh-largest city in Indonesia.

You can find many different recipes of tekwan. I slightly changed them with the way of making mie sop ayam medan broth by adding jicama. So this recipe will need more jicama than regular tekwan. The people of Java likes making tekwan with ikan tenggiri (king or Spanish mackerel) while the South Sumatrans like using freshwater fish such as ikan belida (featherback fish) and ikan gabus (snakehead fish)

Tekwan Recipe
Palembang Fish Balls Soup

Ingredients:
Fish Balls
250 grams featherback (belida) fish paste
1 clove garlic, smashed and roasted
2 shallot, halved and roasted
2 tablespoons ebi (dried shrimps)
1 (50 milliliter) egg white
100 milliliter icy water (about 4 degrees Celcius)
175 grams sago starch (Thanks to Tanya who brought me 2 packages of Indonesian sagu tani brand from Singapore)
3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 liter water for boiling the fish balls

For the Soup:
2 liter water
1 bottle (236 milliliter) clam juice* (optional)
250 grams black tiger prawns
1 tablespoon ebi (dried shrimps)
150 g jicama, peeled and quartered (can be substituted for carrots)
8 cloves garlic, smashed
2 shallots, halved
kosher salt
ground white pepper

Other Ingredients:
200 grams jicama, julienned
25 grams dried lily flowers, soaked in hot water
25 grams dried black fungus, soaked in hot water
30 grams Chinese celery (divide into two, chopped finely for condiments and the other half for broth)
2 green onions, finely sliced
fried shallot flakes
slices of nasranan mandarin (jeruk sambal), calamansi (jeruk kasturi, lemon cui) or lime (optional)
sambal cabai hijau/green chilies (optional)
dried rice vermicelli (optional)

Methods:
1. Peel the prawn shells off. Reserve the shells and heads and place them on a baking pan. Broil them with garlic and shallot at high about 5 minutes or until turning red (about 5 minutes). Transfer garlic, shallot, the roasted shrimp skins and heads into a large pot. Add 2 liter water, clam juice, ebi and jicama, cook slowly at medium heat, bring to a boil. Strain the stock, measure to 1750 milliliter.

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2. Chop the peeled prawns. Set aside.

3. Fish Balls:

  • In a food processor, grind roasted garlic and shallot with ebi until smooth. Add other ingredients for fish balls and process until well mix.
  • In a pot, boil about 2 liter of water until bubbling, reduce the heat, maintain the temperature about 80 degrees Celsius. Take a half tablespoon of fish ball dough and shape into small marble balls by using two tablespoons. Drop into the pot until the fish balls are floated. Transfer the cooked fish balls into the shrimp stock, and continue cooking until the stock boils.

4. Add chopped prawn, soaked black fungus and lily flowers into the soup. Season with ground white pepper and kosher salt. Re-boil the soup until the prawn turning red.

5. Serving suggestion: transfer the soup into a bowl, add soften rice vermicelli (optional), and garnish with fried shallot flakes, sliced green onion and chopped Chinese celery. Serve with sambal hijau (green chili sambal).

Cook’s Note:
* Clam Juice is easy to find in Canada. However if you are not able to get it, don’t bother just add more water that is equal and more ebi.

FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsAppLinkedinReddItEmailPrintTelegramMixLINEPrevious article[Closed] Indonesian Street Snacks – Sweet and Savory Treats Cookbook GiveawayNext articleThe Best of Indonesia Eats 2011Indonesia Eatshttps://indonesiaeats.comAn Indonesian-born who lived in Winnipeg Edmonton, Canada for more than a decade prior to move to Edmonton in 2017. Indonesia Eats is a memoir of her homeland.

  1. Nami | Just One Cookbook December 20, 2011 At 11:26 AMSince I came to Taiwan i have been eating a lot of fish balls soup. Your recipe looks so delicious! I love this soup because it’s simple. Clam juice is a great idea. I need to make this at home!Reply
  2. wok with ray December 22, 2011 At 9:48 AMThis simple yet very elegant and beautiful presentation of a street snack, Pepy. Love all the ingredients in the soup.Reply
  3. noobcook December 27, 2011 At 7:18 AMwah, home made fish balls look great. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Pepy!Reply
  4. mycookinghut December 29, 2011 At 7:34 AMI love fish ball soup – such a comfort of my childhood!Reply
  5. tatabonita January 2, 2012 At 11:13 PMIt’s rainy season here! Tekwan will be one of the best treats for the cold evening :)). Your Tekwan presentation is just lovely (looks so different from the others). Thanks a lot Mbak Pepy for your entries (teteeeep yang borong Mbak Pepong huehehehehe :D)Reply
  6. Piet January 5, 2012 At 6:34 PMHappy New Year! This recipe looks delish but if I make it I’ll have to substitute a few ingredients. What other fish can i use? Instead of the ebi I can use Thai fish flakes. May have to use another starch then sago. Must omit the clam-juice to keep it kosher and may use fish sauce. I love jicama, I used it in acar campur with carrots. Where can I get lily flowers? I can’t get nassanan or calamanci and must resort to lime or other small citrus. No matter what I’ll wind up using it will taste good even though it may not be authentic.Thanks Pepy and great photo!ReplyIndonesia Eats January 5, 2012 At 6:47 PMPiet the original recipe just uses shrimp broth and ebi. To keep it kosher you can use fish stock. Lily buds can be bought at Asian stores. If I were you, I would substitute the calamansi or nasranan mandarin for keylime but that will be ok for lime.You’re also ok to use tapioca starch/flour arrowroot starch instead of sago flour/starch. Let me know how your version turn out 🙂Reply
  7. Kiri W. January 11, 2012 At 7:44 AMLooks fantastic – I’ve had various Asian fishballs, though not Indonesian ones, and always loved them. I think I would positively adore this soup. Your pictures are amazing!Reply
  8. Tekwan Recipe (Indonesian Fish Balls Soup) | Indonesia Eats « garzuela part 2 garzuela returns June 22, 2012 At 11:34 PM[…] https://indonesiaeats.com/tekwan-indonesian-palembang-fish-balls-soup/ Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. Categories Uncategorized […]Reply
  9. @utotia @fyphi ^^ Tekwan Recipe (Indonesian Fish Balls Soup) | Indonesia Eats « garzuela part 2 garzuela returns June 22, 2012 At 11:35 PM[…] https://indonesiaeats.com/tekwan-indonesian-palembang-fish-balls-soup/ Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. Categories Uncategorized […]Reply
  10. Mas Eldi August 30, 2013 At 1:13 AMwah itu apakah seperti makanan di cina mas 😮Reply
  11. Review Bebas August 30, 2013 At 9:36 PMThis simple yet very elegant and beautiful presentation of a street snack, Pepy. Love all the ingredients in the soup.Reply
  12. indonesian furniture December 8, 2013 At 9:22 AMwah, home made fish balls look great. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Pepy!Reply
  13. kredit tanpa agunan June 22, 2014 At 1:51 AMkalo tekwan di jakarta paling enak dimana ya?Reply
  14. rosyiddaiman01 August 7, 2014 At 2:36 AMpalembang is very beautiful city in indonesiai hope goto againsReply
  15. Review Tekwan Dari Luar dan Dalam NegeriCara Membuat Tekwan Palembang | Cara Membuat Tekwan Palembang October 24, 2014 At 10:49 PM[…] 1. Indonesiaeats.com […]Reply
  16. Discography ARIANA GRANDE February 9, 2015 At 12:33 PMterimakasih sudah posting resep Tekwan Recipe, akan saya coba semoga berhasil, tapi tetep saya pengen sekali berkunjung ke palembang pengen coba supnya itu,,,, ngileeeeerrrrrReply
  17. Rizki April 7, 2015 At 1:21 AMkayanya ga kenyang, tapi bikin ngiler wkwkReply
  18. ilham April 8, 2015 At 6:17 PMthis food is very delicious. i like it as well as pempek palembangReply
  19. Juiker May 4, 2015 At 6:04 AMI love the food in Indonesia, very delicious.Reply
  20. Putuberbagi May 10, 2015 At 5:30 AMNice. I Love Indonesia..Reply
  21. anekatekno May 14, 2015 At 2:30 PMpalembang is very beautiful city in indonesiai wish eat pempekReply
  22. ndimasri May 29, 2015 At 2:56 AMini bakso yang dimodifikasi yah?Reply
  23. Resep Masakan Gampang June 7, 2015 At 12:12 AMTekwan is same with Pempek??I really confused about them but i know them are really my favorit food if i travel in thereReply
  24. viviey July 15, 2015 At 5:32 PMmantep juga nih resepnya erlu di coba resepnyamakasihReply
  25. rici August 17, 2015 At 3:24 AMjadi ingat makan tekwan buatan maaReply
  26. riski October 31, 2015 At 1:27 PMwah keren banget postingannyaReply
  27. Patar Tambunan February 5, 2016 At 6:43 AMTho foods look very nice..I still never been there..one day hopefully I gonna go there..Thanks, this articles really usefull for me.Reply
  28. baihaki March 9, 2016 At 3:38 PMKayaknya enak nih min, Coba deh ane buat sendiri. Mdh2an berhasilReply
  29. stafaband October 24, 2017 At 3:19 PMwah, home made fish balls look great. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Pepy!Reply
  30. Food Log: Day 1 – scrumptious and curious January 17, 2018 At 7:59 AM[…] Click here for the recipe of the asian dish, Tekwan […]Reply
  31. Food Log: Day 1 – scrumptious and curious January 19, 2018 At 8:51 AM[…] To view the recipe of Tekwan, click here. […]Reply
  32. Yuyun Yuningsih September 2, 2018 At 11:50 AMmau dong…makasih artikelnya, tak coba praktekin yah..!!Reply
  33. fahri ichsan November 20, 2018 At 5:31 PMTekwan saat ini sudah menjadi makanan umum yang bisa dijumpai di hampir seluruh wilaah indonesia, meskipun bentuknya pun sudah berupa frozen dan bisa dibeli di supermarket. namun cita rasa asli Palembang dan rempahnya hanya bisa dijumpai di Palembang. One of my favorite food in Indonesia.Reply
  34. Aries Munandi February 3, 2019 At 5:58 AMI love itReply
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