Pindang Ikan - Spicy whitefish

Name: Pindang Ikan - Spicy whitefish
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 persons
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 1 large onion; 2 garlic cloves; sunflower oil or any other neutral oil; 2 lemongrass stalks; 2 pieces of galanga (laos root); 1 teaspoon trassi (strong shrimp paste); 1 teaspoon asam tamarind (soy bean paste); 4 green + 1 red (small) lombok chilies; 1 cube of beef stock; 1 teaspoon sambal (store-bought are make your own); 2 teaspoon turmeric; 4 to 6 frozen coal-fish (or other white fish)

Pindang Ikan - Spicy whitefish is a traditional Indonesian dish with lombok chilies, lemongrass and more. Very pleasant dish, served with plain white rice.

Pindang Ikan - Spicy whitefish ingredients

Recipe pindang ikan - spicy whitefish

Made by Véronique

Published at 2016-07-02, this recipe is for 4 persons and takes 20 minutes.

Founder of Ohmydish (since 2014), she prefers to spend all day in the kitchen. Once working in the hospitality industry as an independent chef, she loves helping you gain confidence in the kitchen. With her easy-to-follow recipes, handy tips, and cooking knowledge, you'll make the most delicious dishes yourself! The recipes are accessible to everyone, from beginners to advanced home cooks.

Updated at: 2025-07-19

Let's get started

Preparation time

5 minutes

Time cooking

15 minutes

Total time

20 minutes

This indonesian recipe was provided to us by lou, it has been in their family for generations and we're happy we are able to share it with you guys!

Preparation - 5 minutes

Peel the onion and garlic cloves. Chop the garlic as fine as you can and slice the onion in half rings. Chop the chilies into pieces, you can remove the seeds first for a milder version of this dish.

The lemongrass stalks and pieces of galanga are only used for flavoring the dish, so it's best to keep them as they are so you can easily remove them later on.

Finishing the Pindang Ikan - 15 minutes

Heat sunflower or other neutral oil in a large skillet and saute the onion slices and chopped garlic for a few minutes. Add lemongrass, trassi, galanga and asam tamarind.

Saute a few minutes more and then add chopped chilies, sambal, and crumbled beef stock cube. About 2 minutes later, you'll also add the turmeric and saute some more. Turn down the heat and add the frozen coal-fish.

Cover with the mixture of onion and spices (also known as bumbu) and a small layer of water. Boil the fish in the liquid for a few minutes and then turn them over.

The fish will fall apart, but that's exactly what we want. REMOVE the lemongrass stalks and galanga root and serve with plain white rice and some veggies like e.g. Oriental green beans and enjoy!