This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Learn how to make an Indonesian-style fish cake without the fish. It’s an economical version of the traditional pempek ikan Palembang.
What is pempek dos?
Pempek, also known as empek empek, is Indonesian-style fish cake characterized by its soft, chewy and bouncy texture. The famous pempek is originated in Palembang. Pempek dos is a “fishless” version, meaning it is made without fish. It is an economical version and much simpler to make.
Why you’ll like this pempek dos recipe
1. Great texture
I’ve tried making pempek dos several times and the results were chewy and tough pempek. Finally, this pempek dos recipe has the right balance of softness and chewiness. It’s not so chewy that your jaws get a massive workout LOL!, but it’s not mushy either!
2. Stays soft
The pempek stay soft with the right amount of chewiness even after they have cooled down.
Pempek Dos (Economical Indonesian Fish Cake)
Ingredients
- 150 g rice flour
- 400 g water
- 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 3 shallots finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- 1 Tbsp chicken powder
- 50 g egg from 1 large egg
- 225 g tapioca starch
- 40 g all-purpose flour
Filling:
- 100 g eggs from 2 large eggs, beaten
Serve with: (optional)
- cucumber
Saus cuko:
- 300 g palm sugar
- 600 g water
- 2 Tbsp sambal oelek more or less to your taste
- 5 cloves garlic finely grated
- 3 Tbsp white vinegar adjust to your taste
- ½ tsp salt or more as needed
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Put shallots, garlic, and half of the water in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan. Add rice flour, the rest of the water, salt, sugar, pepper, and chicken powder. Whisk to combine
- Put the saucepan on the stove and cook over medium-low heat and keep stirring until it forms a sticky dough. Let it cool down for about 10 minutes.
- After that, crack in the egg, add tapioca starch, and all-purpose flour.
- Use your clean hand to knead into a dough. The dough should be slightly sticky to the touch. DO NOT keep adding flour to make the dough not sticky because you will end up with a very touch chewy pempek later after you boil them
- The kneading can also be done in a stand mixer using a paddle attachment
To make pempek lenjer:
- I divide the dough into half. I made 8 pempek lenjer (stick shape) and pempek kapal selam (shaped like dumplings). Pempek kapal selam is usually filled with egg on the inside
- Keep both of the doughs wrapped tightly to prevent them from drying out
- To make pempek lenjer, take one dough and roll it into a long log, about 1 inch in diameter, and then cut into 8 equal pieces using a very sharp knife. The cutting may "flatten" both ends of the pempek lenjer, but you can simply reshape them
To make pempek kapal selam:
- Beat the eggs with a fork in a glass that has a spout for easy pouring
- Divide the other half of the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each one into a round ball. Keep them covered tightly with a plastic wrap
- Use your thumb to form a deep indentation in the center of the dough and use your fingers to turn the dough to form sort of like a "bowl" shape. Carefully pour the eggs into the bowl, just about 2/3 full. If you fill up too much, it will leak.
- Carefully pinch the top to seal tightly without touching the eggs. The eggs make the dough slippery and it won' seal properly. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling
To cook the pempek:
- Prepare a large bowl of room-temperature water
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the dough and lower heat to medium and cook for 8-10 minutes for pempek lenjer or until they float to the top. To cook pempek kapal selam, gently lower the dough into the gently simmering water and let them cook for 12-15 minutes. Don't cook on high heat because the egg filling won't be as smooth
- Once the float to the top, cook for another 2-3 minutes and then remove from the water and place them inside the bowl of water for about 5 seconds. This prevents them from sticking to each other. Then transfer to a rack to let the cooked pempek "dry" before we fry them (you don't want to fry them when they are wet, it's going to be a disaster!!)
Prepare saus cuko:
- Put the palm sugar and water in a saucepan. Cook until the sugar melts. Strain the mixture to make sure there's no impurities. Return the sugar mixture back to the saucepan. Add garlic, chili, vinegar, and salt. Bring to a boil and then cook for about 1 minutes. Remove from the heat. Once it cools down completely, transfer to a jar with a lid and it can be kept in the fridge for one week
To fry the pempek: (optional)
- In Indonesia, boiled pempek will be fried in oil until crispy. If you don't want to deep-fry, you can skip this step
- Please make sure the pempek are dry before you fry so the oil won't splatter all over your kitchen (and on you!!)
- Preheat about 2 inches deep of oil in a pan over medium heat. When you put a skewer in, you'll see lots of bubbles around it. The oil is ready
- Fry in batches until they are light golden brown over medium heat. Remove from the oil using a skimmer if you have one, drain off excess oil and put on absorbent paper towel.
To serve:
- Cut the pempek into smaller pieces. Add cubes of fresh cucumber. If you want to make it a complete meal, add cooked yellow noodles, or mung bean thread noodles (soun) and generously pour the saus cuko over everything and enjoy!
RECOMMEDED TOOLS
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
Ingredients and substitutions for pempek dough
1. Rice flour
Please make sure you use the right rice flour (NOT glutinous rice flour/mochiko flour/sweet rice flour). It is widely available at pretty much any Asian grocery stores
2. Tapioca starch
Sometimes also called tapioca flour in somecountries. The starch is extracted from cassava root. We want just the starch
3. All-purpose flour
Flour with medium-low protein content from 9-10 % can be used
4. Garlic
I recommend using fresh garlic and not minced garlic preserved in acid
5. Shallots
If you can’t find shallots, you can substitute with purple onion
6. Egg
7. Chicken powder
You can also use mushroom powder, which is also common in Asia
8. Seasonings: salt, sugar, ground white pepper
How to store
I don’t recommend storing uncooked pempek dough because the texture changes, especially after you freeze it for long-term storage. It is better to store the cooked pempek. Here’s how:
1. Let the cooked pempek cool down completely
2. Pat them dry with paper towel. Keep them in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days
3. For longer storage, wrap them in batches with a cling wrap and put them inside a freezer bag, push all the air out and seal the bag
4. They can be kept frozen for one month. Simply thaw overnight in the fridge or at room temperature and then reheat briefly in a microwave until heated through. You can also reheat in an air fryer at 320 F (160 C) for 5 minutes or until they are warm
