IKAN SENGGUNG (SENGGUNG FISH) AND EXOTICA OF SIMPLICITY

(an article about Jambi Special Menu)

You had better not try looking for the menu of “ikan senggung”at any restaurants or food stalls around Jambi. Almost certain that it would be a waste of time and energy. This menu is not available in most restaurants or food stalls. However, you will never regret once to taste this special menu of Jambi. It is indeed particular, if not peculiar, from the way it is prepared/cooked.

Not many dishes are prepared in the same way as “ikan senggung”.

For your  information, “senggung” is not a name of a kind of fish. “Senggung” refers more to the way it is cooked, by roasting it inside a bamboo hollow.

Isn’t this unique and exotic??

Tuesday, November 29, 2011, I visited Muara Jambi Village. In the village, where the Muaro Jambi Temple Compound Site is located, I met Abdul Havis; a father of three children, who is a resident of the village, a guide and a local artist. From the fellow, who is usually called Ahok, I got the story of “ikan senggung” menu and, fortunately, got the chance to observe how to prepare it.

“The type of fish to be prepared in “senggung” way should be endemic swampy fish with scales.    The most tasty one will be “toman fish”, but it could also be “bujuk  or gabus fish” ”, said Ahok.

Ahok continued that the fish to be cooked as “senggung fish” would be put inside the bamboo hollow as long as one meter. The first half would be the place where you hold the hollow while roasting. The other half would be where you stuff the fish in; this part of the hollow is sliced so that it could be stretched/opened from its end.

Having been cleaned, one to two fish, depends on their size, are then stuffed into the front part of the hollow. The end is then tied together before it is roasted over very soft amber, as if it is smoked not roasted.

“This is also why it takes quite a while to prepare “ikan senggung”, it could take six to eight hours. They usually cook it at night time so that it could be served the following morning.” Ahok said.  Ahok also continued that while roasting, the bamboo hollow is rotated several times to make sure that the heat from the amber is distributed well and the fish inside the hollow is cooked evenly. A special stove is usually built outside the house to cook “ikan senggung”.

“This is a special menu. It used to be served only to village dignitaries,” she said Ahok who sometimes has the menu prepared for tourists trekking the area of Muaro Jambi Temple Compound Site.

He also added that the fish is roasted without any spices. Once it is done, taken out from the hollow, then the fish is eaten with some paste made from  red and green chilli peppers, shrimp paste, and lime juice. Besides, it is also served with fresh young rattan leaves.

NOTE:

This is a revised version of the same writing published on page 15 Morning Newspaper Jambi Tribun and the site of jambitribun.com, Sunday, 04 December 2011. Click here to read the original version of the writing.

By: Yoseph Kelik

Translate By : JEC Iwan Kaslan

Keyword: Culinary Jambi, ikan senggung, jambi culinary, senggung fish

• » Pondok Pindang Sarinande
• » Enjoying Peking Duck in Jambi