Pempek

Pempek is Palembang's gift to the world of food: fish-and-tapioca cakes with a sour-sweet dipping sauce that wakes up every part of the tongue. The dish was born on the Musi River — Palembang's watery artery. The river is one of the world's richest freshwater fisheries, and the local communities developed techniques for preserving fish centuries ago. The pempek is a child of that preservation culture. The technique: fish (traditionally *ikan belida* — a freshwater featherback, now endangered and replaced by *ikan tenggiri* — mackerel) is ground finely, mixed with tapioca flour and a little salt, and formed into various shapes. The classic is *pempek kapal selam* (submarine pempek) — a large oval with a raw egg cracked inside, which cooks as the pempek boils. There are also *lenjer* (cylinders), *adonan* (round), *keriting* (curly, deep-fried), and *pistel* (stuffed with banana). The *cuko* (dipping sauce) is the soul: a thin, sweet-sour-spicy liquid made from palm sugar, tamarind, garlic, vinegar, chilies, and *ebi* (dried shrimp). The flavor is unusual for Indonesian food — sour-sweet is rare in the country's predominantly savory cuisine. But in Palembang, cuko is the rule, not the exception.