Fiddleheads remind me of my family old time favourite food, Gulai Pakis. Gulai is an Indonesian curry base. When I was a kid, I gave these greens special name "sayur belalai gajah". Sayur means vegetable, belalai means trunk and gajah means elephant. So, literally translated for that is Elephant Trunk Vegetable. What a weird name I gave!
Fiddleheads or what the Indonesian calls for paku or pakis are seasonal and only available for two weeks at North America's market. I only have them once a year since I moved to Canada. Additionally, it is not all stores sell fiddleheads.
When the first time, I had fiddleheads here, I was quite surprised on how big they are compare to the ones that I used to have in Indonesia. Then, I posted a picture of fresh fiddleaheads on my facebook one day. Farina whom is originally from Malaysia was telling me "these look like the paku that is only available in East Malaysia (Sabah/Sarawak). In West Malaysia, they're skinny."
Gotcha! It was explained my question about the size. I resided in the west part of Indonesia at that time, so that is why I only knew the skinny ones.
Just for the geography's information, Sabah and Sarawak are two Malaysia's states and bordered with Indonesia on one of east Indonesian islands, Kalimantan. In English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo.
Ingredients:
- 250 g fiddleheads
- 1 cup frozen grated coconut
- 3 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp dried shrimp (Indonesian: ebi), toasted
- 5 cayenne pepper, seeded
- 3 tbsps frozen chopped lemongrass
- 3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
- 1 kaffir lime (can be substituted for regular lime)
- 1/2 - 1 tsp coriander
- salt and sugar to taste
- Note: cayenne pepper can be adjusted to the taste
Directions:
- With a mortar and pestle, grind coriander, dried shrimp and cayenne pepper.
- Combine the ground ingredients with coconut, shallots, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and salt. Toast in a medium-hot pan until the liquid evaporates. Set aside.
- In a salted boiling water, blanch fiddleheads about 2 - 3 minutes, drain and run under cold water to preserve the green colour. Re-drain.
- In a bowl, combine blanched fiddlheads with the toasted coconut mixture. Place in a serving plate and drizzle kaffir lime over.