otah and egg casserole

Otah (鲤鱼包) is a fish cake found throughout Singapore and Malaysia. The southern Malaysian town of Muar is a popular destination for it - people from Singapore and other states in Malaysia often visit Muar to buy the famous otah in bulk. It is also known as "otah-otah", "otak-otak" or "otak".

"Otak" means "brains" in Malay. The dish is so named because it somewhat resembles brains, being on the soft and squishy side.

Otah can be eaten as a snack or with bread or rice as part of a meal. In Singapore, it is not uncommon to find otah sandwiched in a hotdog bun and sold as a snack. Some confectionaries also use otah as an ingredient in a bread bun, often with melted cheese and sugar on top of the bun.

The main difference between otah made in Singapore and those made in Malaysia is that the otah made in Singapore tend to be sweeter and contain either no or less rempah.

Rempah is a seasoning paste made from red onion, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste (belacan), dried chilli, salt and sugar.

My family prefers the otah made in Malaysia, especially those made in Muar in the state of Johor.

Muar is famous for their otah, among other food. There are many suppliers of otah in Muar with the otah being of varying degrees of spiciness (chilli) and standard.

I know of someone who once ordered some otah from Muar and was charged S$6 per otah (yes, the supplier charged her in Singapore Dollars!). When she steamed the otah, without her having told me that the otah is from Malaysia, I could guess it already based on the aroma. I think that the otah from Malaysia is very distinctive and tends to contain more fish and more rempah. While the otah was being steamed, the aroma was tempting. However, when I bit into the otah, I changed my mind. The otah contained a lot of flour!

Each time my mother goes to Muar to visit her relatives, I will request her to help me buy the frozen otah. I prefer the otah that is in a box (equivalent to about 20 sticks of otah, if I am not mistaken) instead of the stick otah.

Otah is made by mixing fish paste (the most suitable would be mackerel) with spices such as chilli, garlic, shallots, tumeric, lemon grass, coconut milk and rempah. The mixture is then wrapped in a banana leaf that has been softened by steaming, then grilled, baked or steamed.

The most famous Muar otah is that of the fish otah. However, some ingenious otah suppliers have also come up with prawn otah, cuttlefish otah, crab meat otah, chicken otah, fish head otah, etc. As they say, variety is the spice of life.

For the non-chilli eaters, there is also the fish otah without chilli. However, such an otah tastes like normal fish cake and is not very appetising.

In Singapore and Malaysia, otah is commonly eaten with nasi lemak (coconut rice traditionally served with anchovies (ikan bilis), fried egg, fried fish and sweet chilli).

Muar otah is very versatile. On its own, you can bake it (at 180 degrees celsius for about 30 minutes), microwave it (about 4 1/2 minutes on High) or steam it. Alternatively, you can create dishes using the otah as the main ingredient.

One of my favourite otah dishes was created by me accidentally. Da and I were having a gathering at our home once when I realised that I did not have enough otah to be baked (I prefer to bake the otah instead of microwaving or steaming it) for the number of guests that we were having. As such, I decided to improvise and make an otah and egg casserole instead.

This casserole can be eaten with rice or bread.

Ingredients

2 packets of Muar otah (defrosted)
3 eggs
1 green capsicum (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 yellow capsicum (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 red capsicum (cut into bite sized pieces)
4 sticks of celery (sliced)
1 carrot (sliced)
1 small can of peas
1 small can of baby corn (sliced)
2 hot dogs (sliced)
2 stalks of spring onion (chopped)
dash of ground paprika
dash of ground chilli
ground white peppercorn (to taste)
ground black peppercorn (to taste)
sea salt (to taste)

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together.

2. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish.

3. Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 30 minutes.

Tip

If you find that the mixture is too thick, you can add some water to dilute the mixture.