Ingredients
Ambuyat
- 300 gsago starch (ambulung)
- 150 mlcold water
- 900 mlfuriously boiling water
Cacah binjai (dip)
- 150 gbinjai or unripe mango flesh, chopped
- 3bird’s eye chillies
- 3shallots, sliced
- 1 tspbelacan (fermented shrimp paste), toasted
- 1 tbsplime juice
- 1 tspsalt
- 1 tspsugar
Sides
- 400 gmackerel or snapper, grilled over charcoal
- 300 gsayur (fern tips or water spinach), stir-fried with garlic
- 1bowl of ulam: cucumber, raw beansprouts and basil
Equipment
- 1pair of candas (two-pronged bamboo forks) per person
Directions
- Make the cacah first, because ambuyat waits for nobody. Pound the chillies, shallots and toasted belacan in a mortar to a rough paste.
- Add the binjai or mango and pound briefly so it stays chunky, then stir in lime juice, salt and sugar. It should be aggressively sour and salty — it is the entire seasoning of the meal.
- Grill the fish over charcoal until the skin blisters and the flesh flakes, and stir-fry the greens with garlic. Lay out the ulam. Everything must be on the table before you start the starch.
- Slake the sago starch with the 150 ml of cold water in a heatproof bowl, whisking out every lump into a thin white slurry.
- Bring the 900 ml of water to a violent, full boil — not a simmer. Ambuyat only works with water at a genuine rolling boil.
- Pour the boiling water onto the slurry in a steady stream while stirring hard with a wooden stick, working from the centre outwards.
- Keep stirring vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes. The mixture goes from milky to clear and glossy and thickens into a translucent, sticky mass that trails behind the stick in ribbons. Any milky patches mean more boiling water and more stirring.
- Serve immediately in a communal bowl. Each person twirls a lump onto the candas by rotating the fork, dunks it in the cacah, and swallows it without chewing while it is still hot.
Technique
- Ambuyat itself is flavourless. The whole dish is a delivery system for the dips and side dishes, and the correct question at a Bruneian table is not whether the ambuyat is good but whether the cacah is.
- It sets solid as it cools and becomes almost impossible to eat, so it is made at the very last second and eaten fast.
- Chewing is not the custom — the texture is swallowed whole, which visitors find strange and locals find obvious.
Substitutions
- Sago starch is stocked by most Southeast Asian grocers; tapioca starch behaves similarly but sets firmer and slightly rubbery, so use 250 g rather than 300 g.
- Binjai is almost unobtainable abroad — hard green mango with an extra squeeze of lime is the accepted stand-in.
Variations
- Cacah is also made with tempoyak (fermented durian), which is the more pungent and more prized option.
- Sarawak and Sabah eat the same starch as linut, usually with a sambal of dried anchovy.
History
Starch scraped from the sago palm trunk and stirred with boiling water into a translucent paste, twirled on a bamboo fork called a chandas.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ambuyat?
Ambuyat is a main from Brunei: gluey sago starch twirled on bamboo forks, dipped in sour cacah. Starch scraped from the sago palm trunk and stirred with boiling water into a translucent paste, twirled on a bamboo fork called a chandas.
How long does Ambuyat take to make?
Ambuyat takes 20 min of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Ambuyat?
Yes, within limits. Sago starch is stocked by most Southeast Asian grocers; tapioca starch behaves similarly but sets firmer and slightly rubbery, so use 250 g rather than 300 g. Binjai is almost unobtainable abroad — hard green mango with an extra squeeze of lime is the accepted stand-in.
What is the most important thing to get right in Ambuyat?
Add the binjai or mango and pound briefly so it stays chunky, then stir in lime juice, salt and sugar. It should be aggressively sour and salty — it is the entire seasoning of the meal.
