The Most Expensive Fresh Water Fish in Malaysia, Empurau

sharonling@thestar.com.my

At RM1,000 per kg serving, would you have the elusive empurau cooked in curry? Strangely enough, that style seems to bring out the best combination of flavours from the fish. Imagine paying at least RM1,000 for a dish of steamed or curry fish! Ah, but this is not just any fish. When the fish in question is the empurau, no price is too high; neither will fans of it think the price excessive. The empurau (Tor tambroides) is the most expensive fish in Sarawak and with good reason. According to executive chef Liou Chong Yaw of the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Kuching, it is highly prized for its sweet, tender flesh and smooth texture. It is also an elusive fish and this, coupled with high demand, goes to explain why the empurau can fetch between RM400 and RM450 a kilo, while in restaurants it is served at a hefty price tag of up to RM1,000 or more.

A freshwater fish native to Sarawak, the empurau can be found in the upper reaches of major rivers such as the Rajang, Baram, Limbang and Batang Ai. Generally, it lives in swift, clear, rocky-bottomed streams and feeds on plant parts like leaves, fruit and flowers, which is said to contribute to its delicate taste. Local scientist Dr Elli Luhat, who has been researching the empurau for the last six years, says the fish likes cool and clean waters with sufficient dissolved oxygen. The empurau mainly feeds on fruits and plants, he says. “It eats wild fruits like the engkabang (illipe) and ensurai (Dipterocarpus oblongilofolius) which grow by the river bank. It also consumes algae. The type of food it eats as well as its surrounding environment probably contribute to its taste.” According to Dr Luhat, the empurau is now difficult to catch because its numbers are depleting in the wild.

“I remember 20 to 30 years ago, we could easily catch it in Kapit or in the interior. But now it is very rare. From my observations, this could be due to imbalance in its environment brought about by development activities.” He says he began to rear empurau in 2006 in ponds built within the compound of his house in Kuching. “Initially I bred the empurau as a hobby. I now have 800 but since there are only five of us in the family, I have to commercialise it as we wouldn’t be able to eat it all ourselves. “I sell live empurau as pets or ornamental fish as well as frozen empurau for consumption,” he says. After four years, his fish – which he dubbed the DLT (Dr Luhat technology) empurau – have now grown to about 1.5kg to 2kg in size. A 2kg fish could fetch up to RM1,000. Dr Luhat describes the empurau as a delicacy with a unique taste. “One of my friends from Peninsular Malaysia told me that the Chinese call it ‘Wang Pu Liao’ or unforgettable because once you taste it, you will never forget it,” he chuckles.

He says the most common way of preparing the empurau is to steam it.  “I usually steam the fish with jintan manis and a local herb the Ibans call daun bungkang, which is very good with fish. There is no need to put too much sauce or gravy as we want to keep the original taste of the fish.” Currently, Four Points is the only hotel in Sarawak that consistently serves empurau to patrons. “Ever since we started offering the empurau last year, it has been a very popular dish,” Liou says. He says the hotel uses wild empurau from Kapit, a town beside the Rajang River in the interior of Sarawak. “Most of the fish we have in stock weigh over 10kg. The biggest fish we have had so far was 23kg. However, even at that size, the flesh is still tender and sweet,” he says.

At Four Points, empurau is served in three styles – Teo Chew, steamed, and curried. The Teo Chew style uses a special stock called shang tang, a clear broth seasoned and steamed with shredded ginger, preserved plums, salted vegetables, sliced shiitake mushrooms and tomatoes. In the second style, the fish is steamed in light superior soy sauce with a dash of sesame oil and spring onions and topped with fresh coriander. As for the curried version, the empurau is lightly steamed with bean curd, then topped with an aromatic curry that does not overpower the taste of the fish. Surprisingly, Liou says, curry is the most popular of the three styles served at the hotel. “Some people wonder at first whether cooking it in curry would mask the taste of the fish. Actually, curry brings out a greater combination of flavours from the fish. “After we ask them to try it, they agree that curry is a good combination with empurau,” he says.

For a taste of this exotic fish, guests are advised to order a day in advance. Liou adds that guests could request for different parts of the fish, such as fish head or the tail. “We will try to accommodate their requests,” he says. The empurau at Four Points is priced at RM100 per 100g for all three styles and the minimum order is 1kg, which can serve about 10 guests.