Holiday Ayo - Indonesia is known for its variety of traditional culinary delights, including dishes rich in spices and many spicy flavors. One of them is typical Aceh cuisine made from sea fish. His name is eungkot keumamah or better known as keumamah.

The basic ingredients are tuna or skipjack tuna.

This dish is often served as a mandatory menu at local community celebrations or celebrations. It's not difficult to find this menu in food stalls in Bumi Rencong because the raw materials and seasonings are easy to find. In the city of Banda Aceh, this keumamah menu can be found in the culinary center of the Blang Padang area. Keumamah is the best side dish if you are having lunch with white rice that is still warm.

The tuna that is used as a cooking ingredient comes from fish that has been dried for several days so that there is almost no more water content. At first glance, this dry texture makes fish more like wood. That's why this dried fish is often referred to as wood fish.

To be cooked as keumamah, Acehnese generally use the dry-wet-fried cooking technique. The wooden fish material was sliced thinly and then soaked in hot water for a few minutes before being cooked with spices mixed with spices. The basic condiments of keumamah are cayenne pepper, red chili, shallot, garlic, turmeric, coriander, ginger, lemon grass, and enough water. Other ingredients are sunti acid, starfruit which has been dried and then salted. Keumamah can also be mixed with potatoes for variations in its contents.

But who would have thought, behind the pleasure of eating the processed fish menu, there is a long history.

Namely, the fierce struggle of the Acehnese leaders against the invaders in the past. The fighters have to guerrilla in the forests for a long time, so the logistics of war must always be there, including food.
The Acehnese warriors in the past processed wooden fish. Wooden fish are used as side dishes that can last a long time, even for months, in order to meet the nutritional needs of fighters. This is the forerunner of the emergence of keumamah.

Because of the severity of the struggle and the troops who had to move around in the forest, the Acehnese fighters made the keumamah a practical and easy-to-carry logistical reserve.