Pempek, mpek-mpek and also known as colloquially as empek-empek is a savoury Indonesian fishcake delicacy, made of fish and tapioca, from Palembang,[1] South Sumatera, Indonesia.

Some suggests that pempek probably originated from ancient kelesan, a steamed dish made of the mixture of sago dough with fish flesh, dated as early as Srivijayan era circa 7th century CE.

During that period, most of the indigenous people simply grilled, fried or boiled their fish instead of adding other ingredients to make new dishes.

Another theory suggests that pempek was a Palembang adaptation of Southern Chinese ngo hiang or kekkian (fishcake) as a surimi (魚漿, yújiāng) based food.

But instead of being served in soup or plainly fried, pempek is notable for its spicy palm sugar-vinegar based sauce.

Pempek dough is made from a mixture of boneless ground fish meat, most commonly tenggiri (wahoo), with water, salt and sago flour.

The dough is boiled in hot water or steamed until hardened as partly cooked dumplings, and stored to be fried later just before serving.

The boiled or steamed pempek dumplings are deep-fried in cooking oil until light pale brown right before serving.

They are cut in bite-size, served with yellow noodles or rice vermicelli, showered in kuah cuko, and sprinkled with chopped cucumber and ebi powder.

The cheaper pempek version sold by traveling vendors on carts generally use less fish and more tapioca, resulting in a rather bland flavour.

Pempek is also a popular dish in South Sumatra's neighboring province capital city Jambi and Bandar Lampung,[10] and also the neighbouring island of Bangka.

These ready to cook pempek dumplings are also popularly sold in Palembang as oleh-oleh foodstuff gifts or souvenirs for visitors from other Indonesian cities.