''Amplang'', also known as ''kerupuk kuku macan'', is an

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

traditional savoury

fish cracker Fish crackers are deep fried crackers made from fish and spices that serve as flavouring, originated from Indonesia. The crackers also mixed with tapioca flour and/or sago flour as the main ingredients and the salt, sugar and MSG as seasonings. ...

snack A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snacks are p ...

commonly found in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Amplang crackers are commonly made of ''ikan tenggiri'' (

wahoo Wahoo (''Acanthocybium solandri'') is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh makes it a prized and valued game fish. In Hawaii, the wahoo is kno ...

) or any type of

Spanish mackerel Scomberomorini is a tribe of ray-finned saltwater bony fishes that is commonly known as the Spanish mackerels, seerfishes or seer fish. This fish closely resembles the King Mackerel. This tribe is a subset of the mackerel family (Scombridae) – ...

, mixed with starch and other materials, and then fried. The shape and size of amplang might vary, from traditional elongated "tiger nails", to

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

, to

ping-pong Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

balls. The colour may range from yellow to light brown.

History

In Indonesia, amplang is traditionally associated with

Samarinda Samarinda is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River with a land area of . Samarinda ranks first on East Kalimantan Human dev ...

, the capital city of

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan (Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3. ...

, since the amplang cracker home industry has thrived in the city since the 1970s. Traditionally amplang was made from ''ikan pipih'' or ''ikan belida'' (''

Chitala lopis ''Chitala lopis'', locally known as the belido, is an extinct species of freshwater fish, formerly endemic to the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia an ...

''), however since this freshwater fish has become scarce, amplang makers replaced them with ''ikan tenggiri'' (

) or ''gabus'' (

Striped snakehead ''Channa striata'', the striped snakehead, is a species of snakehead fish. It is also known as the common snakehead, chevron snakehead, or snakehead murrel and generally referred simply as mudfish. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, and ...

). From Samarinda, the popularity of this savoury fish cracker spread to other cities in the

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

island, such as Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Pontianak, and even to neighbouring Sabah in Malaysia. Amplang is often sought as ''oleh-oleh'' (foodstuff gift or souvenir) by those who visited East Kalimantan. Today, amplang made by home industries in Kalimantan has been widely distributed, available in marketplaces and supermarkets in Indonesian cities, such as Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, and Medan.

Production centres

Amplang is commonly produced by home industries in

, East Kalimantan in Indonesia. Other than Samarinda, amplang production centres also can be found in

Balikpapan Balikpapan is a seaport city in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Located on the east coast of the island of Borneo, the city is the financial center of Kalimantan. Balikpapan is the city with the largest economy in Kalimantan with an estimated 2 ...

Pontianak Pontianak or Khuntien is the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, founded first as a trading port on the island of Borneo, occupying an area of 118.31 km2 in the delta of the Kapuas River at a point where it is joined by ...

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak, Indonesia, Pontianak. The province has ...

and

Banjarmasin ) , translit_lang1 = Other , translit_lang1_type1 = Jawi , translit_lang1_info1 = بنجر ماسين , settlement_type = City , motto = ''Kayuh Baimbai'' ( Banjare ...

South Kalimantan South Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Selatan) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is the smallest province in Kalimantan, the Indonesian territory of Borneo. The provincial capital was Banjarmasin until 15 February 2022 when it wa ...

. In neighbouring Malaysia, amplang is mainly produced on the east coast of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

, particularly in the town of

Tawau Tawau (, Jawi: , ), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of t ...

Variants

Today, the makers of amplang in East Kalimantan produce the snack not only with a fish flavor, but in a variety of flavors such as crab and

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

. Nevertheless, the original amplang kuku macan remains the most popular.

References

{{Malaysian cuisine Malaysian snack foods Crackers (food) Fish dishes Indonesian snack foods

History

Production centres

Variants

See also

References