Tekwan

Tekwan belongs to Palembang in South Sumatra, the city on the Musi River whose kitchens turned river fish and prawns into a whole family of paste dishes — pempek, model, laksan, celimpungan, and tekwan among them. The technique of binding deboned fish with starch is widely understood as a local adaptation of the East Asian surimi-and-fishball tradition carried south by Chinese settlers, reworked with sago and tapioca and the region's prawns. No single founding date or inventor is recorded; it is a household and street dish, sold by vendors across the city and eaten through the day.

The fish balls are springy and a touch chewy, mild and clean-tasting, soaking up the broth they sit in. The soup itself is the surprise — pale and almost delicate, yet packed with prawn sweetness from the shells. Jicama gives little cool, crisp, juicy bites against the soft dumplings; wood-ear adds a slippery snap; the lily buds a faint floral tang. Glass noodles slide through it all, and the fried shallots drop a layer of toasty fragrance across the top.

Two things make tekwan work. First the paste: sago or tapioca starch gelatinizes around the fish protein as the dumplings poach, knitting into the springy, slightly elastic network that gives the fish balls their bite — the same chemistry behind pempek, but pinched small so they cook through fast. They are dropped into simmering water and are done the moment they float. Second the broth: prawn heads and shells are sauteed and simmered to draw out their sweet, briny flavor and the orange fat under the shell, building a clear stock that stays light rather than muddy. The jicama, wood-ear, and lily buds go in late so they keep their texture, and the glass noodles only need a brief soak in the hot broth.