Rice + Grilled fish + Tamarind soup + Fruit

Ingredients (per 1 portion)

• Indian mackerel, fresh — 80 g
• Papaya, fresh — 80 g
• Rice, raw — 75 g
• Chayote, fresh — 30 g
• Baby corn, raw — 25 g
• Tomato, fresh — 15 g
• Melinjo leaf, fresh — 15 g
• Groundnut, dried — 10 g
• Palm cooking oil — 3 g

Method

• Steam rice (guide nasi-putih-tanak).
• Marinate fish with salt + turmeric + a little lime; grill at 170–180 °C, flip once, to core ≥63 °C (guide ikan-bakar).
• Tamarind soup: boil water + shallot + bay leaf; baby corn 5 min → chayote + melinjo 3 min → boiled peanut + tomato; strained tamarind paste added last (guide sayur-asem).
• Papaya: scrub the skin, cut close to service.

Ingredient handling & storage

• Rice, raw — Store in an airtight container, dry and cool ≤25 °C — moisture invites rice weevils and mould. Never store on the floor; use a pallet.
• Indian mackerel, fresh — Must be fresh on a cold chain ≤4 °C — clear eyes, red gills, sea smell. Cook or chill promptly; never >1 h at ambient.
• Papaya, fresh — Store whole at ambient until ripe, then ≤7 °C; cut pieces ≤4 °C, use ≤24 h.
• Chayote, fresh — Store ≤7 °C up to 2 weeks. Chayote sap makes skin itch/stiffen — peel under running water or wear gloves.
• Baby corn, raw — Store wrapped ≤7 °C 3–4 days. Wash and cut right before cooking.
• Tomato, fresh — Store at ambient until ripe, then ≤7 °C. Wash before cutting — skin carries dirt and residue.
• Melinjo leaf, fresh — Store wrapped ≤7 °C, use ≤2 days — melinjo leaves wilt and turn slimy fast. Pick young leaves only; mature ones are fibrous and bitter.
• Groundnut, dried — Store very dry and airtight ≤25 °C; check regularly — peanuts are the most aflatoxin-prone of all ingredients.
• Palm cooking oil — Store sealed, dark and cool. Used frying oil: strain, keep separately, reuse max 2–3×; discard when dark, foamy or rancid-smelling.

Food-safety warnings

• Indian mackerel, fresh — Mackerel risks histamine (scombroid) poisoning if left warm — histamine is NOT destroyed by cooking or reheating. Fish left too long at ambient is discarded, not re-cooked.
• Papaya, fresh — Wash + scrub the skin before halving — the surface carries dirt and residue into the flesh via the knife.
• Melinjo leaf, fresh — Must be cooked — melinjo leaves are not for raw serving. Wash the sticky sap off before they enter the broth.
• Groundnut, dried — Aflatoxin (Aspergillus flavus mould toxin) is carcinogenic and survives frying/boiling. Musty, shrivelled-dark or bitter peanuts = discard — "wash and use" is not an option.
• Palm cooking oil — Never store chopped garlic/herbs submerged in oil at room temperature — the oil creates an anaerobic medium for Clostridium botulinum (botulism). If needed, keep ≤4 °C and use ≤4 days.

Allergens & consumption limits

For a child feeding programme, allergen data must be recorded per child and a substitution path prepared — do not just reduce portions for allergic children.

• Rice, raw — Rice is hypoallergenic — the safest staple and the base for multi-allergic children.
• Indian mackerel, fresh — MAJOR ALLERGEN: parvalbumin (fish muscle protein) SURVIVES cooking and smoking — heat does not remove it. Fish allergy usually persists for life; in severe cases even cooking VAPOUR triggers symptoms. Fish-allergic children get another animal protein; the kitchen must avoid shared pans/tools.
• Papaya, fresh — Latex-fruit syndrome — same as banana: latex-allergic children can cross-react to papaya. Unripe papaya sap (papain) is a skin irritant for some people.
• Chayote, fresh — Allergy is very rare. The main restriction remains sap handling (skin irritation), not consumption.
• Baby corn, raw — Corn allergy is rare but real (zein protein). Note any corn-allergy history — safe for the majority of children.
• Tomato, fresh — Rare allergen; tomato is a histamine liberator — can trigger itching/hives in histamine-sensitive children even without immune allergy.
• Melinjo leaf, fresh — Not a major allergen — melinjo allergy is very rare; log it if the family reports one.
• Groundnut, dried — THE MOST DANGEROUS ALLERGEN in a child kitchen — peanut can trigger anaphylaxis even from trace amounts (shared fryers, reused oil, hands). A peanut-allergic child needs a full substitution path (anchovy-only/other), not a smaller portion. Label peanut-containing menus explicitly.
• Palm cooking oil — Refined palm oil is nearly protein-free — practical allergy risk is zero. Restriction: daily fried-fat total is still capped by guidelines (not allergy).

Keeping the cooked dish

Grilled fish ≤3 h ≥60 °C — do not reheat leftovers (histamine is heat-stable). Tamarind soup ≤3 h. Cut papaya ≤4 °C ≤24 h.

Nutrition per portion

≈549 kkal energy · 28.9 g protein · total 333 g raw weight per portion. Figures from TKPI Kemenkes — actual values vary with ingredient condition and cooking loss.

Scaling to N portions

Recipe is written per 1 portion. For N portions: staples (rice, protein, vegetables, fruit, coconut milk) scale linearly — grams × N. Strong seasonings (turmeric, chili, sweet soy, sugar, salt) scale at × N × 0.9; frying oil at × N × 0.85; broth/water at × N × 0.9 then correct evaporation ±2% per 10 min of boil. Add a 5% shrinkage buffer on the purchase total. Example at N = 100: Rice, raw 75 g → 7.5 kg; Indian mackerel, fresh 80 g → 8 kg; Papaya, fresh 80 g → 8 kg. Full formula: guide "MBG portion scaling".