Rice + Balado skipjack tuna + Spinach soup

Ingredients (per 1 portion)

• Skipjack tuna, fresh — 80 g
• Rice, raw — 75 g
• Spinach, fresh — 40 g
• Tomato, fresh — 15 g
• Red chili, fresh — 8 g
• Palm cooking oil — 7 g
• Shallot — 5 g

Method

• Steam rice (guide nasi-putih-tanak).
• Fry/steam the skipjack to ≥63 °C; balado: sauté chili + tomato + shallot until cooked and oily, coat the fish (same technique as guide telur-balado — swap the egg for fish).
• Clear spinach soup: carrot first, spinach in the last 1–2 min, serve ≤2 h (guide sayur-bening-bayam).

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.
• Skipjack tuna, fresh — Cold chain ≤4 °C without break — tuna-family skipjack is scombroid like mackerel. Cook promptly or freeze.
• Spinach, fresh — Store chilled ≤7 °C, use within 2 days. Wash under running water; soak 5 min in 1% salt water to release worms/soil, then rinse.
• Tomato, fresh — Store at ambient until ripe, then ≤7 °C. Wash before cutting — skin carries dirt and residue.
• Red chili, fresh — Store dry ≤7 °C up to 1 week. Wear gloves for large batches — capsaicin burns skin and eyes.
• 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.
• Shallot — Store dry, ventilated and dark — not in sealed plastic (rots). Daily sliced shallot keeps sealed ≤4 °C, use ≤24 h.

Food-safety warnings

• Skipjack tuna, fresh — HISTAMINE RISK (scombroid): bacteria convert histidine to histamine when the fish sits warm — and histamine is NOT destroyed by cooking/frying. Fish that spent >2 h at ambient = discard.
• Spinach, fresh — Spinach is nitrate-rich — when a cooked spinach dish is held warm, nitrate converts to nitrite (dangerous for infants/children). Serve ≤2 hours after cooking; do not reheat repeatedly.
• 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.
• Skipjack tuna, fresh — MAJOR FISH ALLERGEN — parvalbumin is heat-stable; full substitution for fish-allergic children.
• Spinach, fresh — Not an allergen — but a REAL restriction: high nitrate can trigger methemoglobinemia in infants <6 months (blue baby) — keep toddler portions modest and always serve fresh ≤2 h. High oxalate: limit for children with kidney-stone history.
• Tomato, fresh — Rare allergen; tomato is a histamine liberator — can trigger itching/hives in histamine-sensitive children even without immune allergy.
• Red chili, fresh — Not an allergy — an IRRITANT: capsaicin burns mucosa. Real restriction for primary-school kids: drop chili portions in child menus (see the 0.9-0.85 scaling factor) and avoid raw sambal.
• 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).
• Shallot — Allium — rare; can trigger FODMAP symptoms (bloating) in sensitive children. Not a major allergen.

Keeping the cooked dish

Cooked balado fish ≤4 h — the cooked sambal helps, but fish still spoils fast; do not reheat (histamine). Spinach soup ≤2 h.

Nutrition per portion

≈425 kkal energy · 18 g protein · total 230 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; Skipjack tuna, fresh 80 g → 8 kg; Spinach, fresh 40 g → 4 kg. Full formula: guide "MBG portion scaling".