Arsik Arsik Arsik is an Indonesian spicy fish dish of the Batak Toba and Mandailing people of North Sumatra, usually using the common carp (known in Indonesia as "ikan mas" or gold fish). Distinctively Batak elements of the dish are the use of torch ginger fruit ("asam cikala"), and "andaliman" (Indonesian szechuan pepper). Common Indonesian spices such as shallots, garlic, ginger, fresh turmeric root and chili are also used. Andaliman, essential for the distinctive taste of the dish, is known to grow only in the Batak highlands above 1500 metres of North Tapanuli and Samosir, hence this dish is regarded as
Cantonese cuisine in contrast with their liberal use in other cuisines such as Sichuanese, Vietnamese, Lao, Thai and European. Garlic chives and coriander leaves are notable exceptions, although the former are often used as a vegetable and the latter are usually used as mere garnish in most dishes. In Cantonese cuisine, a number of ingredients such as sugar, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, cornstarch, vinegar, scallion and sesame oil, suffice to enhance flavour, although garlic is heavily used in some dishes, especially those in which internal organs, such as entrails, may emit unpleasant odours. Ginger, chili peppers, five-spice powder, powdered black pepper,