This dish hails from Issan, the northeastern region that borders Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Ingredients: (Serves 4-6)
- 300 g/11 oz catfish, mackerel or other firm fish fillets, skinned
- 2 stalks lemon grass
- 5 spring onions (scallions)
- 5 cm/2 inches galangal knob, peeled
- 3 red chillies
- 1 tablespoon rice flour
- 1 tablespoon Vietnamese fish sauce
- 1 lime, juice extracted
- Salt to taste
Method:
Using a cleaver, mince fish fillets by chopping, mixing and turning fish over after every few chops.
Wash and scrape skin off bulbous part of lemon grass. Peel outer layers from bulbs of spring onions and reserve roots and green stems. Combine lemon grass, spring onions, galangal and chillies in a blender and process until well mixed.
Add blended ingredients to minced fish and mix well with rice flour, fish sauce, lime juice and salt to taste. The lime juice will pickle the raw fish, a common practice in North Thailand, as in Peru and Fiji.
The people of Issan eat this with rice. However you can use this as a dip, garnished with mint leaves, or as a filling for tiny lettuce rolls with mushrooms, served as an entree.
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