Thai Food Recipe: Bpla Som, Preserved Fish
Preserved Fish in Thai we call it Pla Som
Preserved Fish
ปลาส้ม
Pla Som
Prepare:
1 fish (1Kg.) tilapia, carp, cyprinid
1 tbsp. sea salt
1 cup sticky rice (or steamed rice)
6 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tbsp. rice flour
1 egg (beat)
water
1 big plastic bag to pack the fish
Cooking Instructions:
1. Clean the fish very well and scrape the scales off. Cut the stomach part and throw away the inside part. Rinse out it again with a lot of water.
2. In a big bowl, mix rice flour with water. Soak the fish inside the bowl.
3. Leave it drain.
4. Soak the sticky rice with water. After that, put it over the drained fish.
5. Make sure you put some rice inside the mouth and stomach.
6. Put the fish inside plastic bag and wrap very well, with rubber band or scotch tape.
7. Leave it lay in sealed plastic container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
8. Later, keep it in refrigerator.
9. Soak it in a bowl of beaten egg before you deep fry. Don’t forget to remove the rice you see outside the fish. Leave the rice in side its mouth and stomach there. I think it will be ok.
10. Dress the fish with fried sliced garlic, fried kaffir lime leaves and fried sliced red onion.
11. Serve with hot jasmine rice.
The best place to get this food is Yasothon, Thailand in the Northeast (Isaan region). I lived there for 2 years and someone introduced it to me. That day, I had 2 big plates of rice. The smell is so strong, but always make my stomach cry asking for more! I didn’t show this recipe to my husband yet. Maybe soon!
(^v^)
Bpla Rah, or, Fermented Fish
Spicy Isaan Fermented Fish Sauce (Bla Ra, Pla Ra, Bla La, Plala, Blala, Blara, Pla La)
Spicy Fermented Fish Sauce from Isaan
ปลาร้า
Bla Ra, Pla Ra, Bla La, Plala, Blala, Blara, Pla La
Prepare:
2 kg. fresh water fish (small size)
1 and 1/2 cup rice grain with husk (roasted and crushed)
2 and 1/2 cup sea salt
1 cup rice bran chaff
Preservation Instructions:
How to make Bpla Rah or Plara? I know some of you, including my best friends who live abroad, are dying for it. 
Big Thank to my mom for a recipe.
1. Scrape the scale off of the fish. It depends on what kind of fish you pick. If you use the gouramy, then you don’t need to. However, with the bigger fish like climbing fish, it should be scraped before you do the next step.
We use any kind of fish. The whole idea is to preserve the fish we have left from cooking in daily meal. Someone can find too much from the river.
I remember that we had a big pond at our rice field where we keep there natural water from the rain. There are fish live in there and I still think that they came out of nowhere. I believe that they hibernate under the ground and come out where there is a lot of water. Is that right?
I swear that we didn’t mean to do fish farm at all. Finally, after the harvest has ended, we invited all friends and relatives to come over, removed water out of the pond and I was barefoot catching the fish with my hands. It was so much fun at that time.
However, I don’t know since when I got scared of the fish in the river. Thinking that it is slippery like a snake is why it freaks me out. If I can ignore that feeling, then it will be ok to put my hands in the water. Maybe, I think those fish are trying to eat me… haha This is so crazy feeling that someone can get scared of fish but Thai movie start is worse than me! One of them got scared of orange and some of them can’t stand seeing pineapple!! That’s a little too much.
Anyway, get back to step 2.
2. Open its stomach and remove the inside part. Clean the fish very well. Add 1 handful of salt, knead it and wash with water. Do it again one more time.
3. Add salt and knead the fish while you are adding roasted uncooked rice.
4. Keep it sealed in the container (best earthen jar). Make sure you keep the fish under thesalt water. When it dries out, boil water with salt, leave it cool and add into the container.
5. Leave it outside refrigerator at least 6 months in ventilated area.
Tips:
1. Choose fresh water fish without hard skin because it is safer and easier to make Bpla Rah.
2. Brown salt is a better choice to use in a preservation process. It has a better taste. If you can’t find it, don’t worry. My family used normal salt but we will have to add it a lot so that the fish won’t get rotten.
3. Rice bran chaff is also an important ingredient. You can add unlimited amount of rice bran chaff. Adding it more will only make the juice thick, give nice smell and help with color.
4. Take a strictly action, when you keep it in container. You shouldn’t let even one fly land on it. You don’t want to see a surprise from a fly worm, do you?
5. Boil it for a long time so even if you eat the worms, no problem.
This is something that you shouldn’t miss. 
\(^v^)/
Joy
Hi - this is Vern, Joy’s ‘husband’… I had to write something here because if at first this doesn’t seem appetizing to you it’s only because you know what is in it and how it’s made. It’s incredibly delicious (tasty) sauce that we use in our Som Tam, but also just with rice as a paste and dip for the rice, grilled fish, shrimps, just about anything that we eat here. It’s like a common spice that people in the Northeast (Isaan) really love and are addicted to. Fortunately I became addicted too - and I crave this every day or every other day. Finally we found a good som tam place near us here in the south and we’ll probably need to get som tam bla ra tonight because now I’m craving it. It has a harsh smell that most foreigners and even some Thais’ don’t like, but try it just to make sure before you give it the thumbs down!
Thai Food Recipe: Undercover Squids! (Pla Muk Suam Goong)
Undercover Squids in Thai, Pla Muk Suam Goong
Undercover Squids
Pla Muk Suam Goong
ปลาหมึกสวมกุ้ง
Prepare:
500 g. fresh squid (clean and cut to 1 ½ inch)
500 g. shrimp (peel, de-veined, and crush)
1 carrot (cut to 1 inch pieces)
1/2 cup green pea
1/2 cup baby corn (cut to 1 inch pieces)
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. tapioca flour
2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
Cooking Instructions:
1. Mix crushed shrimp meat with pepper and salt. Knead it until it gets soft.
2. After that, put the shrimp into the squid that we prepared.
3. Drop the squid into a bowl of tapioca flour. Make it round shape and deep fry in vegetable oil of medium heat.
4. When the squid turn gold and crunchy, remove from the pan and leave it drain.
5. During that time, heat the pan and add 1 tbsp. of vegetable oil. When the pan is hot, add carrot, green pea, baby corn and 2 tbsp. oyster sauce. Quick stir and remove into the plate.
Prepare the sauce:
2 tbsp. minced pork
2 tbsp. minced onion
1 tbsp minced coriander root
2 tbsp. ketchup
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
6. After you finished with the vegetable, in the same pan add 1 tbsp. vegetable oil.
7. When the pan is hot, add minced pork, onion, coriander root and stir fry for 4 minutes.
8. Next, add ketchup and oyster sauce. Mix well.
9. Place deep fried squid on a plate and dress the sauce on top. Don’t forget to serve stir fried vegetable on a side.
hehe… I have just came out with this name undercover squids for this recipe and think that it is a really cool name and maybe it will make some children, who are tired of the same food they have everyday, get excited.
Thai Dessert: Coconut Flavored Ice Cream (Gati Sod)
Coconut Flavored Ice-cream
Ice-cream Gati Sod
ไอศกรีมกะทิสด
Thai style ice-cream has almost the same main key as the ice-cream in all around the world. We mix fruit with coconut milk, syrup, lemon juice, and salt. Put it in the freezer and blend. Then put it back in the freezer, take it out and and blend it again. Do like this many times until the ice-cream gets soft.
Prepare:
4 cup thickest coconut milk
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 gelatin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. green noodle (optional)
1/4 cup jack fruit
1/4 cup cooked taro
1/4 cup candied palm nut
3 cup water
1/4 cup sticky rice mixed with coconut milk
1/4 cup boiled potato in syrup
1/4 cup bean with red-brown seeds
1/4 cup cut bread
1/4 cup roasted peanut
Cooking Instructions:
1. Pour 3/4 cup coconut milk in the pot. Cut gelatin in small pieces and add it into the pot.
2. Leave it until the gelatin gets soft. Now, heat it on the stove in low fire and stir until it is dissolved.
3. Remove from the stove and leave it cool off.
4. Then, in a different pot mix 4 cup thickest coconut milk with sugar and salt.
5. Put coconut milk from step 3 and 4 together in stainless pot and mix very well.
6. Put the pot in a freezer. When it is hard, blend it in the blender. After that, put in back in a stainless pot and keep it in the freezer again.
7. Do step 6 about 10 times. Blend it finely until it is soft.
Use green noodle, jack fruit, cooked taro, candied palm nut, sticky rice mixed with coconut milk, boiled potato in syrup, bean with red-brown seeds, cut bread, roasted peanut as topping. Anything you wish!
If you have ice-cream maker machine, I bet it must be a lot easier!
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