Making Yam Pla Thu
Yam Pla Thu, a Thai style salad made with mackerel fish or in Thai called Pla thu. Thais use Pla thu for so many dishes. They have it deep fried or use it in soups, chili sauces, salads, etc. The Thai salads aren't as regular salads either instead of using leafy greens it's made mostly of herbs, chilies, fish sauce and lime for flavoring. Here are the ingredients she used:
- steamed mackerel (Pla thu)
- lemon grass
- shallots
- red and green chilies
- Kaffir lime leaves
- lime
- minced coriander
- mint leaves
- spring onions
- fish sauce
- soy sauce and oyster sauce or what my mom normally calls her "delicious sauces"
Hmm, for the measurements this is difficult to say as my mom never measures anything when she cooks, it's all instincts. The food she makes tastes a bit different each time but it's always a delight to come home to her delicious meals.
She starts off with slicing the lemon grass and shallots then spring onions, lime and chili
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| I always love the fresh scent of lemon grass |
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| Everything gets sliced thinly |
The fish that is used in the salad is normally bought already steamed and gutted and then it's deboned. Meanwhile my cousin was frying the rest of the mackerel to have with steamed rice and some leftover chili sauce.
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| Different textures steamed and fried! |
We forgot about the kaffir leaves so I followed my cousin into the garden to get some fresh ones. I was surprised how far it was from the kitchen. The kiffir leaves were chiffonaded along with the mint leaves. All the ingredients are added to the bowl and my mom adds her delicious sauces along with fish sauce, sugar and some squeezed lime before mixing it all together. It's tricky sometimes when she asks me to pass her the delicious sauce because she calls all of them delicious sauces.
Huh, never knew that the kaffir lime plant had thorns.
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| Adding the "deliciousness" |
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| Fresh and green |
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| Yam Pla Thu |
Guess we could have fried a little less mackerel and added some more to the salad. Either way it was deliciously spicy, especially when we accidentally bit into the finely chopped green chili that was camouflaged with all the other herbs. But of course for me, my mom and my cousin it's always a pain and pleasurable surprise.
