A quick and easy recipe with Isaan-style green chili pepper paste filled up our stomachs at lunch yesterday. As the green chilies were about to get rotten and I have to get rid of them real soon, this Isaan recipe came into my mind. The food is so healthy. It contains lots of vegetables and fish is non-fat type which I can easily grab from the market. Here are the ingredients.
Prepare:
1 whole fish (Remove the scale and cut into 4 big pieces)
3-4 Coriander roots (crushed)
1 handful sliced ginger
2 handful Chinese celery (cut to 2 inches long)
2 Chinese celery roots (cut above the roots about 2 inches and crush them) <-optional
5 pieces of sliced galangal (optional)
1/2 tsp. salt
Paste ingredients:
6 Green chili peppers
6-10 red chilies
6-10 clove garlic
15 shallots
1/2 cup of Fermented fish juice (Plara)
1 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. lime juice
Side vegetables:
Cabbage
Long bean
Raw papaya
Guard
Eggplants
Morning glory
etc…
Cooking instructions:
1. Mix the fish with salt. Then steamed the fish, coriander roots, sliced ginger, Chinese celery and the roots, and galangal for 10-15 minutes on boiling water.
2. Grilled all of the paste ingredients. Making paste by pounding garlic, red chilies, shallots altogether. Leave the green chili pepper for last because it has juice. We don’t want to splash any of the ingredient into our eyes as we pound them.
3. Some people peel of the chili peppers skin but I didn’t.
4. Now that you pound all of the paste ingredients together. Add fermented fish juice, fish sauce and lime juice. Mix well.
5. Serve with steamed fish and soft boiled side vegetables.
