DAI CHILE-FISH SOUP WITH FLAVORED OIL
Behind most Dai houses in the villages of southern Yunnan, there's a small
pond. Fish live there, and when the cook wants fresh fish, she can just go
to the pond and scoop one out, or send a child to get one for her. As a
result, there's a large Dai repertoire of dishes using fresh fish.
This is one of the easiest soups we know, a pleasure whether served as a
fish course in a Western -style meal or as one of several dishes in a
rice-centered Southeast Asian-style meal. It reminds us of the fish soups
from farther south in the Mekong Valley, in Laos and Cambodia. As in those
soups, there is acidity, in this case from tomato, and coriander leaves are
used to flavor the broth rather than simply as a garnish.
The soup has a fair amount of chile heat. To cut back on it, reduce the
number of chiles. The secret ingredient is the Dai Flavored Oil, which
tempers the soup, bringing flavors together. Assemble the ingredients for
the oil before you start the broth. That way, you can quickly make the oil
while the broth is cooking, then add it to the soup, hot and aromatic,
straight from the pan.
1 1/4 to 11/2 pounds firm-fleshed fish steaks or fillets, such as tilapia,
striped bass, or lake trout, or an ocean fish such as snapper or cod
4 cups water
3 dried red chiles
2 fresh green bird chiles or serrano chiles
1 tablespoon ginger, cut into small matchsticks
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 large or 2 small scallions, sliced lengthwise into ribbons, then crosswise
into 2-inch lengths
1 cup coriander leaves and stems, coarsely chopped
1 medium tomato, ripe or green, as you wish, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Dai Flavored Oil ,or to taste
1112 to 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper (see Note on Pepper)
Cut the fish into 1 to 2-inch pieces. Place in a small pot, add the water,
whole chiles, ginger, garlic, scallions, and coriander, and bring to a boil,
then immediately lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. (Meanwhile,
prepare the flavored oil.)
Add the tomato, the oil, including the garlic slices, and 1 liz teaspoons
salt to the hot broth and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Taste for salt
and adjust if necessary, then add pepper to taste.
Serve hot or warm.
NOTE ON SERVING: The soup is traditionally served with all the flavorings
still in it. The chiles and garlic clove are not meant to be eaten, but are
just put aside by each diner as he or she eats. If you wish, you can strain
the soup before serving it, so that it comes to the table as a broth. In
that case, though, we'd suggest that you remove the garlic slices from the
flavored oil before adding it to the soup and set them aside, then add them
to the broth when you serve it.
NOTE ON PEPPER: Both white and black pepper are used in Southeast Asian
cooking. White tends to be used in pale dishes such as this, partly for
aesthetic reasons. But we find we always prefer the rich taste of black
pepper to that of white; suit yourself.
WHOLE FISH 0PTION: We suggest that you use fish steaks or fillets, but you
could start with a whole fish weighing close to 2 pounds. Trim off the head
and fins, lift the meat off the bone, and cut it into 1- to 2 inch pieces.
Then simmer the trimmings and bones in 3 cups water, and use the strained
broth as part of the liquid for the soup.
Dai Flavored Oil
Flavored oils are the cook's best friend. In Southeast Asia, these oils
others include scallion oil, chile oil, garlic oil, and combinations
thereof-care added at the last moment, just before the dish is served.
Sometimes they are floated on the surface of a soup when it is served, as
olive oil or butter might be on a Mediterranean or European soup, to give a
subtle extra richness. Other times, as in this soup, they are added near the
end of cooking to pull all the flavors together and accentuate them. Try
adding this oil at the last minute to other soups to give them another layer
of flavor and heat.
2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil
4 dried red chiles
1 tablespoon thinly sliced garlic
Heat the oil in a small heavy skillet. When it is hot, toss in the chiles
and garlic and wait several seconds, until they start to brown, then remove
from the heat and remove the chiles. Add the oil and garlic to the hot soup,
or put out as a table condiment.
NOTE ON SCALING UP: To multiply the recipe, increase the oil and garlic in
the same proportion, but the chiles by less than half as much again. For
example, to triple the recipe, use 6 tablespoons oil, 3 tablespoons sliced
garlic, and only 6 to 8 chiles.
Earthenware containers of rice liquor and pickled vegetables are stored
under traditional Dai houses in southern Yunnan.
Beyond The Great Wall recipes and travels in the other china by Jeffrey
Alford and Naomi Duguid
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