The Sinosphere · Volume 35, The Sour Jar, the Steam Funnel and a Border That Runs Both Ways
Suan sun zhu yu, Dai sour bamboo fish soup
Xishuangbanna, Yunnan; Dai
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 40 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Dai. The river-valley world shared with Laos, Myanmar and northern Thailand.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. 30 to 40 minutes, using ready-fermented sour bamboo shoot (see the Ferment Bench, below, or Sourcing for a UK analogue).
Ingredients
- 1 whole freshwater fish (carp, tilapia or trout), cleaned
- 150 g fermented sour bamboo shoot, sliced
- 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised
- 4 slices galangal
- 2 bird's-eye chillies, bruised
- 1 litre water or light fish stock
- a small handful fresh coriander and Thai basil, to finish
- to taste fish sauce, to taste
Method
- Score the fish two or three times on each side to help it cook evenly.
- Bring the water or stock to a simmer with the sour bamboo shoot, lemongrass, galangal and chilli, simmering 10 minutes to let the shoot's sourness infuse the liquid.
- Add the whole fish and poach gently at a bare simmer until just cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes depending on size.
- Season with fish sauce to taste, the sour bamboo shoot itself doing most of the seasoning work rather than salt.
- Finish with fresh coriander and Thai basil just before serving.
What a modern chef changes
A controlled ferment, cross-referenced to this atlas's own Burmese chapter.
Rungs 5 and 1
Method
- Ferment fresh bamboo shoot at home in a dehydrator with its heating element off, held at a steady low ambient temperature, packed tightly under weighted brine, following the same equipment logic this atlas's AS-42 brief already verifies for Burmese lahpet's fermentation, for two to three weeks rather than buying it ready-made.
- Vacuum-seal the fish portioned into fillets with the aromatics and a little of the sour bamboo liquor, then poach sous vide at 52°C for 20 minutes for an evenly cooked, never-overdone result impossible to guarantee with a whole fish in an open pot.
- Strain the aromatic broth through a chinois for full clarity, then finish it with a small measure of fish sauce and a squeeze of lime, plating the sous vide fish in the clarified broth rather than the traditional cloudy poaching liquid.