Cooking with fish sauce- Squid brand review

Cooking with fish sauce will give you the best result if you know how to use the proper fish sauce for specific recipe. As mention in Tiparos review, another brand of fish sauce I use is Squid. This brand can get along with any recipes. I will quote a poll from a famous cooking webboard of Thailand that votes this brand as the second best fish sauce. It was written in Thai, so I will translate some of the poll for your understanding. The topic is asking which brand of fish sauce is the greatest in both taste and aroma. 27.56% chose Tiparos (in Thai ทิพรส), follow by Squid brand (20.47%). (Squid in Thai is ปลาหมึก, the ปากหมึก was typo)

  

Fish Sauce

Not much fish sauce reviews state that what the brand is good for. I’ll tell you. The flavor of Squid brand is richer than Tiparos because it has not added water, make Squid more “full body”. More anchovy flavor, more umami. The aroma is also more fishy, hence it would be a perfect one for frying, Thai salad, or common dipping like Nam Pla Prig. Since the aroma of Squid is stronger than that of Tiparos, I prefer not to used it for any dished that has mild smell like steamed egg or dishes that need the flagrance of the herbs.

Beside Thai cuisine cooking with fish sauce can get along with pasta cooking and many Western dishes. Some people use this brand as an anchovy substitute. A good fish sauce like Squid with rice vermicelli, chopped chili, grounded dried shrimp, and lime juice is a wonderful meal in a hurry. (I just had it about 2 days ago!)

Hey, Squid is also packed in glass, not plastic. That’s really great! The cap of the bottle has a spout that lets you apply it in drops. It looks neat with a squid molded on the bottle of the fish sauce. Reviews often state about this point. A minor thing, but it is worth to mention.

You should avoid cooking with fish sauce brands that contain hydrolyzed wheat protein which has been broken down into amino acids. The acid was the original source for MSG. I would not state the name of the brands, you just find them yourself. Luckily, the Squid and Tiparos are naturally fermented fish sauces, no MSG.

You may ask where to buy fish sauce. I think an Asian store in your location should have the Squid brand. Otherwise you can buy it from amazon.com (with further reviews from customers) via the links below which have all the size of Squid brand for you to choose. They also offer you free super saver shipping. Just pick one and enjoy your cooking with fish sauce for your next meal!

Photo:

- http://indyalbum.com/?p=14

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Thai panang curry recipe- Chicken Panang curry

Here is the Thai Panang curry recipe. I have read Yahoo!answer asking about any Thai food that is not too spicy. This is an example of Thai dish that is sweet and mild, not so spicy. Thai panang curry recipe is another curry with coconut milk. You may wonder if there are any curry without coconut milk. Well, there are. I will post some of the recipes later. 

 

Chicken panang curry

 300 g

. Chicken, sliced

2 cups Coconut milk

2 tbs. Oil

2 tbs. Panang curry paste
2 Goat pepper, sliced

1 tbs. Sugar

1 tbs. Fish sauce

2 Kaffir lime leaf

3 tbs. Peanut, roasted and grilled until powdered

Shredded kaffir leaves, and sweet basil leaves for topping

1. Heat the oven and boil sliced chiken with 1 cup of coconut milk until it cooked.

2. Fried Panang curry paste with ½ cup of coconut milk in the pan. Add powdered peanut, boiled chicken, sugar, and fish sauce.

3. Add ½ cup of coconut milk.

3. Add shredded kaffir leaves, goat pepper. Top with sliced goat peper, sweet basil leaves and shredded kaffir leaf.

Serve with hot jasmine rice. Although the name is curry, panang curry is not soupy like red/green curry or masman. It should be dry like the picture above. Since panang is the mild Thai curry, many who are not familiar with Thai food should be introduced with this dish.

The trick in cooking Thai panang curry recipe or any Thai curry recipes is to fried curry pastes with coconut milk (or oil) until the curry pastes mix thoroughly with coconut milk and the coconut milk (or oil) turns red (or green) in accord with the pastes. This cooking stage is called "Tak Mun" in Thai.

The problem with many Thai curries are the curry pastes. For convenience, you can use pre-prepared curry paste. I've review Mae Ploy Panang curry paste in this blog under the shop thai ingredients label.

Photo:

- http://www.manager.co.th/

Panang curry paste for easy Thai curry recipe

Here is the Panang curry paste for easy Thai curry recipes that you can cook. 

Panang curry paste

½ ts. Salt

9-11 Dried goat chili

6 Shallots, sliced

10 cloves Garlic, sliced

1 ts. Coriander seed, crushed and powdered

1 tbs. Cumin, powdered

1 ts. Pepper

2 Lemongrass, sliced

1 tbs. Galangal, chopped

6 Coriander roots

2 ts. Shrimp paste

2 tbs. Peanut, roasted

Blend all the ingredients on the blender. You can add a little bit of coconut milk in the blender. I will post about chicken panang recipe in the next three days.

Making curry pastes take time and some tricks to make them good. Most of Thais today usually buy them from fresh markets, rarely make any paste by themself. You can  buy panang curry paste from amazon.com. My family use Mae Ploy brand and it's taste quite good so I picked the links below for you. (The Maeploy links below are also offer free super saver shipping) In addition, I used Lobo sometimes when I was abroad.  Just follow the instructions on the packgage. It is easy and tasty. For Mae Ploy or any curry pastes, you should keep them in a refrigerator after you open the lid.

Photo:
- http://maewfood.blogspot.com

For Thai recipes using fish sauce: Tiparos!

There are many Thai recipes using fish sauce as an ingredient, but which brand is the best? That depends on personal taste. There are lots of fish sauce brands selling in the market. Some were made from Thailand, some from Vietnam. In general, fish sauces from Thailand tend to be a bit pungent in taste and aroma than those of Vietnam. If you ask which brand I prefer most to add in recipes using fish sauce, I would say Tiparos.

You may ask if one can use Vietnamese fish sauce instead of Thai’s. I would say they can be substituted but since most of Vietnamese fish sauce are milder and sweeter, better use Thai fish sauce for Thai dishes and Vietnamese sauce for Vietnamese cooking for the best result.

Good fish sauce should be clear brown with no dregs


I always have two different brands of fish sauce. One would be a “light” to use for any curry soups, steaming or some dipping with lime juice as an ingredient. Another would be a “full body” or “all purpose” to use for frying or general dipping. For the first I use Tiparos. The taste is salty (of cause!) but not too much, with umami. When I add some of this sauce in any recipes using fish sauce especially Thai curry, the mild smoky aroma would not spoil the scents of herbs. Also it can be use for dipping sauce that has lime juice as an ingredient due to the fact that the mild scent would not mess up the fragrance of lime juice. I love Tiparos with Thai paprika, lime juice, and Thai omelet. Really yummy!

The difference in taste and aroma of fish sauces depends mainly on fermentation and aging processes. For all Thai fish sauce, this brand’s taste is light. The ingredients in fish sauce are small fish (Indian anchovy) 76%, salt 23%, and sugar 1%. You can easily see that Tiparos has the highest proportion of fish but, surprisingly, the aroma is low in fishy but smoky instead. The taste is salty with a bit of sweet make it the most proper choice to add in any Thai curry soup as I post earlier. The price is not so expensive. Tiparos also low in sodium and all natural. Good for your health!

Not just me that rate this brand as the finest. A poll from a famous cooking webboard of Thailand showed this brand as the best for any recipes using fish sauce. Unfortunately, it was written in Thai, but I can translate to you. The topic is asking which brand of fish sauce is the greatest in both taste and aroma. Out of 127 voters, 35 (27.56%) chose Tiparos (in Thai ทิพรส), followed by Squid brand (26 people, 20.47%) which is the sauce I use in frying.

Tiparos passes all the criteria for being one of the best for any recipes using fish sauce. It is clear brown liquid with no dregs even though you leave it for a long time. The brand also has protein of more than 20 percent, a good criterion for Thai Industrial Standards (TIS). The bottle is highly sealed. The only drawback of Tiparos is that its bottle is made from plastic for the convenience of transportation which may look shoddy for users, but it is a minor thing compares to all the pros.

If you are planning on cooking any Thai recipes with fish sauce, this is the sauce you should have. Trust me, you will use it a lot in Thai cooking! You can buy it either from any Asian store near your house or from amazon.com (with further reviews from customers) via the links below which have all the size of Tiparos for you to choose the one that fits your need.

Photo:

- http://www.healthcarethai.com

Tastythaifoodrecipes.blogspot.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, endless.com, MYHABIT.com, AmazonSupply.com, or AmazonWireless.com.

Spicy Thai salad recipe-Spicy Vietnamese sausage salad

Another spicy Thai salad recipe or “yam”-spicy Vietnamese sausage salad or "Yam Mu Yor". Vietnamese sausage or "Mu Yor" is the  food that had been introduced into Thai cuisine by Vietnamese community in the northeastern of Thailand. Its tastes can get along so good with many Thai dishes. If you cannot find Vietnamese sausage, you can use cocktail sausage.
 

Spicy Vietnamese sausage salad

200 g. Vietnamese sausage, slice
1 Onion, sliced
1 Tomato, sliced
2 Celery, roughly chopped
2 Spring onion, roughly chopped
15 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ ts. Sugar
2 tbs. Lime juice
1½ tbs. Fish sauce
15 Bird’s eye chili, chopped

1. Mix the dressing by adding sugar with lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, and bird’s eye chili.
2. Steamed the sliced sausage for 2-3 minutes (you can boil the sausage instead of steaming)
3. Mix sausage with onion, tomato, spring onion, celery, and the dressing.

You can eat this spicy thai salad recipe with rice or eat as food eaten with alcoholic drinks. Yummy!

Lime juice is the ingredient that use a lot in Thai cuisine. I will be frank to you that I use fresh lime juice most of the time. If you cannot find fresh lime, an OJ lime juice powder may be your option. I used it once or twice during my time abroad. Just add water and stir. Its taste close to real lime juice. By the way, if you can find a lot of cheap fresh lime, I will give you a trick. Just squeeze the juice and keep it in a freezer so you can have lime juice anytime you want. Some of my friends do this because lime is a seasonal fruit and the price vary a lot. I also add below a link to a lime juice squeezer which made from aluminum with high standard safety for your cooking comfort.  

Photo:
- http://panoeinamnuang.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post_8498.html