Listen to the Thai name pronunciation
Dtom Jeaw Pla is a Laotian fish soup recipe which is easy to prepare. It is similar to a Northern Thai dish called “Aw Jeaw Pla” (เอ๊าะแจ่วปลา) which is popular among the Tai Lue people (ไทลื้อ).
Dtom Jeaw Pla is a rustic and spicy fish soup that is far from being unsophisticated. There is something humble, genuine, and unpretentious about it, which makes you fall in love with it.
Its humble countryside charm and surfeit of tastes quickly placed it high on my personal list of favorite dishes.
The fresh essence of fish cooked to perfection melds with the earthy tones of the grilled ingredients, the eggplants, shallots, chilies and garlic. It has a heavenly silky broth with a scent of lemongrass, which is generously lifted up by a handful of fresh herbs, lemon basil, saw coriander and spring onions.
Dtom Jeaw Pla is a native dish suggestive of nature, a rural reflection of simplicity but no less the savoir vivre of the region.
Farmer returns home after long and hard day work, exhausted, he hands to his wife his catch of fresh river fish, while she is gathering firewood, vegetables and herbs from the garden to prepare him a tasty hot soup, which along with generous ball of sticky rice will relieve his tired.
Ingredients
- 400 g Tilapia fish fillet, cut into wide stripes.
- 2 Thai long eggplants
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 10-12 red Thai chilies
- 3 shallots
- 1 banana chili.
- 5 cups of water.
- 1+1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce (or Pla Ra)
- 2 stalks of lemongrass.
- 120 g oyster mushrooms.
- 1 cup lemon basil
- ¼ cup spring onions, finely chopped
- ¼ cup saw coriander, roughly chopped
- เนื้อปลานิล 400 กรัม หรือ เนื้อปลาน้ำจืดอื่น ๆ ก็ได้
- มะเขือยาว 2 ลูก
- กระเทียมกลีบใหญ่ 3-4 กลีบ
- พริกขี้หนูแดง 10-12 เม็ด
- หอมแดง 3 หัว
- พริกหยวก 1 เม็ด
- น้ำเปล่า 5 ถ้วย
- เกลือป่น 1+1 ซ้อนชา
- น้ำปลา หรือ น้ำปลาร้าต้มสุก 2 ช้อนโต๊ะ
- ตะไคร้ 2 ต้น
- เห็ดนางฟ้า 120 กรัม
- ใบแมงลัก 1 ถ้วย
- ต้นหอมซอย ¼ ถ้วย
- ผักชีฝรั่งซอย ¼ ถ้ว
- Grill the eggplants over charcoal grill or in the oven.
นำมะเขือยาวไปเผาบนเตาถ่านจนสุก
- Grill the garlic, banana chili, read Thai chilies and shallots.
ใช้ไม้แหลมเสียบ หอมแดง พริกหยวก กระเทียม พริกขี้หนู แล้วนำไปเผาบนเตาถ่าน
- Peel the eggplants and save about a cup of its flesh.
ลอกเปลือกมะเขือยาวออก จะได้เนื้อมะเขือยาวประมาณ 1 ถ้วย
- Put the grilled red chilies into a mortar.
ใส่พริกขึ้หนูเผาลงในครก
- Add grilled and peeled garlic.
แกะเปลือกกระเทียมเผาออก แล้วใส่กระเทียมลงในครก
- Add grilled and peeled shallots.
แกะเปลือกหอมแดงเผาออก แล้วใส่หอมแดงลงในครก
- Add grilled and peeled banana chili.
แกะเปลือกพริกหยวกเผาออก แล้วใส่พริกหยวกลงในครก
- Add 1 teaspoon of salt, to serve as abrasive.
ใส่เกลือป่น 1 ช้อนชาลงไป
- Pound all the ingredients together.
โขลกส่วนผสมทั้งหมดให้เข้ากันดี
- Pound it to a rough consistency.
โขลกจนได้เนื้อพอหยาบ ๆ ไม่ต้องละเอียดมากนัก
- Add the eggplants meat.
นำเอาเนื้อมะเขือยาวที่เตรียมไว้แล้วใส่ลงไปโขลกในครก
- Pound the eggplants with the chili-garlic-shallots mix to homogeneous paste. Set-aside.
โขลกจนเนื้อมะเขือยาวละเอียด เสร็จแล้วพักเอาไว้
- Place water in a pot over high heat. Bruise the lemongrass stalks and add them to the pot.
ใส่น้ำเปล่าลงในหม้อ ตั้งไฟต้มจนน้ำเดือด ใส่ตะไคร้ทุบลงไป
- Add 1 teaspoon of salt.
ใส่เกลือ 1 ช้อนชาลงไป
- Add fish sauce (or Pla Ra)
เติมน้ำปลา หรือ น้ำปลาร้าต้มสุก ลงไป
- Bring the water to a strong boil, then add the fish and avoid stirring.
เมือน้ำเดือดจัด ให้ใส่เนื้อปลาลงไป และ ห้ามคนเพราะจะทำให้มีกลิ่นคาว
- Add the mushrooms.
ใส่เห็ดนางฟ้าลงไป
- Let the soup boil until the mushrooms and fish are done.
ต้มน้ำต่อไปเรื่อยประมาณ 5 นาที หรือ จนเห็ดสุก
- Add the eggplants-chili paste.
นำส่วนผสมที่โขลกเตรียมเอาไว้แล้ว ใส่ลงไป
- Stir well.
คนให้เข้ากัน พยายามคนเบา ๆ อย่าให้เนื้อปลาเละ
- Turn off the heat before adding the chopped spring onions and saw coriander.
ปิดไฟ และ ใส่ต้นหอมซอย ผักชีฝรั่งซอยลงไป
- Add lemon basil.
ใส่ใบแมงลักลงไป แล้วเป็นอันเสร็จ
- Serve.
เสริฟ
Hanuman
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
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น่ารับประทานมากครับ
Hanuman,
I picked some eggplants from my garden today and I was wondering what to do with them. I thought I would check to see if you have a recipe using eggplants. I’m glad I did because I saw this fish soup recipe. I have a sea bass in the freezer, and I have the other ingredients on hand, except for the lemon grass, so I had to omit it. None of the local supermarkets carrries it, and the nearest Asian market is several miles away from my home.
The dish is absolutely delicious. The Thai chili is an added bonus, since I love food with any kind of chili in it. Tomorrow, I will go to the nursery to look for a lemon grass to plant in the garden. I actually only started planting herbs when I was going back and forth to Thailand every year for a few years. The first time I was there, I spent weeks visiting different sois. The hustle and bustle was fascinating, and the sights and smell coming from the stalls of the street vendors filled my senses. I watched all the grilling, frying, boiling and stewing. I examined all the ingredients and I noticed that they use several kinds of herbs in a dish, especially if it’s fish. (I also had this crazy desire to take home one of those already seasoned giant woks.) I tasted and ate everything. Almost exclusively, all the food that I consumed came from the street vendors, especially since I discovered that the food is better than the food at the restaurant. On most nights, I ventured out to join the late night revelers. I was absolutely enthralled watching the vendors put all the chairs and tables all over the streets for the deluge of the night people. What a life! On those nights, I went home completely satiated and happy…and all my dreams were filled with food.
Thank you, Hanuman.
Eva
Thanks for sharing your experience Eva, The basil I used in this dish is the kind known as ‘lemon basil’ or ‘Laotian basil’, i hope you can get this variety at your local asian store, it makes a lot of difference. As for lemon grass. it freezes great, so buy a batch, clean it, pre cut it, and throw it into the deep freeze. it lasts forever and does not loose its aroma. kaffir lime leaves, ginger, galangal and fresh peppercorns are all freeze as well.
Thanks for the freezing tip on the lemon grass. I will do exactly what you said. I have to check if there is a lemon basil in the nursery. I just used the basil that I have growing in the garden. Today, I checked the two local nurseries for the lemon grass, but they didn’t have it. I’ll check the other nurseries farther from my house this weekend. As for the kaffir lime leaves, I’m glad to tell you that it was the first tree that I bought when I returned from my first trip to Thailand. It’s been growing nicely ever since. What an investment! I already got my money’s worth many times over. I tried to grow ginger and galangal a couple of times, but they rotted in the ground.
Thank you, Hanuman.
Hello, I just found out this blog, and thank you for sharing all these dishes.
I really like Thai food.
thanks
น่ากินมากๆค่ะ ไว้จะทำกินมั่ง ขอบคุณค่ะ
This reminds me of my moms cooking! Thanks for sharing! I live in uk so hard to find authentic dishes.