Gaeng Tai Pla

Gaeng Tai Pla is a legendary recipe developed by people in the fishing communities of Southern Thailand. They wanted to find a way to use the fish guts rather than toss them out, so they developed a pickling process of the fish bladder. The pickled fish bladder (Tai Pla) is used to make this soup using a heavy dose of local spices and large chunks of dried fish meat.

Lately people all over Thailand crave the Tai Pla that comes from various regions, and packed in different brands. In this recipe we show you every step in the process, also see our video feature of a chef from Trang in Southern Thailand making Gaeng Tai Pla. As authentic as it gets, and we do offer a high quality imported Tai Pla so you can make this at home using the best ingredients. Please enjoy this feature and share your comments below.

Ingredients

For 4 Person(s)

Ingredients for Chilli Paste

3/4 Cup Whole Dried Chili
2 Tablespoons Thinkly Sliced Fresh Lemongrass
1 Tablespoon Whole Black Peppercorn
1 Teaspoon Kaffir Lime Peel
2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Garlic
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Uncooked Rice
1/2 Tablespoon Shrimp Paste

Ingredients for Soup

Large Chunks of 1 whole dried fish
1/2 Cup Bamboo Shoot, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 Fresh Thai Eggplant (or seasonal greens), quartered
4 Tablespoons Tai Pla
2 1/2 Cups Water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Fresh Lime Juice
10 Kaffir Lime Leaves

Buy ingredients for this Recipe

Method for Gaeng Tai Pla

Method for Chilli Paste

Pound whole dried chiles in a granite mortar and pestle. Add fresh lemongrass, black peppercorn, rice, garlic, kaffir lime peel, turmeric, salt, then pound into a fine paste. Add shrimp paste at the end, and pound it until blended well. Leave it in the mortar.

Method for Soup

Heat the wok with 2 cups water, add tai pla sauce and let water boil again. Stir well, then strain the liquid to remove any bits of fish. Put the liquid back in the wok. Add chilli paste to the wok. Add 1/2 cup water to your mortar, stir together then pour it all into the wok. Add eggplants, bamboo shoot, cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove lid, add green beans, dried fish, sugar. Add shredded lime leaves, lime juice, stir, remove from heat, and serve with jasmine rice.