Fish sauce and relatives like terasi and prahok don’t make sense if you use too much or don’t combine them with the right other flavors.
As I may have mentioned here, some months ago I made what I call “kitchen sink soup” cause everything goes in except the kitchen sink 
It was good enough, not great at all. Added some more salt. Better. Added a couple of tablespoons of fish sauce and it was the best soup I’ve ever made. Andrea Nguyen very recently posted about adding it to some albondigas soup she made and how great it was. These examples kinda lead me to think that there’s little that it doesn’t enhance.
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Fish sauce has a lot of glutamate (umami), so it makes many other things taste better.
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I loved anchovies and Thai food, so I thought it would be a delicious fishy soy sauce. Instead it was incredibly salty and had a rank smell and metallic after-taste.
I like fish sauce now. I’ve tried six on the list, and have Red Boat and Three Crabs in the cupboard. The Red Boat I can eat straight on rice and the Three Crab, which is stinkier, but I like it for cooking certain things.
Hope y’all had a grand Thanksgiving. Saw that @TheCookie had a feast and a half. Holy moly.
All in all, Oprah did me good…
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Whatcha’ got there, please 
?
Why of course. Starting at 9 o’clock, moving clockwise:
- Herb and Apple Bread Pudding (an Ina Garten special
) - Turkey Burger topped with Cranberry Relish
- Corn & Chive Pop Over (that didn’t quite pop over but was still good)
- Candied Bacon Sweet Potatoes
- Broccolini Casserole
- Brussel Sprouts / Apple / Pomegranate Salad (right in the middle)
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Great! I’m definitely saving a few of these. Thanks!!!
Been away for a while. How is everybody doing?
This is a dish with pickled radish, coloring with beet and added spiciness with some chili peppers. Again Sichuan Style
Recipe link added:
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Pickled in the sense of lacto-fermented or what?
Pretty. Welcome back.
Yes, but this one is only fermented for 36 hours with the nickname as “shower pickle”
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I decided to explore Nigerian cuisine this week. Here’s my vegan take on jollof rice (a tomato-centric rice dish), akara/acarajé (bean cake), and plantains. I stuck with my go-to Ethiopian greens dish (made with kale instead of collards), ya’abesha gomen, so I guess my meal was really Pan-African.
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Acaraje are a popular Brazilian food also. I’ve not cooked them, only eaten them
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Yes, that’s why I included both spellings of akara. If you want to make them, they’re pretty easy, but you do need a fairly powerful blender. Also I pan-fried the cakes instead of deep-frying them - just for health reasons, but they were still quite delicious. I imagine they’d be completely irresistible deep-fried though.
Looks fantastic. Happy with how it all turned out? I especially like the look of dat riceeee
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