Name: Herbed Catfish Laap (Laap Pla)
Yield: Serves 4 or 5
Cuisine: Myanmar (Burma)
Ingredients: One 2-pound cleaned catfish (or 2 smaller ones), well rinsed, or another firm-fleshed freshwater fish, such as pike, pickerel, or trout; 1 teaspoon shrimp paste (ngapi); 2 cups water; 5 garlic cloves; 1 Soybean Disk, or substitute 1½ teaspoons brown miso paste; 5 dried red chiles; 1 teaspoon turmeric; ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste; Peanut oil; 2 tablespoons minced lemongrass; 2 tablespoons Toasted Rice Powder; 2 to 3 tablespoons tender coriander leaves; 2 to 3 tablespoons minced scallion greens; 1 tablespoon minced mint; 1 tablespoon chopped Vietnamese coriander; 1 tablespoon chopped tender green tips of sawtooth herb; 3 slices galangal; 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and smashed; 4 shallots

Preparation info

Serves
4 or 5

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Burma

By Naomi Duguid

Published 2012

About

From the old Tai Koen capital Chiang Tung, also known as Kengtung, in the mountains of eastern Shan State comes this wonderful take on fish.

Laap dishes are made of chopped fish or meat dressed with aromatics. Here the fish is poached whole in a little broth flavored with lemongrass and galangal, then flaked off the bone and finely chopped. The cooking broth is combined with a flavor paste of grilled aromatics to make a dressing for the fish. The list of ingr