Pla Salit

The Case of the Headless Fish

Thai Common name                           Pla Salit, Plat Salit

If Sean Connery pronounces it     Flatt Shawl-lit

Food Name                                           Thai Smoked Salted Gourami

Latin Name of the Fish                     Trichogaster pectoralis

Common Name                                   Snake Skin Gourami, Ikan Spart

Okay, let’s face it… Sean would never eat this stuff… it does not taste like smoked salmon or herring. It will never be in his genes to put this into his mouth. What the heck is this stuff, anyway?

When I was a young baddie laddie, I always thought this was a local salted fish. After all, I used to catch a lot of this fishes in the monsoon drains or longkangs and kept them as pets (Okay, this longkang thingie would be another story later…). I had no idea that it is smoked, only that it had a unique salty flavor to it and was a great condiment for half-boiled eggs, hot steamed rice, congees and durians. Yes Madams and Sirs, place a generous flake of the cooked Flatt Shawl-lit on top of a glorious stinky ripe meaty durian and many durian lovers will swear… it’s just better than sex.

The dried Pla Salit is usually sold as shown above in Asian supply shops. The strong, pungent smell can be overwhelming to those not used to dried-salted fishes and seafood. Store in air-tight anti-rust containers or bags in a cool, dark place.

Trichogaster pectoralis or the freshwater Snakeskin Gourami is a fairly large and common anabantoid fish found in Asia, especially in rice growing regions such as Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. It favors shallow, slow flowing bodies of water with abundant aquatic plant life. An anabantoid fish that belongs to the labyrinth group of fishes with a unique body organ called the labyrinth chamber, it allows them to extract oxygen directly from atmospheric air.

The Snakeskin Gourami can grow up to 26cm or 10 inches and the male fishes build huge bubble nests during spawning. In Thailand, gourami fries are released into the rice fields after the rice seedlings have been planted and the fields are purposely flooded for a few months until harvesting time. The Snakeskin Gourami which is an omnivorous fish, helps to control filamentous algae which would choke the fields and compete with the rice plants for nutrients if uncontrolled. The fishes also regulate insect and aquatic snail population which would otherwise destroy the rice plants.

In a period of three to four months, the fish would grow to a length of 17-20cm/ 7-8 inches in favorable conditions. About this time, the rice harvest is at hand and the fields are drained and a bonus after the rice is harvested, are the now adult gouramis.

The fishes are collected, beheaded and gutted before heavily salted in successive layers on bamboo trays and stored for weeks under shade. Then, they are placed in kilns and smoked for several hours using dried oily, coconut shells as the smoking media before removed to cool and packed for sale.

To prepare this fish for cooking, clean the Pla Salit by removing the scales and giving it a good rinse in clean, running water. Allow the fish to air-dry for half an hour before frying in hot oil between 220˚C-260˚C until the fish is golden brown and crispy. Nice! It is at its best when it is hot and crispy. It has got a salty, slightly earthy and smoky flavor.

Another way to enjoy it is to add a generous layer of thinly sliced red shallots, sliced red chili as much as you dare, chopped Chinese Parsley, basil or mint, sprinkle a teaspoon of fine castor sugar and squeeze a few ripe calamansi limes onto it; the senses will just be joyfully overwhelming… salty, sweet, sour, spicy, smoky, crispy, herby and stinging from the shallots. What a culinary experience a humble freshwater fish can give.

Fresh Calamansi Limes for sale at an Asian market. 
They are also known as Acid Oranges or Limau Kasturi in Malay

The frying of this fish is best done in an open-air space. If you are cooking this salted fish near Sean’s neighborhood or in other parts of Europe, kindly forewarn your neighbors a year ahead or invest in an industry-grade air filter system in your kitchen like the ones below. Otherwise a team of environmental officers in bio-hazard suits will be visiting you within the hour to investigate bio-terrorism complaints.

Multiple exhaust vents at an industrial complex, Asia.

To pacify the environment officers, invite them in for a cuppa tea with a wee dram of milk and generous wedges of England’s best Blue Stilton Cheese and crackers. On the positive side, you’ll be best mates with your Asian neighbors if you happen to have durians too. Cheers.

    

Seafood of Asia

Edible Fishes of Asia

According to a report that I read somewhere in a scientific journal a few years ago, there are at least 15,000 recorded species of marine fishes around the world not including the fresh and brackish water species. Out of these 15,000, there are more than 5,000 species, big and small… considered to be important sources of protein for the human community.

Every year, explorers and the scientific community are still discovering new species in deep and shallow waters. In my previous days as a seafood vendor… a few days after the Asian Tsunami Disaster of 2005, the local fishing industry in Peninsular Malaysia started hauling in species of seafood that I had never seen before in the marketplace like large jet-black groupers with prominent purple lips and crabs that wore bright, flowery crimson coats of amazing patterns and looked very different from the common flower crabs.

Perhaps some of these uncommon fishes are yet to be documented by the scientific community. Indeed, as I researched some of the fishes in the local libraries, many of the materials do not offer much information.

During that time when I came across the blue-lipped groupers, I did not own a camera and the experience was merely a fleeing experience and the haul of the day… someone’s gastronomy gain.

The Indian Halibut - Psettodes erumei (Schneider, 1801). 
A studio produced image

It had always been my ambition to photograph commercial fishes and with the purchase of a dSLR early last year, I started to learn imaging the fishes found in the marketplaces and also to build a proper image bank. It is interesting to know that many of our species are not well known outside Asia like the Bombay Duck, Reynald's Grenadier Anchovy and the Shorthead Hairfin Anchovy due to lack of awareness.

These are fishes that many of us enjoy on a regular basis. Those foreign visitors who had the chance to sample the fishes at the local restaurants, food stalls or home cooked meals may recognize these fishes and appreciate their flavors.

If one were to show an actual fish (if where physical evidence is lacking) or a picture of a Reynald’s Grenadier Anchovy to an American or European visitor, they would probably marvel at it at the unusual shapes and colors and find it very hard to digress the fact that some of our Asian anchovies are huge and different in body formation compared to the ones that are typically used in Western cuisines.

Many locals (such as myself previously) would also think that anchovies would be normally the size of the common ‘dried ikan bilis’ until someone or somehow, we discovered that something fishy is going on.

A Trio of fresh Bombay Ducks - Harpadon nehereus. Otherwise also known as the Ikan Lumek, Bummalo or bamaloh in some other cultures. A studio produced image

So I have set up this page to showcase the various species of local seafood. I found the almost translucent, pale Bombay Ducks an extremely difficult subject to photograph on a pure, white background and that took me several repeated attempts over a week before I could get it right.

I have photographed several species properly on isolated white backgrounds so far; on-going efforts will continue to be added to the fish image database. Maybe someday, I will start a new page on preparation on these fishes and also insert cooking recipes with photographs. Would that be interesting… killing two fishes with one stone?

There are not very much research materials available on Threadfin Salmons (Ikan Kurau) and it was revealing to find out that they are one of the largest families of fishes. In fact, not much is really known on their life-cycles. If I do get some of the Latin names wrong, I welcome feedback on corrections or the given local names. Anyway, one must start somewhere so enjoy the collection. Cheers.