4 people · Difficult · 60 min · ₭ Average

Pon Pa is a sort of fish soup but it's roughly pounded with eggplant, roasted shallots and garlic, and seasoned with fermented fish sauce and fresh green herbs. OMG! eating with sticky rice and fresh vegetables is TOP!

Ingredients

• 500 g of tilapias or catfishes
• ½ L of water
• 5 eggplants
• 4 Asian red shallots
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 fresh chili
• 1 stalk of lemongrass stalk
• 4 slices of sliced galangal
• 2 tablespoons of Lao fermented fish sauce (padek)
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 tablespoons of sliced green onions
• 2 tablespoons of sliced coriander
• 2 tablespoons of sliced culantro

Preparation

Step 1: Roast red onion, garlic, and chili until soft cooked.

Step 2: Add water into the pot, add galangal, lemongrass (bashed) , and salt.

Step3: When the water is boiled, add fermented fish sauce, eggplant(cut half), and fish. Cook with medium fire about 30 minutes or until fish is cooked.

Step4: Use a mortar and pestle to pound roasted red onion, garlic, and chili, and half tea spoon of salt to a rough pasted.

Step5: Take out the fish and remove the bones add into the mortar, add eggplant also. Then pound it gently until they all mixed together.

Step6: Throw away lemongrass and galangal because they are not pleasant to eat. Leave the soup in the pot about ¼ litre or medium bowl.

Step 7: Add all the mixed fish from the mortar back to the pot and heat until boiled, taste it, then add green onion, culatro, and coriander and remove from the stove. Ready to serve!

Tip: to be authentic, eat with sticky rice, fresh green lettuce, and cucumber.