PROJECT Cooking with Fish Sauce

There are lots of ways of using fish sauce. Here are a few popular examples:

(top, left) NABÉMONO (hot pots that get assembled ahead and simmered at table) are often made with a seasoned broth. IKANAGO NABÉ seasoned with funky ikanago shoyu, is brimming with fish, seafood, tofu and vegetables.

(bottom, left) A few drops of ishiri fish sauce added to the pot as daikon simmers imbues it with deep flavor. The tender-simmered daikon is then brushed with ishiri sauce and broiled. Daikon no Ishiri Yaki, multi-textured and richly flavored.

(top, right) NIMONO (simmered or stewed dishes) are yet another way of cooking with fish sauce Here, potatoes and squid are stewed in an ishiri-laced broth; a dab of mustard adds a spicy accent.

(center, right) Here, fish sauce was used to marinate chicken before dredging it in cornstarch and deep-frying. This dish is known as Tatsuta Agé, a reference to the burnished color of autumnal maples along the Tatsuta River in Nara Prefecture.

(bottom, right) Here, fish sauce has been used to make takikomi gohan. Takikomi is a method using seasoned broth instead of water to cook rice. When squid-based ishiri fish sauce is used, the dish is called ISHIRI GOHAN (click to download).

Using this recipe for ISHIRI GOHAN as a point of departure, create your own dish using ishiri or one of the other fermented fish sauces described in the post Funky Fish Sauces.