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Recipes with dried salted fish

4 recipes that use dried salted fish, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Khmer green mango salad with crispy dried fish, takes 20 minutes. It is most often cooked with garlic, coriander and lime juice.

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Mbakhal (Saloum rice with peanuts and dried fish)

Mbakhal belongs to the Saloum, the peanut country around Kaolack and the Sine-Saloum delta, where it is cooked for gatherings and the Muslim feast days. Rice is simmered until soft and almost porridge-like in a sauce of ground peanuts, tomato and onion, together with black-eyed beans and guedj, the sun-dried, salted fish of the Senegalese coast. The flavour is deep and savoury, the texture creamy with bursts of bean and chewy flakes of fish. Salt cod or smoked fish are fair substitutes for guedj. Chef's tip: soak and taste the dried fish before you season, and add salt only at the end; over-salting is the most common mistake with mbakhal, since guedj and stock both carry plenty.

90 minSenegaleseFishGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Karawala thel dala

Every Sri Lankan market from Negombo to Trincomalee has a stall stacked with karawala, sun-dried salted fish, and when the larder is low or the rain keeps the boats in, a quick thel dala turns a small piece of it into something to wake up a plate of rice. Strips or small whole fish are fried until crisp, then tossed with plenty of onion, tomato, green chilli and chilli flakes until they are glossy, salty, smoky and hot. It is eaten in small amounts beside dhal, rice and a mild vegetable curry, or with kiribath and pol roti for breakfast, and it keeps for a day or two. Watch out for the classic fault of skipping the soak, which leaves the dish far too salty to eat. Chef's tip: fry the soaked fish until really crunchy before the onions go in; that crisp edge is what makes it addictive.

25 minSri LankanFishGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Khmer green mango salad with crispy dried fish

Sharp enough to make you wince and then reach for more, nhoam svay is the salad sold from glass-fronted carts around Siem Reap's Old Market and packed for weekend picnics at the West Baray reservoir. Hard green mango is cut into fine strands and tossed with shallots, mint and a dressing of lime, fish sauce and palm sugar, then topped with crunchy roasted peanuts and flakes of salty dried fish fried until crisp. It is eaten as a snack on its own or as a fresh, sour side to grilled meat and rice. Many people dress it too early, which draws water out of the mango and leaves a limp, watery salad. Chef's tip: fry the dried fish slowly until it shatters, then crumble it over at the very last moment; for a vegetarian version, leave it out and use soy sauce in place of the fish sauce.

20 minCambodianSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kajaik

Kajaik is a stew from the Nile towns of northern Sudan, where fish from the river is salted and sun-dried to keep through the year; it is cooked with plenty of onion, tomato and a spoonful of peanut butter and eaten with aseeda (thick porridge) or kisra. The flavour is deep and savoury, a little like a rich fish curry without the heat. The mistake is not soaking the dried fish long enough, which makes the stew far too salty and the fish tough; soak it overnight and change the water twice. Chef's tip: if you can't find dried Nile fish, salted dried cod (bacalao) works well.

65 minSudaneseFishGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with dried salted fish