North Eastern Thai Spicy Mackerel Dip

North Eastern Thai Spicy Mackerel Dip or " น้ำพริกปลาทู Num Prik Pla Tu" in Thai or you can call in Esarn Pon Pla Tu; ป่นปลาทู. Pon Pla Tu or Num Prik Pla Tu is Northeast of Thailand food. It is Thai spicy mackerel dip that we like to serve with rice or sticky rice. There is so many ways to make Num Prik Pla tu but I will show you how to make it with Esarn style that I remember from the street vendor. I am pretty sure I have the main ingredients to make it really good and healthy dish. We like to serve with fresh vegetables like cabbage, cucumber, Thai eggplants or long green beans. This is very simple to make it and I am really like the dish. This is one of favorite of Esarn food in our kitchen.

Ingredients:
1) 1 steamed mackerel (You can see 2 of mackerels in the photos but I used only one)
2) 5 Roasted Thai chili
3) 7 Roasted shallots
4) 8 Cloves Roasted Garlic
5) 1 and 1/2 cup of water
6) 3 sprigs cilantro
7) 1 green onion
8) 1 and 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
9) any fresh vegetables to serve with like Thai eggplant, cabbage or cucumber.

Preparation:
1) This is steamed mackerel that I got it from the Asian market.
2) Then bring the mackerel to defrost.
3) Peel garlic, shallots, remove chili stems, wash dirt, and pat dry.
4) Bring mackerel, garlic, shallots and chili to grill. Here I used an oven to roast the steamed mackerel garlic, shallots and chili with 350 F for 45 minutes or until cooked.



5) Wash dirt from cilantro and green onion.
6) Slice cilantro and green onion into small pieces.
7) While you are roasting the mackerel, garlic, shallots and chili in the oven, pour 1 cup and half of the water into the pot, add pinch of salt, cilantro root to boil. When the water is boiling add 1 and 1/2 Tbsp of fish sauce into the pot and turn on the low heat.
8) In a pestle and mortar, pound together the roasted chilies, garlic, shallots into a paste.

9) Pick out only the meat of one grilled mackerel and put into the mortar.
10) And pound everything together.
11) Add the soup from the pot for 3/4 cup.
12) Adjust the seasoning with fish sauce for saltiness.
13) Add sliced of green onions and cilantro.
14) Then mix all ingredients together. If the paste is too thick add a little soup from the pot to the paste to make it soupier.
15) Spoon Spoon the dip into a bowl and serve with fresh vegetables you like.