Buffalo fish. A carp-like fish which can grow to a large size. It is found commonly in rivers and freshwater lakes in and around South Asia and South-East Asia. It is highly regarded fish eaten on auspicious occasions. The roe of rohu is also considered as a delicacy by Oriyas and Bengalis. It is deep fried and served hot as an appetizer as part of an Oriya and Bengali meal. It is also stuffed inside pointed gourd to make potoler dolma which is considered a delicacy. Rohu is also served deep fried in mustard oil, as kalia which is a rich gravy made of concoction of spices and deeply browned onions and tok, where the fish is cooked in a tangy sauce made of tamarind and mustard.
Fish sauce. It is similar to nam pla, and made from fermented fish from which the liquid is cured and bottled. It is what we call fish sauce, and is used widely in Asian cooking.
Featherback. A thin, silver fish with a marked row of dark spots running parallel to the anal fin. This is quite a bony fish but often pounded or scraped clean of the bones.
A pungent, dark, salty paste of shrimps or prawns which are salted, fermented in the sun and subsequently mashed and then dried in the sun. It is then sold in small blocks and is ubiquitous in the cooking of south east Asia. Local names throughout south east Asia and India have small variations in spelling, so it may be found masquerading as balacan, balachan, balachon, balachaun, balachaung, belacan, blacan, blachan, blachon, blachaun, blachaung, blakhan, and so on. On the other hand, it is also known independently as kapi, nga-pi, terasi and trasi. There are many other names for this extremely popular condiment, which lends a much more attractive flavour to dishes than would be imagined.
Fish paste, used as a savoury seasoning in many dishes. The smell is questionable, and encountered throughout many parts of South East Asia, but the savour in a dish very pleasant.
